My favorite recipe for Challah French Toast is made with a secret ingredient– banana! The addition of a ripe banana to the coating adds healthy sweetness for a light and fluffy texture. The result is absolutely delectable. Challah and French toast are just meant to be together.
“I went to a restaurant that serves ‘Breakfast at any time.’ So I ordered French Toast during the Renaissance.” ~ Steven Wright
French toast is a weekend tradition in our family. It all began when I first tackled the art of making a beautifully braided challah. It took me countless tries of braiding and baking before I was happy with my technique. Those first few weeks of experiments resulted in copious amounts of challah piling up in our kitchen.
Luckily, my husband makes a mean French toast… and no bread is better suited to this sweet breakfast treat than eggy, fluffy challah bread. Challah acts like a sponge, soaking up the liquid mixture and saturating itself with goodness. My stepdaughter loves her Abba’s French toast, and she loves it even more when we use challah. What a treat!
The most basic form of French toast is bread soaked in milk and/or eggs, then fried. This simple cooking concept has been around since antiquity. There is a loosely similar recipe to French toast in the oldest known cookbook, Apicius, an Ancient Roman collection of recipes written in the early 5th century CE. Here is a translation of that recipe:
Aliter Dulcia
Another sweet: break grated Sigilines (wheat bread) and make larger bites. Soak in milk, fry in oil, douse in honey and serve.
~Apicius Book VII, XI-3
As you can see, the basic method for cooking French toast hasn’t changed much throughout the centuries. Eggs didn’t appear in a printed recipe until 1870. The practice of soaking bread and then frying it most likely came about as a way to use up bread that had gone stale to make it more palatable. Where the “French” name came from is not exactly clear; there are many theories, but the actual source of the name is a culinary mystery.
Our version of Challah French Toast is easy and versatile. We like to use homemade challah when possible. On the weeks when I am running short on time, we pick up a challah from our local bakery. To make the milk mixture for the French toast thicker and naturally sweet, I add a banana and blend it together with a little flour. A touch of rum or Grand Marnier is optional, but tasty.
The resulting French toast is seriously amazing. It’s fluffy, airy, and not at all soggy. This preparation is much lighter than other recipes I’ve seen that drench the bread in cream, sugar, and butter. I much prefer to give the bread a rich flavor without a ton of sweetness and excess fat. That way, people can add as much syrup or butter as they want and adjust the sweetness to taste. It might not be “health food,” exactly, but it makes your soul happy… and we all deserve a little treat once in a while.
Speaking of treats, I think I might make “brinner” tonight. There is nothing we love more than serving breakfast for dinner, especially when the entree is a delicious batch of Challah French Toast. And because one of the best things about breakfast, brunch, and brinner is having salty and sweet foods on the same plate, I also like to serve this French toast with a side of my famous scrambled eggs.
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Challah French Toast
Ingredients
- 12 slices challah, sliced 1 inch thick (cut larger slices in half)
- 1 cup milk
- 3 large eggs
- 1/4 cup flour
- 1 banana, ripe
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1-2 tablespoons rum, Kahlua, or Grand Marnier (optional)
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter
NOTES
Instructions
- This recipe works best with day-old or slightly stale challah bread. If your bread is fresh, you can take some of the moisture out by placing the slices on a baking sheet and putting them in a preheated 350 degree oven for 10 minutes, flipping the slices once halfway through cooking. This will dry the bread out a bit, which will help it soak up the moisture from the milk and egg mixture. If you don't have time for this step, no worries-- fresh bread will work too, it just won't soak up as much of the egg mixture.
- In a blender, combine the milk, eggs, flour, banana, brown sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, salt, and optional rum or liqueur. Blend for a few seconds until well mixed.
- Pour the liquid mixture into a shallow baking dish or pie plate.
- Soak your slices of challah in the liquid for about 60 seconds, turning once, until the bread is nicely saturated on both sides. This should be done in batches.
- Heat your skillet over medium and grease it with 2 tbsp butter.
