My oldest daughter Cate got braces last week. She’s been a real trooper and it’s gone better than expected. But she is mourning the fact she can’t eat things like Kettle Brand Salt & Pepper Krinkle Chips for almost two years! (Seriously, though, she’s right. That sucks.) Cate usually eats wheat toast for breakfast and even that has been bothering her a bit. So this week I made my Grandma Blomquist’s homemade bread to cheer her up. My strategy worked.
This morning as I was dragging myself to the kitchen to get breakfast and lunches made, I remembered that Cate loves milk toast, which is basically toast soaked in milk. It’s a super old-school recipe and pretty much no one even knows what it is, but milk toast is delicious. And, despite being half asleep, I had a major LIGHTBULB! moment. Milk toast is the perfect breakfast for someone who just got braces, especially when that someone already loves milk toast. So I grabbed my homemade bread, made Cate milk toast and was declared the best mom ever.
The first time I made milk toast it was essentially because I was intrigued by the idea of this recipe, but I was not so sure that it would actually taste good. I had only heard people talk about it in a nostalgic way. Let’s be honest, nostalgic recipes can be hit or miss. I dove in anyway and am so glad I did because milk toast is AWESOME. It is mighty delicious and all my kids love it. I created a sweet milk toast recipe (as opposed to savory) and it’s a lot like eating bread pudding for breakfast. You can’t go wrong with that, amiright?
So, try this recipe. And then next time someone describes something as “milk toast” in a demeaning way, stand up for milk toast. Be sure to let that person know that milk toast is actually awesome. And send them this recipe. Everyone will thank me.
- 2 slices bread (preferably white and homemade!)
- ½ cup milk (divided into 6 tablespoons and 2 tablespoons)
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1 teaspoon butter
- ½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- ¾ teaspoon flour
- pinch salt
- butter for toast
- honey or cinnamon sugar for toast
- In a cereal bowl, whisk together 2 tablespoons of the milk with the flour, vanilla and salt. Set aside.
- In a small saucepan, whisk together the rest of the milk (6 tablespoons), sugar and the 1 teaspoon butter. Heat over medium-high heat, stirring regularly to avoid scorching. Cook until milk is steaming a lot and about to simmer. Give the cold milk-flour mixture a quick whisk then whisk it into the milk on the stove. Cook for 1 minute, whisking constantly. Remove from heat and set aside.
- Toast bread, butter then cover with cinnamon sugar or drizzle with honey. Cut bread into bite-sized pieces then place in cereal bowl you used earlier. Pour milk mixture over the toast, stir and let sit for about 30 seconds, pressing the pieces of bread and stirring to get the toast to absorb the milk.
- Eat!
Dishes pictured are from Q Squared NYC.
Hi! My name is Jane Maynard and you've landed yourself on my blog, This Week for Dinner™. Every Sunday I share a weekly menu...and count on you to share yours! You'll also find other deliciousness that I hope you'll enjoy!
Yum! This looks really good. Seeing this brought back memories of my Gma eating bread soaked in a bowl of buttermilk throughout my childhood. I’ll take your version!
yes, the buttery vanilla milk is probably a bit tastier than straight buttermilk! but I still love that she ate that! 🙂
Never knew milk toast was that simple! 🙂
It combines everything my kids love: toast, “cereal,” and milk. I think they may be on the milk toast train soon!
I believe your kids and my kids would get along great! 🙂
My grandma totally ate this!! But she didn’t toast the bread…just soggy bread in milk haha! I always thought it was so weird. But this recipe looks good…might need to try it! 🙂
she didn’t toast the bread?!?! hahaha! you’ll have to try this modified version in her honor 😉
I’m on antibiotics that make me nauseous right now, and I found this recipe googling for food that’s easy on the stomach. So easy to make and really tasty! My stomach thanks you!
you’re most welcome!! 🙂
I was looking up Milk Toast recipes because it’s always been a favorite comfort food to make on snow days and people think I’m crazy when I reminisce about it; seems not many people know about it. My mother used to make it for us when we were little but ours was made differently. I make it the way I remember it being made.
