French toast Totally Explained

Everything about French Toast totally explained

French toast (often known as eggy bread in most of the UK - the exception being Scotland, pain perdu in French, pain doré in French-speaking parts of Canada) is a popular breakfast food in North America and Europe. It is also popular for breakfast and afternoon tea in Chinese world centred in Hong Kong.
French toast is made with bread and eggs; some common additions are milk, water, or orange juice to thin the eggs, sugar, and spices such as allspice, nutmeg and cinnamon. Vanilla may also be added to the egg mixture. In restaurants throughout Canada and the United States, the bread is usually thick white bread made especially for use in French toast; when made at home, regular sliced bread is often used. Although often served as a sweetly spiced dish in the United States, others prefer a savory version, seasoned with salt and pepper instead, or even topped with a melted slice of cheese.

Preparation

The eggs are beaten (and mixed with other liquids, as described above) and poured into a wide, shallow bowl. Individual slices of bread are then dipped into the egg mixture and flipped, so both sides are evenly coated. If desired, the bread may be left to soak briefly to absorb more of the mixture; however, too much soaking will make the bread fall apart, which is why some cooks prefer to use bread that's closer to the end of its shelf-life. The slices of egg-coated bread are then placed on a frying pan or griddle prepared with a coat of butter, and cooked until both sides are browned and the egg has cooked through. A substitute such as Egg Beaters can be used in place of whole eggs. Additionally, a liberal sprinkling of premixed cinnamon sugar may be applied prior to frying. Some people use nutmeg as well.
The cooked slices are usually served with jam, butter, peanut butter, and maple syrup, though they can also be served with fruit syrup, apple sauce, whipped cream, chocolate, sugar, powdered sugar, or various nuts such as pecans.

Variations

Stuffed French toast is two pieces of French toast that are stuffed with bananas, strawberries, or other fruit. It is usually topped with butter, maple syrup, and powdered sugar.
   In the United Kingdom it's often savory and known as either 'eggy bread' or 'Gipsy bread'. Another name is 'French fried bread' but this not to be confused with 'fried bread', which is white bread fried in butter or fat left over from frying bacon or sausages. One variation has marmite spread on the bread before dipping. A more popular version is served with baked beans on top. Another variation that has a 19th century origin is to add a teaspoon of red chili powder (instead of pepper), or a mixture of cumin and garlic known as "mexicana", and salt to the eggs before dipping bread in it. The term French toast has other common meanings in the United Kingdom including: baked bread slices, and bread which was buttered before toasting. Eggybread doesn't use fruity ingredients, instead it's just fried after being dipped into an eggy mixture of eggs and milk. It is often served with sauces, marmite or even just added with salt.
   'Fried bread' In Italy a variation is served known as mozzarella in carrozza (literally "mozzarella in carriage"). In this version a slice of fresh mozzarella is sandwiched between two slices of bread and the whole dipped in egg and fried. It can be seasoned with salt, but isn't sweet like French toast and isn't eaten for breakfast.
   In Portugal, it's called fatias douradas or rabanadas and is typically made during Christmas, out of slices of bread leftovers (when it's too hard to be eaten normally) soaked in milk to soften it, dipped in beaten egg, deep-fried in olive oil and then dipped in sugar and cinnamon or a syrup made with water, sugar, cinnamon sticks and lemon skin. It's usually eaten cold as a dessert or a snack.
   In Spain, it's called torrijas and is typically made during Lent, out of thick slices of bread soaked in milk or wine, dipped in egg, fried and then drenched in spiced honey.
   Many New York diners make French toast using thick slices of challah bread.
   In the Western and Southwestern United States, some restaurants will prepare it with Sourdough bread.
   In some parts of Australia, it's usually served savory, topped with tomato sauce or barbecue sauce. In other areas it's still considered to be a sweet dish, as in the United States.
   In New Zealand, French toast is a breakfast or brunch dish, made using pan frying individual sliced bread or baguette slices dipped in the egg mixture identical to American preparations. It is served with banana and fried bacon, and topped with maple syrup. Even though bacon is added, it's still considered a sweet rather than savory dish. Another popular variation in New Zealand uses a mixture of eggs yolks (left over from Pavlova cooking), milk and grated cheese to make a savory breakfast food.
   In Hong Kong, French toast, called 西多士 (Cantonese ; Jyutping: sai1 do1 si2; Mandarin Pinyin: xīduōshì; literally "western toast", but actually an abbreviation of "法蘭西多士", "French toast"), is available all day round but is particularly popular for breakfast and afternoon tea in Hong Kong-style western restaurants and cha chaan tengs. It is made by deep frying stacked sliced bread dipped in beaten egg or soy, and served with a slab of butter and topped with golden syrup, or sometimes honey. Two slices are normally used and a sweet filling is usually added, either peanut butter, kaya, or more rarely jam. In other non-Cantonese speaking parts of Greater China, it's usually called 吐司 (Pinyin: tǔsī; literally “toast”).
   In Brazil it's quite often used to celebrate a birth, as well as at Christmas and New Year celebrations. French Toast can also be served at pre-Carnivale parties in tradition with Brazilian folklore.

