Sunday French Toast Casserole
This tasty casserole is our family’s favorite way to use up old bread and avoid food waste. Hot dog buns to artisanal sourdough, it all gets chopped up and tossed into the dish! The casserole can be made ahead and stored in the fridge overnight. It makes a great dish for the freezer stash, a meal delivery, or a holiday breakfast, and it’s a go-to for us for after-Mass Sunday brunch. I like to set the automatic timer on our oven and have it hot and ready to eat when we get home. I have made up to a quadruple batch at once, increasing the cooking time to 1:10.
Ingredients
- For the casserole:
- 10 cups bread in 1-2 inch cubes
- 5 large eggs
- 1 1/2 cups whole milk
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- Zest of 1 medium orange
- 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- For the topping:
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter melted
- 3 tablespoons dark brown sugar packed
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- Pinch salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 200°F. (You’ll increase the temperature later.) Cut the bread into 1-2 inch cubes, leaving the crusts on. Spread the bread cubes on a baking sheet and put them in the warm oven to dry out while you prepare the rest of the ingredients. Combine the eggs, milk, sugar, orange zest, cinnamon, and salt in a blender jar and blend to combine (or use a bowl and whisk). To make the topping, melt the butter in a measuring glass, and whisk in the brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt.
- Butter or spray a 2- to 3-quart baking dish. Retrieve the bread cubes from the oven and increase the temperature to 375°F. Add the bread to the baking dish and pour the egg mixture over the top, wetting all the bread. Mix it around a bit if some bread is still dry. Slowly drizzle the topping over the bread and egg mixture. Cover with foil and bake for 40 minutes. Uncover and bake for an additional 5 minutes or so to brown the top a bit. Enjoy!