- Fry the toast in two batches of 6 slices each.
- Let the slices brown nicely on each side for 3-5 minutes. Keep the heat on medium (or a little lower) to make sure the toast cooks through but doesn't burn.When the first batch of toast is cooked, regrease the pan with remaining 2 tbsp of butter and fry the second batch.
- Plate the French toast and garnish with powdered sugar, using a mesh strainer to lightly and evenly powder the toast with sugar.
Nutrition
This is my new go to recipe for French toast. The challah bread and addition of the banana makes it rich without overly sweet. I also have substituted soy milk for my lactose intolerant husband and still tastes delicious! Love it and so quick and easy. Thank you!!
I’m usually not a fan of french toast and neither is my wife, but WOW! I made this a few weeks ago and we ate the whole thing between the two of us. That batter plus the challah bread is amazing. Making it again tomorrow actually love this. Will be back looking at other recipes on your blog.
Thanks for letting us know how you liked the recipe Chris. Welcome to the blog!
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Hi Tori,
I am planning on trying this for Valentine’s day brunch, but I have a few questions about the Challah. I have made your regular Challah once before and it turned out beautifully. I was thinking of adding golden raisins and potentially cinnamon this time to better cater the bread toward french toast. Have you tried something similar? If so, did it turn out too sweet?
Also, I am planning on making the Challah today (Thurs. night) and the french toast on Sat. morning. Do you think this will be enough time for it to get to the correct level of stale. Or should I pre-cut slices and leave them out overnight?
Thanks so much for all the recipes and baking advice!
Hi Jennie, sorry I didn’t get back to you sooner, I spent Valentine’s week battling the flu. 🙁 For future reference, adding the raisins and cinnamon to the dough shouldn’t be a problem; it won’t sweeten the dough beyond the natural sweetness of the raisins themselves. You don’t need to wait for bread to get stale for French toast– just toast the bread slices lightly in the oven at 350 degrees on a baking sheet for 5-10 minutes till it’s dry and very lightly toasted. It will soak up the ingredients beautifully.
This was the best French toast I’ve ever had!
Awesome! Great to hear that Amy!
I stumbled upon your blog today and tried out this recipe. My husband and I both enjoyed the Challah French Toast. I really like the addition of the banana in the mixture. Thanks for sharing. I look forward to trying more of your recipes!
Glad you enjoyed it Stephanie!
I have become very addicted to your blog! My husband and I lived in Israel for a little while and would love to go back and live there with our children. Right now we live in Russia. Your blog brings some sanity back into my life when we are stuck inside due to cold weather. Thanks so much for teaching me to make Challah. Every time I make it we have to have Challah French Toast as well. Thanks again! It is delicious! Blessings!
Tori,
This was our first time making this recipe for desert after dinner and my princesses absolutely devoured it. I had to restrain them from finishing the pieces to be able to leave a couple for each of them for breakfast. We had a guest to visit and she loved the recipe! Thank you soooo much for sharing. Tera Nova tests are coming up for my daughters in their schools. My 1st born princess asked me to make more of these for breakfest during the weeklong testings! We love it!!
Fabulous!
Can the mixture for this recipe be refrigerated overnight to cut prep time in half? I emailed, but then noticed you said commenting responses might be faster! Either way…this recipe is worth the wait!
Hi Kelly– yes, but the mixture will likely settle overnight, so you may need to whisk it to refresh in the morning. Also, the banana may oxidize a bit and give the mixture a brownish color– but don’t worry, it will be masked by the cooking process when he toast turns golden brown. I wouldn’t keep it in the fridge for longer than 24 hours, but overnight should be fine. Enjoy!
Tried it for the first time for a brunch of 10 women! They devoured it and it was so easy to make. Everyone adjusted the toast to their level of sweetness and it was perfect in texture and not soggy at all. Love the extra banana and rum in the mix. I will try it again for my hubby tomorrow! THank you for this amazing recipe!
Fantastic! So happy you enjoyed it. 🙂