French Toast Bake
Do you ever find yourself stuck in a rut making the same meals over and over again?? I sure do. My brain doesn’t always get creative in the kitchen and I find it much easier to just make something I am familiar with, rather than think outside the box.
This French Toast Bake is one of those recipes that takes a familiar breakfast outside the box in how its prepared and made and enhances the flavor. You may never make French Toast the same way again after this. This French Toast Bake has all the delicious flavors of regular French Toast with rich creamy milk, eggs, vanilla, cinnamon and butter.
French Toast Bake is a perfect dish for a brunch, holidays, or guest. It even makes for a great dinner. You can prep it in the morning and let it refrigerate all day to bake at night.
The secret is the overnight soak
This recipe calls for panini bread, I used ciabatta and it worked perfect. You want a firm bread that will hold together after being soaked in the egg mixture overnight. Regular sliced bread with get mushy and fall apart. The cubed bread soaks in the rich mixture of milk, half and half, cinnamon, sugar and vanilla overnight and then when baked, it expands and creates a delectable crunchy crust and a soft pillowy middle.
Using a shallow baking or casserole dish is the trick
Before adding your cubed bread to the baking or casserole dish, make sure to butter the inside generously. I actually mixed the cubed bread and wet ingredients in a separate bowl and then poured it into the generously buttered casserole dish. Using a shallow dish will ensure for even baking throughout. The first time I did this, I used a deep dish and while the top turned out picture perfect, the middle had the raw egg mixture. I ended up removing the top baked portion and cooking it a second time. What a fiasco.
French Toast Bake
Ingredients
- 1 Loaf Panini Bread
- 8 Eggs
- 1½ Cups Whole Milk
- 1½ Cups Half and Half
- 3 Tbsp Sugar
- 2 tsp Cinnamon
- ¼-½ tsp Vanilla
- ½ tsp Salt
- 1 stick Butter
Instructions
- Generously butter the inside of a 9X13 baking or casserole dish.
- Cube the bread and place in the baking dish.
- Mix the eggs, milk, half and half, sugar, cinnamon, vanilla and salt together in a large mixing bowl.
- You can either pour the egg mixture over the cubed bread in the casserole dish or add the cubed bread to the egg mixture and toss well to coat all the bread. ( I added my cubed bread to the egg mixture to make sure it was all coated well).
- If you added the cubed bread to egg mixture to coat well, you will then carefully pour all of that back into the baking or casserole dish. ( I carefully spooned mine back into the baking dish and then poured the remaining egg mixture over the top).
- Cover the baking or casserole dish with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.
To Bake
- Remove baking or casserole dish from the refrigerator.
- Remove the plastic wrap.
- Heat oven to 350°.
- Slice the stick of butter and place on the top of the French Toast Bake mixture.
- Cover the baking or casserole dish with foil wrap and bake for 45 minutes. (This will ensure the middle is cooked).
- Remove foil wrap and bake for another 15-20 minutes or until golden brown on top.
To Serve
- Serve HOT!!
- You can serve with Maple syrup, or any syrup of your choice.
- Try adding whipped cream or berries to top.
- For a little different flavor – try using almond extract in place of the vanilla.