I’d give French Toast the edge on wow factor. FT can be magnificent, I’ve never had a pancake that could be described as magnificent. FT, OTOH, can also be lousy, it depends on the interaction of the bread and egg and heat that leaves it open for winding up soggy or burnt or dry in the middle.
If I know it will be well made, it’s FT. Waffles then get the edge for the more complex texture, but are harder to make at home, especially for a crowd. You wind up spending all morning waiting on the waffle iron.
For a crowd, pancakes are where it’s at. Easy to make, reliable if you are moderately able in the kitchen, you can customize with throwins like fruit or chocolate chips, and you can make them in bunches.
I can’t remember when, if ever, I’ve had French toast. I even had to look it up to make sure I know what it is. Yep, egg soaked bread. I’ll pass.
Gimme a giant stack of fluffy pancakes. Waffles are okay but I don’t love the texture.
I’d consider French toast even easier, especially for a beginner. It’s just dip (soak a little perhaps) & fry, basically. With pancakes you need some skills to be able to know when to flip, how to flip, etc. It’s a lot easier to screw up pancakes, IMHO, than French toast.
I don’t understand the difficulty. It’s a standard, sweet, carby American breakfast. If you had me name the quintessential American sweet breakfasts, it’d be pancakes, French toast, and waffles. They’re all take similar toppings, and are made from similar ingredients.
I am a fan of all maple syrup delivery vehicles. But ever since I started baking my own sourdough bread, French toast blows the other two out of the water. Waffles are second place (so long as they’re crispy and not fluffy), but I do have a soft spot for pancakes because my mom made them when I was a kid for special occasions.
French toast is best if done right. I like it sous vide–it gets cooked all the way through and then gets crisped up in a cast iron pan–fluffy on the inside, crispy on the outside.
On the other hand, if you include dutch baby pancakes, those are a close second.
Waffles. I never cared for pancakes. French toast isn’t much more appealing to me than pancakes.
When my mother made waffles she’d never pour the batter all the way to the edge because she didn’t want it to spill over the edges, so they were always kind of amorphous blob shaped.
I almost only ever make pancakes. The recipe was memorized as a child and I always have the ingredients.
I don’t own a waffle iron. I’ve thought about getting one but I’m reluctant to get more single-use kitchen stuff.
I do like french toast but I rarely have bread sitting around on Sunday morning (I only make these three on Sunday. Saturday is eggs. Hot or cold cereal on weekdays.)
At a restaurant? I’m probably ordering eggs over any of the above.