Pain perdu

In France, Belgium, New Orleans, and DRC Africa a similar but distinctive food is called pain perdu, or “lost bread,” since it's a way to reclaim stale, “lost,” bread: hard bread is softened by dipping in a mixture of milk and eggs, then fried. The bread is sliced on a bias and dipped into a mixture of egg, milk, sugar, cinnamon, and vanilla. The slices are pan-fried in butter and traditionally served dusted with powdered sugar and with jam on the side. Alternatively it may be served with syrup.
New Orleans pain perdu is a local variation of French toast made from left over New Orleans-style French bread, which resembles the French baguette, but has a crunchier exterior and a lighter interior.

History and geographical spread

French toast originated as a way to use day-old or stale bread (some breads, French bread especially, become stale after one day). Whereas a stale, crunchy bread might seem unappetizing, soaking the bread in eggs and frying it solved that problem. The precise origins of the recipe are unknown, although a version appears in the 1st century AD Roman cookbook, Apicius ("Aliter dulcia: siligineos rasos frangis, et buccellas maiores facies. in lacte infundis, frigis [et] in oleo, mel superfundis et inferes." - "Another sweet: Break grated Sigilines (a kind of wheat bread), and make larger bites. Soak in milk, fry in oil, douse in honey and serve."). This was also known as Pan Dulcis. Similar dishes have existed in many countries and under many names, known in Medieval Europe as:

France: pain perdu (literally, "lost bread")
Germany: armer Ritter (literally, "poor knight")
Portugal: rabanadas or fatias douradas (literally, "gilded slices of bread")
England: suppe dorate (Italian for "gilded sippets")
Yugoslavia and some successor republics: прженице - prženice
Croatia: pohani kruh
Lebanon: pain perdu

Modern versions occur in many countries under other names:

Belgium: verloren brood, wentelteefjes, gewonnen brood, or gebakken boterhammen (literally "lost bread", "won bread", or "baked sandwiches" as it was traditionally made from stale bread) in Flanders, pain perdu (literally, "lost bread") in Wallonia

Brazil: rabanada or "fatia parida"(in the northeast region of Brazil)

Bulgaria: пържени филии - părzheni filii ("fried slices [ofbread]")

Canada (in francophone regions): pain doré (literally, "golden bread")

Denmark/Norway: arme riddere (literally, "poor knights")

Greece: αβγόφετα (avgófeta, literally "egg-slice")

Finland köyhät ritarit ("poor knights") when eaten plain or with butter, rikkaat ritarit ("rich knights") when rolled in powdered sugar, sprinkled with it until fully covered or alternatively covered with whipped cream to provide the white base, and an eye of red colored jam added in the center.

Estonia: piilud ("ducklings")

Hungary: bundás kenyér (literally, "coated bread")

India: Bombay toast

Israel: פרנץ' טוסט

Malaysia: Roti telur

Mexico: pan francés

Netherlands: wentelteefjes (etymology unclear, wentelen = "to turn over", teefje = "female dog"). Used in some parts of Flanders, Belgium as well.

Pakistan: meetha toas

Romania: frigãnele

Russia: гренки - grěnki

Spain: torrija

Sweden: fattiga riddare (literally, "poor knights")

Switzerland: Fotzelschnitten ("rascals' slices")

Turkey: yumurtalı ekmek (literally, "bread with eggs"), or ekmek balığı (literally, "breadfish" / "fish of bread")

United Kingdom: 'poor knights of Windsor', 'Gypsy Toast' and in parts of Cumbria, 'Pandora'.

U.S.A.: Overwhelmingly French toast, though it may on rare occasion be called German toast, Spanish toast, nun's toast, egg toast, or French fried pudding.

Etymology

Some people claim that this dish was called "German toast" in the U.S. before World War I and was changed to "French toast" because of anti-German sentiment. Indeed, a popular cookbook from 1918 does refer to it by the name "German toast." However, the term "French toast" can be found in print in the U.S. as early as 1871. The Oxford English Dictionary cites usages of "French toast" in English as early as 1660 (toasted bread with wine, orange juice, and sugar), and cites an egg-based recipe of the same name from 1882. It has also been called "American toast" in the U.S., where there's a story that it was invented in 1724 by a man named Joseph French in a roadside tavern near Albany, New York.
Also notably, French toast in France and Belgium (and DRC Africa) is called pain perdu (“lost bread”) since it's a way to reclaim stale, “lost,” bread: hard bread is softened by dipping in a mixture of milk and eggs, then fried.
According to research provided by the International House of Pancakes, French toast isn't necessarily French in origin; it's likely that the recipe dates back to medieval times and may have been a logical “invention” by different peoples, akin to battering and frying any food. A similar dish, suppe dorate, was popular in England during the Middle Ages, although the English might have learned it from the French Normans, who had a dish called tostees dorees. However, according to IHOP, the first written mention of the dish comes from the court of Henry V of England (1413–1422).

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