Allergens complicate eating…we know this. But let’s forget that and make French Toast without most of the common allergens!
What? Yes, I said it, and I’ll say it again, today we are making French Toast without Gluten, Grain, Dairy, Egg, Soy, Corn, Almond, Cashew, Peanut, or Sesame!
How Do You Make French Toast Without Allergens? You Break The Recipe!
Welcome to Break A Recipe! My name is Nina, and my passion is Breaking Recipes and making them without common allergens. And the best part…they don’t look or taste much different than the original! When the gluten and dairy lovers ask for seconds, you know it’s good!
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So let’s talk French Toast! Most French Toast Recipes call for bread, milk, eggs, sugar, and butter….but those are all allergens, inflammatory foods, or both! How can we possibly make this Allergen Friendly? There’s literally nothing but allergens in it!
That’s what we do here at Break A Recipe! I create the recipes, and you get to enjoy them with your friends and family! We get allergen friendly foods without grain, and that’s pretty awesome!
When people ask me how I cook without allergens I tell them my secret ingredient is Unicorn Farts! They laugh, and then I get to tell them how I developed a grain-free flour blend which I use in all of my grain-free baking. It’s made from Tapioca Flour, Coconut flour, and chickpea flour. This flour is designed to mimic the components of white flour: starch, protein, and fiber. With this grain-free flour blend and a little xanthan gum, I can bake breads, cookies, cakes and more! You can blend it up at home, keep it on the counter or in the cupboard and bake like you normally would–plus a little xanthan gum.
If you’re wondering why I prefer Xanthan Gum over Psyllium, it doesn’t seem to work well in my recipes. I’ve tried it and because of the alternate ingredients I use, Xanthan Gum continues to be my preferred binder. To read how I broke a recipe with psyllium, click here for the blog post. Another reason I will continue to use xanthan gum over psyllium husk powder, Xanthan Gum does not turn my whole body into one big hive! There’s a lesson I only need to learn once!
Back to the French Toast
Why does the best food have to take so much work? I don’t mind working over a full meal for hours if I get leftovers and the feeling of satisfaction. And a little time to clean up while the food is cooking is always helpful.
With French Toast, it’s not just the prep work like making the batter and cooking the slices, the meticulous work and constant attention required to not over soak the bread, but making sure you soak it enough; keeping the griddle clean and greased just enough; flipping at just the right time; and keeping the slices warm but not dried out until you serve them…
Today, We Are Making French Toast the Lazy Way!
Easy right? We’ll just find someone else to make it for us?
That will not be part of the recipe (but if you can, all the better!)
Here’s What Makes Our French Toast Lazy
- No Soaking Bread To Be Just Right/ No Over Soaking It Either.
- No Flipping
- No Keeping the Griddle Clean and Greased
- No Keeping Slices Warm While Other Slices Cook
- Minimal Cleaning Up Once It’s Done
- No Worrying About The Slices Drying Out
We’re not going to do any of that and we’re going to get French Toast?
Better!
We’re going to get Lazy French Toast without Gluten, Dairy, Egg, Grain, Soy, Nuts, or any of the top allergens!
“If we aren’t using those ingredients, then what’s left?”
I love it when people ask me that question!!! I always answer with “Unicorn Farts!” Because the world needs more laughter.
Once we finish laughing, I explain that I use ingredients like the ones in my Grain-Free Flour Blend: tapioca flour, chickpea flour, and coconut flour, to take the place of traditional white flour. You blend up the flours in less than 5 minutes and then you bake like normal. It’s the flour recipe I use in all my grain free baking! Pin it so you can find it later.
In this recipe, we’ll also use two types of coconut milk, coconut sugar, cream of tartar, baking soda, vanilla, pumpkin spice or cinnamon, dairy free butter. Now that you know what we’ll need let’s go shopping!
Are you ready to Break A Recipe?
Let’s Start With A
Shopping List
If you’re looking for equipment or ingredients, the links below will take you to the ingredients and equipment I use in my own kitchen.
