French toast bake is a wonderful way to get all the great flavors of french toast without having to stand over stove top flipping each individual piece. You can simply pop it in the oven, set a timer, and go about your other tasks.
A couple months ago, we got a grain mill and have been experimenting with making our own bread. Let me tell you that making bread from freshly milled whole grain flour is a bit different than making it with the standard store bought flour. We have had some great successes but also some major flops in the learning process. Fortunately, when the loaf of bread turns out too dense or doesn’t rise properly, it still tastes great in french toast casserole.
What You Need To Make Easy French Toast Casserole Recipe
For the French Toast:
1 Loaf of Bread: something crunchy like sourdough or french bread works best, but any day old bread works great too.
6 Eggs
1.5 cups Whole Milk
½ cup Cream
⅓-½ cup Honey (depending on your preferred sweetness level)
2 tbsp Pure Vanilla Extract
For the Topping:
½ cup Flour
½ cup Cold Butter (cut into pieces)
½ cup Rapdura or Sucanut (regular brown sugar works too)
1 tsp Cinnamon
½ tsp Salt
How to Make French Toast Bake Casserole
- Grease a glass 9×13 pan with butter. If you are using a smaller loaf of bread, you may want to consider using an 8×8 pan instead. Tear the bread into larger chunks or cut it into cubes and place in the dish.
- Add the eggs, milk, cream, and honey to a large bowl and whisk together until combined. Pour the mix over the bread crumbs. At this point, you can cover the dish and let it sit overnight in the fridge. You can also bake it right away.
- For the topping: In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, sucanut, cinnamon, salt, and nutmeg. Add in the butter. You can use a pastry cutter or I like to throw all the ingredients in the blender and pulse to create a crumbly texture. This can be stored in a container in the fridge overnight if you make the recipe ahead of time.
- When you’re ready to bake the casserole, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Sprinkle the crumb topping over the bread mixture. Bake for 45 minutes to create a softer bread pudding texture or 1 hour for a texture that is more firm and crisp.
- Serve with fresh fruit, homemade whipped cream, maple syrup, butter, or honey.
What kind of bread to use in easy French toast casserole?
You will want to use a bread that has the ability to absorb moisture. Something with a crusty exterior like sourdough or French bread typically works best. However, any bread that is a little older and more stale will work well to absorb the liquids of the dish.
Why is my French toast bake casserole soggy?
Typically the dish will be more soggy for a couple of reasons. It could be because of the type of bread you used. Something like a soft white bread will not absorb the liquids of the dish well causing it to be soggy. You can try baking it longer to firm it up, or it can also be eaten in the soggier form and will have the texture more similar to a bread pudding.
Can you make easy French toast bake casserole ahead of time?
This recipe is perfect for making ahead of time. There are a couple options for this. You can assemble all the ingredients, bake it right away, and then warm it up when you want to serve. The other option is to assemble all the ingredients and store it in the fridge the night before. This actually works really well too as the bread as more time to absorb all the liquids.
Should you bake easy French toast casserole covered or uncovered?
I usually bake it uncovered. This allows the crumble topping to crisp up nicely. However, if you find that the topping is starting to burn, you can cover the dish with aluminum foil to finish baking.
Easy French Toast Bake Casserole
Ingredients
For the French Toast:
- 1 Loaf of Bread (something crunchy like sourdough or french bread works best, but any day old bread works great too)
- 6 Eggs
- 1.5 cups Whole Milk
- ½ cup Cream
- ⅓-½ cup Honey (depending on your preferred sweetness level)
- 2 tbsp Pure Vanilla Extract
For The Topping:
- ½ cup Flour
- ½ cup Cold Butter cut into pieces
- ½ cup Rapdura or Sucanut regular brown sugar works too
- 1 tsp Cinnamon
- ½ tsp Salt
Instructions
- Grease a glass 9x13 pan with butter. If you are using a smaller loaf of bread, you may want to consider using an 8x8 pan instead. Tear the bread into larger chunks or cut it into cubes and place in the dish.
- Add the eggs, milk, cream, and honey to a large bowl and whisk together until combined. Pour the mix over the bread crumbs. At this point, you can cover the dish and let it sit overnight in the fridge. You can also bake it right away.
- For the topping: In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, sucanut, cinnamon, salt, and nutmeg. Add in the butter. You can use a pastry cutter or I like to throw all the ingredients in the blender and pulse to create a crumbly texture. This can be stored in a container in the fridge overnight if you make the recipe ahead of time.
- When you’re ready to bake the casserole, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Sprinkle the crumb topping over the bread mixture. Bake for 45 minutes to create a softer bread pudding texture or 1 hour for a texture that is more firm and crisp.
- Serve with fresh fruit, homemade whipped cream, maple syrup, butter, or honey.
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