Vegan French Toast A Delicious Breakfast To Share

Thick slices of bread are soaked in an egg-free batter with non-dairy milk, vanilla, and sugar, then cooked on a pan with some vegan butter until golden brown and crispy outside and soft and silky inside. Dietary Note: this recipe is suitable for a vegetarian, vegan, and gluten-free diet.

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Just like for our vegan pancakes, vegan crepes with hazelnut spread, and vegan donuts, we developed this eggless french toast recipe to recreate flavors and textures of the original so that people who are not vegan will love it. As you might notice in our other vegan desserts – think of our vegan apple cake, banana bread, and vegan custard – you won’t need vegan egg replacements, ground flax seeds, or aqufaba. We made this choice because we want you to be able to make this with the simplest ingredients that are easy to find in most supermarkets. Ps: we do use aquafaba in our vegan brownie and vegan meringue, but those are the exception to the rule. Uh, by the way! Did you know that French toast, despite its name, is not originally from France? Believe it or not, French toast has been around since the Roman Empire and appears in recipe manuscripts from the 5th century AD. Like in the modern recipe, the Romans used to soak the bread in a batter of egg and milk, then fry it in butter. They called this celebratory sweet treat “Pan Dulcis,” or sweet bread. We find that stuff fascinating, but we are food geeks, after all! 😅

Bread

French toast should be crisp on the outside but soft, moist, and silky inside. To achieve this, you need bread with a soft but dense crumb and a relatively thick slice (1 inch or 2.5 cm) to absorb the batter slowly but fully and keep its shape once soaked. Sandwich bread is too soft, but if that’s the only thing you have, go ahead and use that. We recommend getting a loaf of rustic white bread or leftover vegan brioche. It could be an Italian rustic bread loaf or a thick ciabatta bread. Sourdough could work, too, as long as the crust is not too hard. It helps if it’s a day old and a little dry, but it doesn’t have to be. Fresh bread will do if that’s all you have. To make gluten-free French toast, substitute gluten-free bread for wheat bread.

Non-Dairy Milk

We use almond milk for vegan French toast as we love its naturally sweet flavor and mild almond aroma. Substitute any other plant milk for almond milk. You can try soy milk, cashew milk, hazelnut milk, rice milk, and oat milk. They all work perfectly, so pick your favorite.

Sugar

We use brown sugar. Substitute coconut sugar, palm sugar, vegan white sugar, maple syrup, or agave syrup for brown sugar. We slightly prefer vegan French toast with sugar rather than syrups because the sugar slightly caramelizes, improving the texture of the toast.

Flour

We use all-purpose flour. Substitute white whole wheat flour or spelt flour for all-purpose flour. You can also use chickpea flour and cornstarch as gluten-free flour alternatives. Chickpea or garbanzo bean flour will add an eggy flavor and texture. We use it often in our egg-free recipes like zucchini fritters, fried eggplant, and vegan frittata; it’s wholesome and delicious.

Spices & Aromas

You can pick your favorite spices and aromas and customize this vegan French toast recipe to your liking. Remember that when making vegan recipes, since there are no eggs or butter, you’ll need to add more spices to make up for the flavor loss. As a base, we recommend:

Vanilla extract Cinnamon Ground nutmeg

Optional spices you can add are:

Allspice Pumpkin pie spice mix Ground cloves

Salt

We recommend adding a pinch of sea salt or kosher salt.

Vegan butter

You’ll need some vegan fat to cook the French toast. We recommend vegan butter or coconut oil melted in the pan before adding the toast.

Toppings

You can top your vegan French toast with anything you like. We recommend:

fresh berries and fruit hazelnut spread a quick strawberry jam with chia seeds peanut butter crushed nuts vegan butter 100% pure maple syrup powdered sugar vegan whipped cream

Note: we tried adding nutritional yeast or black salt (Kala Namak) to add that eggy flavor, but in the end, we much prefer French toast without them. Also, there’s no need for ground flaxseeds or flax eggs unless you want to add a teaspoon for nutritional reasons.

Prepare the bread

You’ll need 6 slices of sturdy bread. We cut a one-day-old rustic white bread loaf into slices of 1 inch or 2.5 cm thick. If you don’t have one-day-old bread, you can use fresh bread. Keep in mind that it’ll soak faster.

Make the batter

In a shallow dish that is large enough to fit two slices of bread, add 1½ cups of almond milk, 4 tablespoons of sugar, 4 tablespoons of all-purpose flour, 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract, 1 teaspoon of cinnamon, some grated nutmeg, and a pinch of salt. Tip: We use an oven dish, but you can always use a large bowl. Whisk to combine. This is the custard-like mix to dip the bread in.

Cook the bread

In a nonstick frying pan or skillet, melt a tablespoon of vegan butter.While the pan warms up, soak two slices of bread in the liquid. Soaking time depends on how old the bread is and on the type of bread. In our case, we soak it for a good minute on both sides until the batter gets deep into the bread. Give the bread a good squeeze so that it absorbs even more liquid.You’ll only need a few seconds of soaking if you have softer bread, like sandwich bread. Make sure the bread absorbs the liquid without getting mushy and falling apart. Transfer the bread to the hot pan and cook on medium to low heat until golden brown and crisp, then turn around and do the same on the other side.It should take 2 to 4 minutes, depending on the type of bread. You can add as much bread as you can fit on the pan. If the pan gets too dry, then add more vegan butter.Ultimately, you want the bread to be brown and crisp outside and soft and silky inside. Transfer the toasted bread to a plate and repeat till you run out of bread, wiping the pan clean with kitchen paper and adding more vegan butter between batches. Tip: Keep the vegan French toast warm in a slightly warm oven while you finish cooking the other slices. Then, arrange the second slice of French toast on top of the other slice sideways. Add another knob of butter and the powdered sugar. Finally, add a generous drizzle of 100% pure maple syrup, a few blueberries, and raspberries on top, and enjoy.It’s crunchy on the outside, warm and silky on the inside, and with a cozy cinnamon-nutmeg aroma.

Make it yours

You can make this recipe yours by using your favorite toppings. Don’t have maple syrup? Top this recipe with jam or hazelnut spread. Don’t have berries? You can use a sliced banana.To make gluten-free French toast, substitute cornstarch for the flour and gluten-free bread for white bread. However, you can prepare the batter in advance and keep it in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Refrigerator: Leftovers don’t keep well, but if you have some, you can store them in an airtight container in the fridge for 24 hours. Reheat them on a frying pan with a knob of vegan butter. Freezer: this recipe is not suitable for freezing.

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