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This is a sophisticated chocolate sourdough French toast for people who know what they want from the world. There’s just enough cocoa to make it deeply flavorful and special, and the hearty sourdough bread and generous egg quotient keep it — and you — well grounded.
Why we love this recipe
I first published this recipe here in 2016, when we were in Calgary visiting my good friend Roxane. She used to cook for the Queen of England but was, at that moment, cooking this chocolate sourdough French toast for us.
This recipe is:
- An elevated version of the classic dish
- A little bit chocolaty and a little bit savory
- Great topped with fresh fruit and whipped cream
In the years since publication, I’ve updated the post for clarity and tweaked the recipe a bit. If you like, you can scroll down below the recipe card to read the original text.
What you’ll need
Here’s a glance at the ingredients you’ll need to make this recipe.
- Use a good, hearty sourdough bread. Here I’ve pictured an artisanal loaf made with good-quality white bread flour. Roxane used a seeded loaf. It’s really up to you how hearty you want to go.
- I’ve called for whole milk, but you can make this recipe with any dairy or nondairy milk or cream of your choice. Roxane used soy milk in the original version.
- The better-quality the cocoa powder, the better the chocolate flavor — but you can use whatever kind you have on hand.
- I haven’t included toppings here, but this recipe is great as pictured in the photos of the final dish, with chopped fresh fruit and gently sweetened vanilla whipped cream. Berries, stone fruit, and bananas all work beautifully.
How to make it
Here’s an overview of what you’ll do to make a beautiful batch of chocolate sourdough French toast. You can see the steps in action in the video that accompanies this post, and get all the details in the recipe card below.
- Beat the eggs and a little bit of the milk together in a baking dish. Pour in the sugar and sift in the cocoa powder. Whisk until the cocoa powder is well incorporated.
- Pour in the remaining milk along with the vanilla and salt. Continue whisking until almost all of the lumps are gone.
- In batches, soak the bread slices in the batter. Depending on the structure of the bread, you will use most or all of the batter to saturate the bread completely.
- Melt some of the butter in a skillet and cook the French toast in uncrowded batches, flipping once, until lightly browned and cooked through. If you like, you can keep slices warm in a 250°F oven while you cook the rest. Top with fresh cut fruit and whipped cream if you like.
Expert tips and FAQs
This recipe makes a great meal all by itself or with some really good bacon.
French toast is at its best right after cooking. If you like, you can keep the early slices warm in a 250°F oven while you cook the rest.
Leftovers will keep in an airtight container in the fridge for a week and can be reheated with a quick spin in the oven or toaster oven.
More favorite gently sophisticated breakfasts
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Chocolate Sourdough French Toast
Ingredients
For the French toast
- 5 eggs
- 1 ½ cups (350 ml) whole milk
- ¼ cup (50 grams) granulated sugar
- ¼ cup (25 grams) unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon fine salt
- 1 loaf, about (566 grams) hearty sourdough bread
- 4 tablespoons (56 grams) butter
To serve
- Chopped fresh berries, stone fruit, and/or banana
- Whipped cream
Instructions
- Crack the eggs into a 9×13-inch baking dish and whisk.
- Whisk in a little bit of the milk.
- Pour in the sugar and sift in the cocoa powder. Whisk until the cocoa powder is well incorporated.
- Pour in the remaining milk, along with the vanilla and salt. Continue whisking until almost all of the lumps are gone.
- Slice the bread about 3/4 inch thick, reserving the crusty ends for another use.
- In batches, soak the bread slices in the batter. Depending on the structure of the bread, you will use most or all of the batter to saturate the bread completely.
- Set a frying pan over medium heat or set an electric skillet in the medium range. Throughout cooking, you may need to toggle between medium and medium-low to brown the French toast and cook it through in complementary timeframes.
- Melt some of the butter on the pan or skillet, in proportion to the number of slices you'll be cooking at once.
- Cook the French toast in uncrowded batches, flipping once, until lightly browned and cooked through.
- If you like, you can keep slices warm in a 250°F oven while you cook the rest.
- Top with fresh cut fruit and whipped cream and serve right away.
Notes
- Use a good, hearty sourdough bread. Here I've pictured an artisanal loaf made with good-quality white bread flour. Roxane used a seeded loaf. It's really up to you how hearty you want to go.
- I've called for whole milk, but you can make this recipe with any dairy or nondairy milk or cream of your choice. Roxane used soy milk in the original version.
- French toast is at its best right after cooking. If you like, you can keep the early slices warm in a 250°F oven while you cook the rest.
- Leftovers will keep in an airtight container in the fridge for a week and can be reheated with a quick spin in the oven or toaster oven.
- Back in 2016, Roxane referred to several recipes in developing this one, including one from a website that we couldn't find again and also the chocolate French toast from the blog Handle the Heat. If we do ultimately uncover the original reference, I'll add it here. Either way, she adapted it substantially, as one does, having previously catered for the Queen of England.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Here’s the 2016 text.
Hello again from beautiful western Canada. We’ve just arrived in Vancouver after an hourlong flight from Calgary and are sitting at a Starbucks waiting for our airbnb to be ready across the street. I guess it’s been a long time since I’ve occupied a whole corner of an urban Starbucks with too many bags, hogging a power outlet with my phone charger and laptop, because hoo-boy do I feel like I’m back in law school again studying and scheming with my friend Abby. After a week hiking the bejeezus out of Banff National Park and the surrounding areas, we’re experiencing a bit of culture shock being back in a big city. More on all of that in future posts, though. For now, chocolate French toast.
A talented chef and caterer
We spent a handful of lucky days last week staying with our dear friends in Calgary. We had a top-notch lunch out at one of Calgary’s few vegetarian restaurants and ate some delicious ice cream (more on that later, too) — but mostly we took advantage of the fact that our host Roxane is a talented chef and caterer. One day she made us two separate breakfasts (!!) — crepes for the kids (which of course I tried too) and this beautiful granola with yogurt and rhubarb compote.
A sophisticated take on French toast
Another day we had a sophisticated take on chocolate French toast, made from hearty sourdough bread and piled with fresh berries and chopped stone fruit. I think this is the first time I’ve posted a recipe on the blog that I haven’t cooked myself, but I watched and ate and applied a bit of my own French toast experience when writing the recipe, so I don’t think you’d be out of your mind to trust me. (That said, I’ll cook it myself when we get home and make any adjustments necessary.) I also have designs on posting a 20-minute sushi bowl dinner that she whipped up one night, but that one I’ll have to rebuild from memory and wish-we-were-still-there conversations later in the summer.
Until then, treat yourself to some chocolate French toast and a hike or two. Hope you’re all enjoying the tail end of the summer.
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