A super soft and custard-y japanese tamagoyaki inspired french toast is 100 percent the best way to start the day.
I am a true lover of french toast and all it’s varieties. I’m pretty sure I’ve talked about my dream french toast restaurant before – the one that would kind of be like IHOP but for french toast instead of pancakes. Needless to say, I’m a french toast fanatic. I like to try french toasts wherever we travel to. Usually they tend to be just like the classic french toast: bread dipped in eggs and milk and fried, but sometimes I encounter a new style of french toast.
My most recent french toast obsession is Japanese french toast! It’s soft and custardy and very similar to classic french toast while being completely different.
What is Japanese Style French Toast
Japanese style french toast is almost just like regular – it uses bread and eggs and is fried, but somehow the sum of its parts ends up being different than the french toast you know and love.
First off, Japanese french toast starts off with shokupan: super fluffy milk bread. The crusts are almost always cut off and the super soft and fluffy bread soaks up liquid like a sponge. They also tend to soak their bread in a more custard-y egg mix with eggs, milk or cream, and sugar. The bread is soaked for a long time so that the bread is completely saturated. There’s a famous french toast at a popular Tokyo hotel that soaks their bread overnight which results in the most tender, custard-y french toast ever. The bread is then cooked low and slow ensuring that the insides are creamy and cooked through while the outsides are just the slightest bit golden. The eggs get puffy and fluffy and it is just SO GOOD. Lots of the cafes in Tokyo do Japanese style french toast as well.
What is Tamagoyaki
Tamagoyaki (literally grilled egg) is one of my favorite sushi pieces. It’s the one that is bright yellow and looks like egg (duh!) and is sweet and savory and really good. Essentially it’s a rolled omelette made with with eggs seasoned with soy sauce and mirin (a kind of sweet Japanese very low alcohol content rice wine). I love making tamagoyaki and I love french toast so I thought I’d combine the two into the ultimate Japanese french toast, mixing sweet and savory.
Reasons Why You Should Make Japanese Tamagoyaki Inspired French Toast
You love french toast.
You love tamagoyaki.
You have some mirin in the pantry and want to use it up.
You have some fluffy bread hanging around.
You love custard-y french toast and hate french toast that is dry in the middle.
You want to try a new french toast technique!
How to Make Tamagoyaki French Toast
- Cut the bread into thick slices and trim the crusts off the bread.
- Create a savory egg custard mix by whisking together the eggs, cream, sugar, soy, and mirin. For an extra smooth french toast, strain the mixture.
- Soak the bread for minimum 1 hour on both sides, flipping carefully. If you can go longer, do it – you want the bread to be completely saturated.
- Heat up a bit of oil in a non-stick pan over very low heat. Let the piece of bread drain a little bit then place in the pan and cook, covered, on very low heat for about 8-10 minutes. Use an offset spatula and take a peek, the bottom should be golden and the top should be puffy. Flip, cover, and continue to cook until golden and puffed up. Serve on a plate with powdered sugar, syrup, and whipped cream, if desired.
Tips and Tricks
If you can, use shokupan, milk bread, or bread you buy at the Asian grocery store. It has the fluffiness and ability to absorb the custard. Best is if you buy unsliced bread so you can cut it into thick slices for extra fluffy french toast.
Strain the egg mixture before soaking the bread. It’s an extra step that might seem a bit extraneous but if you want french toast that’s a uniform golden yellow and doesn’t have bits of egg whites speckling the surface, this is what you want to do.
Soak the bread as long as you can, evenly on both sides to ensure that the custard saturates and soaks all the way through. This is not a french toast recipe that has dry insides. You can even soak overnight. This of course depends on your bread though. If it’s too fresh, it might just fall apart on you, so make sure you keep an eye on it.
Cook on extremely low heat and take your time. The key to cooking the custard all the way through is low heat, covered. The low heat, combined with the fact that the pan is covered will make your toast puff up gently and ensures softness and jiggles.
