Tuesday Dinners

Night Before French Toast

All the flavor of French Toast for those who are way more motivated the night before.

Prep Time
25 minutes + 1/2 Hour (or overnight)

Cook Time
30 Minutes

🍴 Serves
8

Ingredients

  • 6 eggs
  • 1.5 cups of milk
  • Loaf of French Bread/Sandwich Bread/Texas Toast
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar (split in half)
  • Vanilla Extract (measure with your heart)
  • Pinch of salt
  • Cinnamon (measure with your heart)
  • 1/2 stick of butter (4 Tablespoons)

Directions

  1. Cut/tear your loaf into small pieces
  2. Mix eggs, milk, half of brown sugar, vanilla extract, salt and cinnamon in a bowl
  3. On stovetop/in microwave melt butter, stir in cinnamon and other half of brown sugar
  4. Line a casserole pan with butter-sugar mixture
  5. Mix bread in with egg mixture
  6. Pour bread-egg mixture over butter-sugar mixture, make sure to push down on top of bread mixture to combine
  7. Let sit for either 30 minutes or overnight in refrigerator
  8. Bake for 30 minutes at 375 degrees

Step by Step Directions

Cut your loaf of bread into small chunks. In the picture below the left side is torn and the right is cut, whatever you do is completely your choice. You should think about your favorite version of French Toast and make your bread choice based on that, a loaf of French bread is what was used below.

(I will say that giving a loaf of bread to a kid and asking them to tear it as many times as they can is a fun game to play. Or pitting one child/adult against another can also be a fun way to get the family involved)

Grab a bowl and add in your eggs, milk, half the sugar, vanilla extract, salt and cinnamon. Make sure the bowl that you choose can also fit all the bread that you just cut up.

Mix it all up. Personally I take offense at any recommendation on how much vanilla extract or cinnamon to use, which is why there isn’t a measurement on this recipe, do what you want, you know what you like.

Get a small pot (or a microwave safe bowl) and add in your butter, cinnamon (yes, more cinnamon) and the other half of the sugar.

The microwave is going to be a lot faster than the stovetop, but cooking should be fun and it’s more fun to me to use fire/heat. Plus it makes you feel like more of a real cook.

Now, remember how that bowl was supposed to be big enough to fit the bread in it? I bet you already figured out where this going… Yep, add the bread to the milk mixture, and mix it all up. If you find you don’t have enough liquid add a little more milk to stretch the mixture just a little bit farther.

Now pour your butter mixture into the bottom of a pan. I’m using a foil pan because I’m taking this on the road tomorrow and this means I don’t have to keep asking for my casserole dish back. Keep the butter mixture in the middle, that way when you add the bread it will spread out to the edges with complete coverage.

Add in your bread mixture. I like to pour it all into the middle and then slowly push the mountain down so that it forms an even layer. When you push down on the bread to spread it evenly your egg mixture should mix with the butter mixture and everything should get an even coating.

Now you can either let it sit out for a half hour (or cover and rest in the fridge overnight). Really we want all the different flavors to meld together, longer is usually better for this.

Throw in the oven for 30 minutes at 375 degrees. You want the bread to “toast”, your butter mixture may start to bubble, when it’s as dark/toasty as you want pull it out.

Variations

  • Sprinkle with powdered sugar or maple syrup
  • Add fresh fruit (after finished baking)
  • Try different spices (nutmeg, pumpkin spice, etc.)
  • Try a different bread
  • Let soak for longer
  • Rather than on the bottom you can pour the butter-sugar mixture on top of the bread

Unsolicited Feedback

  • JJ: Please give me the recipe.
  • SG: I prefer savory for breakfast.
  • ML: I can see what you were trying to do…