How a homesteader makes French toast

Last Updated on April 2, 2020 by Michelle

Stop the press. Hold your horses. And insert lots of other cliches right here, cause today is. . .  Are you ready for this?. . . National French Toast Day. But even if you don’t stumble upon this until the middle of next summer, you’ll be glad you did. Cause when is delicious French toast NOT in season?

Stay tuned for my next post, which will give you the full low-down on amazing, delicious homemade butter and buttermilk. Quite possibly the easiest, yet most rewarding, thing that goes on in my kitchen these days. btw, maybe you’d like to know what items I treasure the most in my farmhouse kitchen? I share right here what items I couldn’t live without when I’m making real-food deliciousness in my farmhouse kitchen.

But, in honor of National French Toast Day (November 28th) let’s just get right down to business…

This post contains affiliate links. Go here to read the full (ultra fun) legal disclosure about that.

Call it one of many names.

Apparently this simple dish has a lot of complicated names around the world. From “torrija” to “eggy bread” to “poor knights,” the only one of those monikers I can explain to you is the obvious one. But please comment if you have any idea what “torrija” or “poor knights” symbolizes, cause I always love a good story, but especially if it gives me a reason to use maple syrup in exuberance.

But don’t call it French in France.

Apparently the French don’t lay claim to this deliciousness. In their country they call it “pain perdu,” which I’m told means “lost bread.” Now this name I understand. This may be what I start calling French toast in our house. Ya know, the “lost bread” that was kinda stale so it got shoved in a bag and pushed to the back of the freezer? Then it’s given new life as a yummy meal when I rediscover it. Perfect name.

Whatever you call it, it’s a great way to use up stale bread and excess eggs. Of course this time of year my hens all get cold and selfish and decide to stop laying until spring. Yeah, I’m certain if someone had asked a homesteader before choosing the date of this palatable holiday, it would fall mid summer, when we have eggs up to our egg balls.

Regardless, grab a few eggs, fish out that stale bread from the corner recesses of your fridge, open up a jar of maple syrup, and celebrate today in it’s full glory.

What about the syrup?

If you wanna know how to make your own maple syrup, you’re in the right place. I’ve written about all our family’s mistakes learning experiences and syrup joys over the years. Start here.

If you wanna know a few great sources to purchase the good stuff, I love this sugarhouse and their xxl size is the best price I’ve found for buying your syrup in bulk. On the other hand, this sampler is a perfect place to start.

My recipe for French toast.

While buttermilk French toast is the best, don’t worry if you don’t have any of that delightfully sour stuff in the fridge. Make a great substitute for buttermilk with vinegar and milk. Just combine 1/4 cup of white vinegar with every 1 1/2 cups of milk that you need, and let it set on your counter for 10-15 minutes. It’s not quite as delicious, but you’ll have similar results.

Print Recipe
Buttermilk French Toast
Servings
Ingredients
Servings
Ingredients
Instructions
  1. Mix ingredients in a mixing bowl.
  2. Heat a skillet over medium-high heat and grease the skillet.
  3. When skillet is hot, dip slices of bread in the mix. Feel free to use any bread you have available. I like trying different options all the time, but honestly in my kitchen it's always the stale bread that makes it into French toast. I will place stale pieces in a bag in the freezer until the next time I whip up French toast or my grandma's awesome Egg Souffle. (See my subscriber library for that delicious family recipe.)
  4. Cook for a few minutes, turning to cook other side.
  5. Serve with all-natural maple syrup. (Of course.)
Share this Recipe
 

 

More info you’ll find delicious:

How to make sourdough bread (without any wasteful discard!)

Read about International Pancake Day.

How to make your own real butter.

My favorite maple syrup, maple sugar, maple cotton candy, and maple cream. (Mmmmmmm.)

Items I couldn’t live without in my farmhouse kitchen.


“Go eat your food with gladness.” Ecclesiastes 9:7

 

Pin this for later!

Click on the image below to pin this post.


Glance at my Resource Page if you’d like to get a glimpse of all the supplies I use and recommend for everything from gardening, to homeschooling, to chicken care, to nature journaling, to maple syrup making.

Many readers often ask what camera I use to take the images you find here on SoulyRested. I love my Nikon; you can read more about my camera and even purchase your own here.

And hop over here to find out why SoulyRested was considered to be one of the Top 20 Must-Read Homesteading Blogs of 2018.

I’d love to connect!

To find me in some other neck of the woods, just click any (or every!) icon below:

And please follow along!

Please take a second to follow along here on SoulyRested to catch up on a few of my memorable mishaps, discover fascinating things about my centuries-old farmhouse, glean a little parenting/homeschooling insight from this momma who’s been failing at the effort for almost 2 decades, or enjoy the inside scoop on the secrets other legit homesteaders might not tell you.

I hope my focus always encourages you, because simple joys require hard work. Let’s face it, we all need all the encouragement we can get! As soon as you subscribe (in the box at the end of this post), you’ll have immediate access to my Resource Library, which includes my FREE EBOOKs, and amazing recipes for things like whoopie pie cookies, maple sap switchel, and my grandmom’s perfect pie crust.

If you already ARE a subscriber, just hop over to the Resource Library here and enter your personal password. (If you don’t remember your password, no fear, we always include a personalized reminder in every Thursday email, “Hard Work, Simple Joys.”)

And have you tried my grandma’s a-MAAHZ-ingly delicious Egg & Cheese Soufflé recipe that’s in my Resource Library? 

5 thoughts on “How a homesteader makes French toast”

  1. This is genius! I always struggled to figure out ways of using up the buttermilk left from churning, and although I don’t have access to raw milk anymore, I’ve started culturing my own from storebought milk (which is so ridiculously easy I don’t know why I didn’t start doing it earlier). But it remains relegated to pancakes and biscuits – French toast is a great idea! Thank you!

    1. wait… you can churn butter from standard, pasteurized, regular-old, buy-at-the-store whole milk? I honestly thought you had to buy cream if you wanted to churn butter with it.

      1. Oh dear, my run-on sentences are catching up with me again! No, you’re right, for butter you need cream (which, as you know, magically appears when fresh raw milk is abundant!). But for buttermilk, at least the cultured kind, store bought milk works just fine. I just pour a cup of cultured buttermilk into a quart jar, fill it up with milk, let it sit out on a warm counter overnight, and presto chango, buttermilk! (Which, I’m sorry to say, I actually like a lot better than the real buttermilk leftover from churning butter. It’s a lot less work, too! 😀)

        1. Okay, yes, this I knew… in fact I’ve included that info in my upcoming post about making buttermilk. Which technically I should have written BEFORE this post, but typical of me…

  2. I’m going to try this. We always have French toast when my husband bakes bread. Nothing like thick cut homemade bread dipped in eggs and milk and cooked on a hot griddle. We had to cut back a little as it was taking a toll on our waistlines😂

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.