If you love fluffy Japanese pancakes, you’ll love this fluffy Japanese french toast! I hope you give it a try and if you do, tag @iamafoodblog on instagram, I’d love to see!
fluffy breakfast foods forever,
xoxo steph
Super Soft and Custard-y Japanese Style French Toast
Ingredients
- 2 slices thick cut bread preferably shokupan
- 2 large eggs
- 1/4 cup cream
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 1 tbsp soy low sodium
- 1 tbsp mirin
- oil for the pan
To Serve
- whipped cream
- maple syrup
- powdered sugar
Instructions
- Trim the crusts off the bread and set aside.
- In a liquid measuring cup, whisk together the eggs, cream, sugar, soy, and mirin. If you want to go the extra mile, strain the egg mixture.
- Divide the egg mixture equally between two shallow bowls and add one slice of bread to each. Let soak for 1-2 hours covered, in the fridge, then very gently flip and let soak, covered, for another hour to two.
- When ready to cook, heat up a non-stick pan over very low heat. Add a touch of oil and add the custard soaked bread (let the excess drip back into the shallow bowl) and cook, over low heat, covered, for 8-10-15 minutes, until slightly golden on the bottom side. Gently flip and continue to cook, covered, until the other side is golden and the toast is puffy.
- Serve and enjoy hot, either unadorned or with whipped cream, syrup, and powdered sugar, if desired.
24 Comments
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-Steph & Mike
I started to think about making savory version of this. Maybe with panfried teriyaki mushrooms, sautéed greens and scallions.
Thanks for the recipe!
Oh my god! I have to try this!
I love french toast, this recipe came out amazing! Thanks for the share!
yay so happy you liked it!
I’m confused, soak for 1 hr but only 20m prep time?
hi joel,
i didn’t include the one hour soak, since it’s not technically hands on prep
Simply delicious, loved it!
will have to find some shokupan bread! thank you, love the idea of a lighter, custard-like french toast
Hi there!
Thanks for posting all of these delicious recipes! I am really looking forward to trying a lot of them, post-quarantine obviously. For those of us who can’t find shokupan, or Milk Bread, near us, any chance you could post a recipe so we can give it a shot ourselves? Thanks again and keep up the great work!!
hi rem!
yes, when i get my hands on regular baking yeast, i’ll post a shokupan recipe :) in the meantime, if you have white bread, you can give it a try as well. it won’t be as fluffy but it’ll still taste good!
Cook’s Illustrated has a recipe (with Andrea Geary) and a link to their recommended Pullman pan on Amazon. You should be able to find it via google. I made the recipe at over a mile of altitude and it turned out great! The reise time was a bit shorter but otherwise everything was the same.
Trader Joe’s market sells Milk Bread, but it’s not loaf shape slices. The store also sells thick sliced Brioche bread and I’ve been using that for French Toast. Really good!
I love Japanese-style French toast! It saved my life one day in Kobe when I was caught in a typhoon with my one-year-old. I went into a department store, everyone pitied me, I ate some of this and the world was dreamy again! :D
PS This works well with challah (we’re Jewish so have a plentiful supply) – I think you can get it in most English-speaking places easily enough.
Shokupan isn’t in my area so I optes for Texas toast. It was good but just a bit too salty for my family so next time I’ll do 1/2tbs of soy sauce.
Has any one tried to air fry this?
hi,
i haven’t tried air frying it but i think it would work. might be a bit drippy in the air fryer basket though.
I’m skeptical. The bread is very fragile when completely soaked through and very drippy. Flipping it in the air fryer would be tricky. Also, the recipe says to cook the toast low and slow in a covered skillet. Low and slow is not how I use my air fryer.
Have you tried freezing this after cooking? If so, how was it after thawing and how did you reheat it? I cook for my elderly mother and stock her freezer. This might be a nice treat.
i have not tried freezing it an reheating it, but i think it could work considering how they sell frozen french toast at the grocery store :)
made a loaf of Shokupan a couple days ago.
made the toast “fresh” (overnight soak)
It was great but wonder how it might have been if the cut slices had dried out a little.
Nice, easy recipe.
Thanks
Doug
Thanks for the awesome idea! I’m gonna do this milk bread and sake
Awesome recipe! Usually used brioche which doesnt need much soaking cos it “drinks” the egg mixture really quickly.
Switched to shokupan and was very sad that it was dry in the middle and googled for recipes.
Thank you so much. Gonna do it right the next round! 😉