Ingredients
- Grain Free/ Gluten Free Bread To make your own, Click here for My Recipes
- Coconut Milk (Canned)
- Coconut Milk (In the carton)
- Chickpea Flour
- Coconut Sugar
- Vanilla Flavoring
- Cream of Tartar
- Baking Soda
- Xanthan Gum
- Pumpkin Spice / Cinamon
- Dairy Free Butter
Equipment
- 9×13 Casserole
- Electric Mixer
- Glass Mixing Bowl (treat yourself to one with a handle please)
- Liquid measuring cup
- Dry Measuring cup
- Adjustable measuring spoons
- Whisk
These ingredients and equipment are what I use in my own kitchen. As an amazon associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. If you purchase anything through an affiliate link, I earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. Thank you for helping to “keep the lights on,” here at Break A Recipe.
Enough With the Words, Let’s Break A Recipe!
Lazy French Toast
Equipment
- 9×13 Baking Pan
- Measuring cups
- Electric mixer or stand mixer
- Adjustable measuring spoons
- Glass Mixing Bowl
Ingredients
- 4 Cups Cubed Grain Free/ Gluten Free Bread (about half a loaf)
- ¼ Cup Dairy Free Butter
- 1 13.5 ounce Can of Full Fat Coconut Milk I like Native Forest Simple
- 1 ½ Cups Chickpea Flour
- 2 Cups Refrigerated Coconut Milk (in the carton)
- ¾ teaspoon Xanthan Gum
- ¾ teaspoon Baking Soda
- 1½ teaspoon Cream of Tartar
- ¼ Cup Coconut Sugar
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla
- 1 teaspoon Pumpkin Spice / Cinnamon
Instructions
- Slice bread into cubes. Spread into one layer on cutting board to go stale. Leave out overnight if possible. (You can omit this step if you would like your bread to absorb less batter)
- Preheat Oven to 400°F Grease a 9×13 baking dish.
- In a glass mixing bowl, microwave dairy free butter 30 seconds to melt. Add canned coconut milk. If Coconut milk has any solid chunks, this is normal. Microwave 30 seconds at a time until soft.
- Using an electric mixer, blend in chickpea flour until there are no clumps and mixture is blended evenly. Add refrigerated coconut milk and blend until well mixed.
- Sprinkle xanthan gum, cream of tartar, and baking soda over the top of batter, mix 1 minute on 2. Batter will thicken as you mix.
- Add coconut sugar, vanilla, and pumpkin spice, using electric mixer. Mix 1 additional minute on 2. (The batter will have thickened substantially by the time you finish).
- Arrange gluten free/ grain-free bread cubes in a single layer in greased baking dish. Evenly pour batter into pan. Bake at 400° for 15 minutes.
- After Lazy French Toast has baked for 15 minutes at 400°F, lower temperature to 350°F bake 15-30 minutes. Lazy French Toast is done when cake tester is inserted and can be removed clean.
Notes
It can’t be that easy!
Just cube the bread, mix the batter, pour it over the bread, and bake it? Come on Nina, there’s got to be more to it!
No, It really is that easy!
That’s how we cook at Break a Recipe!
Let’s Watch Lazy French Toast Happen!
I really mean it.
If you can cut bread and use a mixer, you can make Lazy French Toast!
What about techniques?
We aren’t using special equipment. We’re using ingredients that are easily available in your local grocery store of within a day or two online. Okay, I confess I have a special technique…
Remember, this is Break a Recipe, I am not known for following rules in the kitchen. How could I get allergen friendly food that doesn’t taste different from the original version if I followed the rules?
Recipes are meant to be broken!
Traditional recipes ask you to blend the dry ingredient and mix them all at once..I NEVER DO THIS! I find it leads to clumping and over mixing of some ingredients while others don’t get mixed enough. Specifically I find it beats the “rise” out of them.
Keeping the xanthan gum and leavening agents aside until the chickpea flour is mixed gives a little extra pizzaz to this recipe. Sprinkling the xanthan gum and leavening agents over the top of the batter after the wet ingredients are mixed with the chickpea flour prevents chickpea flour from clumping before it’s mixed. It keeps the fluff in the batter by not over mixing the leavening ingredients! Can you believe it?
How will you know you’re sprinkling it right? Pretend you’re sprinkling Unicorn Farts and you want to gently cover the batter…that’s it. That’s all there is to it. If you accidentally get a clump–something that looks like a pebble pick it up and squish it between your fingers and sprinkle on!
That’s it. That’s the only special technique.
If you’re wondering more about how the recipe works, I would love to go all food nerd and explain!!
Let’s take a deeper dive into our ingredients!
Why do we use two different types of coconut milk?—-the canned coconut milk, takes the place of heavy cream, giving our Lazy French Toast a deeper richer flavor than if we just used refrigerated coconut milk in the carton. But the refrigerated coconut milk in the carton mixes with the chickpea flour to take the place of eggs!
