Ever wonder what to do with a food once it’s past its prime? A hundred years ago that was often a problem. For example, the homemade bread would often go stale before it was all eaten, and the non-pasteurized milk that most people drank often soured.
The solution was to make a dish that was even tastier than the original foods. The century-old recipe that I found for Sour Milk French Toast calls for – well, you guessed it – sour milk and stale bread.
I had neither sour milk nor stale bread, but decided to give the recipe a try. I used vinegar to “sour” the milk. (Lemon juice would also work.). And, I used day-old homemade bread (though commercially made bread would also work well).
This recipe made a tasty French toast that I’ll definitely make again.
Here’s the original recipe:
And, here’s the recipe updated for modern cooks:
Sour Milk French Toast
2 -3 slices bread
1/2 cup milk
1 1/2 teaspoons vinegar or lemon juice (I used vinegar.)
1 egg, slightly beaten
1/3 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon sugar
2 tablespoons flour
butter
shortening or lard
Stir together milk, vinegar, egg, salt, baking soda, sugar, and flour to create a thin batter. Dip each slice of bread in the batter.
In the meantime, heavily grease griddle or skillet with a mixture of butter, and shortening, or lard. (The old recipe suggests that a mixture of butter and lard might add a nice flavor.) Heat griddle or skillet, and put prepared slices of bread on it. Brown bottom side; flip and brown on other side. Remove from heat and serve immediately.
A Hundred Years Ago 
Oh this is brilliant. I make all our bread. Every now and then the milk gets away from me. I can imagine using this often. Many thanks.
People were so thrifty and clever back then. Now we would just throw it out.
Great idea to keep in mind. Thanks for finding that and sharing it.
I’ve saved this and plan to make it soon. I’ve always thrown together the batter with varying results. Marvelous recipe, Sheryl. Many thanks.
Do you know how many years it’s been since I bought shortening?! And never lard. I can’t even imagine. Crisco? Looks so good.
Most interesting. I haven’t made French Toast with soda and flour in the batter. I must give it a try. I might add a bit of yogurt to sour the milk.
Would this have the same texture as using sour dough bread? Either way it does sound delicious.
I’ll definitely have to try this. French toast is one of my favorites and this is a great use of ingredients that would have to be thrown out otherwise. Thanks for sharing!
I had no idea you could cook with sour milk. How inventive!
I know sour milk makes a good cake..I’ll have to try this. Thank you for the idea!
I was brought up on various sour milk dishes. Specifically sour milk soup – simply a dish of chilled sour milk, a favourite of my father, who was Polish.
My grandmother made sour milk cookies–I remember them as the best cookies ever!
oh my goodness! Really? Y’all don’t use your sour milk? Soon as we get soured milk, my crew crows, “waffles on Sunday!” But I’ve never heard of it used in French toast. VERY interesting.
Sour milk isn’t used much in the U.S. any more. It’s use was much more common back when people used raw milk which soured fairly quickly (and made a wonderful cooking ingredient). If your family likes waffles made with sour milk, they’d also like Sour Milk French Toast.