How Restaurants Make Toast & French Toast

When restaurants make their toast, why does it taste better than yours? When making plain toast, there is really only one secret ingredient that they are using that separates them apart from the home cooker. It really isn’t that secret at all actually.

Making the toast is really easy, even when it is done at restaurants. Most restaurants will buy their bread from a supplier, or get the same bread that is commonly bought at a grocery store, from a supplier. So most of the time, the secret isn’t in what bread they are using.

This doesn’t mean that some restaurants don’t make their own bread from scratch. Some of them do, but the bread usually only affects the texture rather than the taste. There are definitely certain types of bread that can make toast better for both regular toast and french toast, but the game changer is in what is placed on the toast most of the time.

Do restaurants put ingredients in their bread to make toast taste better?

If they are making their own bread from scratch, then yes they do put ingredients in their bread sometimes to make it taste better, but not always. Some create their own bread for toast to give it a better taste, texture, or both.

Of course, this requires a little more effort; so some restaurants will make their own bread from scratch at a bakery, and then have it delivered to the restaurant as needed.

When it comes to making french toast, the main ingredients are already soaked into the bread in the process of making it, so it isn’t necessary to put them into the bread before the french toast is created. Later we will go over exactly how restaurants make french toast step by step, and the equipment they use.

Since toast is made in a very simplistic way, it would benefit a restaurant more to add extra ingredients in their bread if they are even making it from scratch to begin with. Most of the time toast is just an extra addition to the main course, so additional efforts to create toast aren’t exaggerated by some restaurants. They keep it simple, just like the average home cooker.

Then why does their toast taste better than mine?

Even though a lot of restaurants do the same things (or similar) to the average home chef, they are putting more effort by simply using more butter than the average person would.

This is really the only secret to why their toast tastes better (if it’s toast with butter that they are making). If it isn’t toast with butter that they are making, and it is just plain toast, then it most likely is the ingredients in the bread that are making it taste better.

How Restaurants Make Toast With Butter

As mentioned, restaurants that don’t make their own bread, will just simply buy it from another company. They will receive pallets loaded with bread weekly, depending on how much bread they are selling. Either way, this is a common way that restaurants will make toast:

1. They use a commercial flat top grill.
   • Flat top grills are commonly used to mass produce toast and many other foods in a restaurant. They can get really hot and toast bread in under 30 seconds, making them ideal for restaurants.
2. They use a butter roller (butter wheel).
   • Butter wheels are small hand sized cylinders that are placed in containers that roll on the surface of the melted liquid butter that rests in the container underneath the cylinder. The butter covers the cylinder, and bread is used to grab the butter and roll it again. It smothers the surface of the bread, then that surface is cooked on flat top grills until it is golden brown.
3. They use a spatula and butter.
   • Some restaurants will just simply use a spatula to spread the butter on their toast instead of a butter roller, but the butter roller is still more effective.

The key thing for restaurants when making toast with butter is the amount of butter they are using on their toast before they grill it.

They cover one side of the bread completely with butter before they toast that side. Buttering one side completely is all that is needed to make the toast taste better.

Some restaurants of course use other methods to toast their bread, but the flat top grill was one of the most common ways. Some restaurants just use a frying pan on the stove, while others would use an oven or toaster to make their toast.

How Restaurants Make French Toast

Restaurants make french toast in a very simple way. They make a batter first for their bread, they cover both sides of the bread with the batter, and then they cook both sides on a flat top grill. Here is how it is done step-by-step:

1. The restaurant makes a batter.
   • They create a batter for the bread to be dipped in. This mixture usually consists of milk, eggs, sugar, cinnamon, and vanilla. All of these ingredients are whisked together in a mixing bowl.
2. They cover both sides of the bread with the batter.
   • By skimming the bread on the surface of the batter, it is prepped for grilling.
3. They put butter on the grill.
   • In the spot where they will place the battered bread, they put a substantial amount of butter to cover that surface.
4. They cook both sides of the bread.
   • They lay the bread on top of the butter on the flat top grill and cook both sides of the toast until they are golden brown.

Any additional ingredients, like berries or peaches (and of course syrup) are placed on the french toast after it is cooked. Sometimes extra powered sugar is sprinkled on the toast too.

This is the whole process that a restaurant uses to make their french toast. As stated, restaurants may use different types of bread for making their french toast. They may use brioche bread, which already has milk and eggs in its ingredients, or just simply use white bread. Some restaurants even use plain old wonder bread. The same bread found in grocery stores. It just might be the thicker version of the bread, like Texas Toast for example.

How To Make French Toast Like The Restaurants

This is what you will need to make french toast like the restaurants in your own home:

• A Frying Pan.
• A Bowl for mixing.
• A Whisk.
• ¼ Cup of Milk (Preferably Whole Milk).
• 1 Tablespoon of Sugar or Powered Sugar
• 2 Whole Large Eggs
• A Dash of Salt
• A Teaspoon of Vanilla Extract
• A Teaspoon of Cinnamon
• Butter
• Texas Toast or Thicker Bread sliced from a loaf of bread.

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1. Pour 1/4 cup of milk into a bowl.
2. Mix 2 large eggs into the bowl, mixing each egg one at a time into the milk.
3. Add a dash of salt.
4. Add 1 tablespoon of sugar or powered sugar.
5. Add 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract.
6. Add 1 teaspoon of cinnamon.
7. Whisk it all together until it is thoroughly mixed. This is your batter.
8. Heat the stove top to almost high heat setting.
9. Put the frying pan on the stove.
10. Put enough butter in the frying pan to cover the bottom of the frying pan when the butter is melted. Let the frying pan heat for 2 to 3 minutes.
    • You only need enough butter to keep the toast from sticking to the frying pan.
11. Grab a piece of bread and dip each side of the bread into the toast by skimming it on the surface of the batter. Dip it briefly into the batter, do not soak the bread in the batter, but make sure the bread is fully covered.
12. Place the battered covered bread into the frying pan.
13. Let it cook until it is golden brown on that side, then flip it and cook the other side until it is golden brown.
    • Don’t lift the bread to check to see if it is golden brown until it has cooked for atleast 25 seconds.
14. Take it out of the frying pan.

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