French Toast

Ingredients

• 4 thick slices of stale white bread or brioche
• 3 eggs
• 120 ml whole milk
• 60 ml double cream
• 4 tsp caster sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 40 g butter
• maple syrup, to serve

Method

1. Stale bread, thick cut

   Use bread that is a day or two old and cut at least 2 cm thick. Fresh bread is already full of moisture and disintegrates in the custard; stale bread has room to drink it up.

2. Make the custard

   Whisk the eggs, milk, cream, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon and a pinch of salt until completely smooth. Strain it if there are any stringy bits of white left — they fry into rubbery streaks.

3. Soak long enough

   Soak each slice for a full minute a side, pressing gently. A quick dip gives you fried bread with an eggy coating; a proper soak gives you custard all the way through.

   2 min

4. Medium heat, foaming butter

   Fry in the butter over a medium heat for 3 minutes a side until deep gold. Too hot and the outside burns while the middle is still raw custard — this is the mistake almost everyone makes.

   6 min

5. Serve

   Serve immediately with maple syrup. If you are cooking for more than two, keep them in a low oven on a rack rather than stacked on a plate.