What does the Chickpea Flour Do?—Chickpea flour takes the place of eggs in this recipe. Combined with the xanthan gum, cream of tartar, and baking soda, you can’t get much closer to the actual eggs than this combination. For an egg replacer recipe to use in your baking, click here. For an egg replacer recipe to cook for scrambled eggs and omelettes click here.
Why coconut sugar? We’re using coconut a lot in this recipe…it’s kind of my version of culinary duct tape! Given enough time and enough tries, I really think I could break any recipe with coconut! Coconut Sugar has a lower glycemic index than cane sugar, it requires less insulin for our bodies to digest, affects our blood sugar less, and is less inflammatory than cane sugar. It has a rich caramel-like flavor that enhances our Lazy French Toast! If you are watching your sugar intake, you can omit this ingredient.
Why Vanilla Flavoring and not Extract? —extracts are made from alcohol and that means grain! In the interest of avoiding migraines, inflammation, hives, and other symptoms I prefer to use vanilla flavoring. I use Frontier Natural Organic Vanilla Flavoring, it’s one of my favorite brands. In our Lazy French Toast, the Vanilla gives a richness to the flavor. Whenever I make French Toast without Vanilla Flavoring, I always regret it. Feel free to omit or increase the amount according to your taste.
What is Cream of Tartar? –Not dairy at all, Cream of Tartar is a leavening agent. If we’re going to make our Lazy French Toast look, feel, and taste like it’s made with eggs we can’t forget to add the famous “fluff” eggs provide! In combination with the xanthan gum, and baking soda, cream of tartar will help “fluff” our Lazy French Toast.
Why Baking Soda?--No kitchen is complete without baking soda! For odor absorption, cleaning, and leavening baked goods, it’s best not to run out. It’s also best to keep separate containers for use with food and cleaning. In this recipe baking soda works with the cream of tartar and xanthan gum to fluff the chickpea flour to make it act like eggs.
What is Xanthn Gum?–Xanthan gum is the closest thing to Unicorn Farts I have ever found! It is a thickener, binder, and emulsifier, which allows gluten free baked goods and egg free egg dishes to maintain their structure without the proteins from those ingredients. Many varieties of xanthan gum use wheat, dairy, soy, or corn as their base culture. That’s a problem when we’re talking allergens. I recommend Authentic Foods Xanthan Gum because it’s free of those and I can use it safely!
Pumpkin Spice / Cinnamon—Most French Toast recipes call for cinnamon. We like pumpkin spice at our house. Maybe it’s a New England thing, or maybe it’s because the spices blend so perfectly cinnamon seems to be flat without them. Use the spice that you prefer.
So there you have it! We Broke A Recipe for Lazy French Toast, did a little photo how to, and took a deeper dive into our ingredients. You’re ready to rock the Grain-Free Allergen Friendly Cooking like a boss! If I’ve missed anything please reach out and ask. You help me improve my blog posts when you do this. You can contact me using the social media links below, leave a comment here, or email me directly at breakarecipe@gmail.com. I’d love for you to subscribe to my newsletter so I can share tips and behind the scenes info with you each week.
Before You Go…
Thank you for reading, for trying this recipe, and for taking a chance on a recipe made with unique ingredients!
You’ll find it’s easy to make, and your body will feel much better after eating it. You will find your gluten-and grain loving friends going for seconds!
If you’re cooking this for someone with allergies, thank you again for supporting them. You’re an amazing friend. Pin this recipe so you can share it with those who need it, and find it later!
Please tell me how your recipe turned out when you make it. Click here to reach me directly. You can also find me on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or Pinterest using the links below. I really enjoy your feedback and comments. I can’t wait to hear how your recipe turned out!
Come connect with others who cook without grains. Life’s better with Foodie Friends. We’d love to have you join us in Grain-Free Lifestyle And Support Community.
Nina’s lazy French toast is amazing! I made it for my little girl and she absolutely loved it! She’d been requesting French toast for a few weeks, but I wasn’t sure how to make it without eggs. Thank you so much for sharing!
Oh my goodness! I am so glad your little girl loved my Lazy French Toas. Everyone deserves to eat their favorite foods safely! No one should have to miss out because of allergies. You are an amazing mom for searching for a safe way for your little girl to enjoy her favorite foods!