For one serving I put 2 eggs in a bowl along with vanilla, sugar, and sometimes cinnamon. I dredge the bread through the mixture and put it into a buttered heated pan and cook it like I do french toast. I add milk to the mixture and maybe a little more sugar and pour it over the toasted bread. Love it!
Thank you sharing, sounds tasty. I remember my grandma making milk toast a lot when I was little, but her version was very simple. Make toast, butter it, put in bowl and pour a little milk over it. For mine she would often adf a little bit of cinnamon and sugar.
*add
This looks and sounds much better than what I remember from my childhood. My grandmother was the daughter of an exceptional cook and homemaker who could not stand to have anyone in her kitchen so she had little to no training. I am told that my grandfather realized quickly that he needed to hire a cook/maid so he didn’t starve to death! Because they had hired help, my mother was not trained either. She learned a few things from the women who filled the position over the years but it was usually pretty strange (probably due to her age and not being in the kitchen much anyway!) and she had a few meals she would just cook repeatedly!
My mother used to make Milk toast by heating milk to the point where it began to get a skim on it. She added egg to the milk and torn pieces of white bread. She added salt and butter to almost everything and this was no exception. It was definitely an acquired taste! The bread was soggy and there was probably more milk that there should have been. It was okay and I’ve thought about making it over the years but haven’t. Your version looks good though and I’d love to try it!
oh how I love the comments on this post, with memories fond and otherwise! 😉 sarah, you’ll have to let me know if you try this new-to-you version! 🙂
Recipe calls for butter in two places, whisked with milk and sugar and spread on toast. There is only a listing for it spread on toast in indegredient list. Also think butter would be creamed with sugar or melted then whisked.
Hi Gail!
Butter is listed two times in the ingredients list – once as “1 teaspoon butter”, which is listed directly below “1 teaspoon sugar”, and then again as “butter for toast” (amount is variable depending on how you like to butter your toast). As for adding the 1 teaspoon of butter, you add it to the milk that is heated in the pan along with the sugar, so it will melt as the milk heats and you are whisking. See directions step #2.
Hope that is helpful!
Jane
My grandfather was blown out of a tank escorting Patton in World War II and had a severely broken back so he was stuck in a hospital in northern France for a long time. They made this particular recipe for him sometimes and of course he introduced it to my dad and me. You basically toast four pieces of bread. Start with a soup bowl. Butter each piece of toast and start stacking them one by one covering each with a coat of sugar. While you are doing this you should have a small pot of milk heating up on the stove. Once you get all the pieces of toast stacked in the bowl you pour the milk on top filling the bowl. Just for good measure you can reapply sugar to the top piece because the milk will surely wash it off and there you have it. The Holmes family version of milk toast
oh my goodness, thank you so much for sharing this! I appreciate it so much, what an amazing story and love the technique, will definitely try it. thank you again!
I’m a little late to the party, but I’m recovering from gallbladder surgery and was looking for something mild to sit in my stomach. Even though it has milk and butter (I drink 2% Lactaid and used real butter) it set well in my currently temperamental stomach, or maybe I’m just getting better. It probably helps that I’m a big fan of bread pudding!
so glad this sat well for you post-surgery. feel better soon! and I agree that anthing bread pudding related is the best! 🙂
Just adding a comment I received for this recipe, screen name “grumpy”:
I have tried to make milk toast from memories of my mother making it when we were children. We had more milk than we could use from the cow I milked, and fresh home churned butter mixed into the hot milk. Mine is not near as good as I remember it was back then. I am 85 and have to cook now, after all these years. I do miss my darling wife’s cooking.
I read this and i was six again! My mom’s version had butteredtoast, cherry preserves, and then added the warmed milk iver the top. She also used half and half at times..
My father [born in 1914] used to come home with a loaf of sheepherder bread and a glass bottle of what I think was cream [or maybe half and half from the dairy]. He would tear the bread into pieces in a large bowl, pour the ‘milk’ over it and sprinkle sugar on top. I have never seen anyone else do this and I have always wondered where it came from. I’m guessing it was his Kansas Farm version of milk toast! I’m in my 60’s now and he passed when I was a little girl – so this vivid memory is one of only a few. How nice to hear all the different versions of this popular meal!