Leftover bread + eggs + milk = simple and delectable baked French toast

Friday night dinner:  “Rigatoni and Red Sauce” (one of my husband's childhood favorites) and a French baguette. Saturday morning breakfast: baked French toast. 

We love French toast, but have never tried it baked before. It sounded like a great way to use up the leftover bread, so I looked around for a recipe. I found that most of the recipes contained a lot of butter and sugar. I wanted a not-terribly-unhealthy breakfast dish, not dessert. I used a recipe from Epicurious.com as my inspiration. French toast is really just bread, eggs, and milk, so that’s pretty much what I did. We always add almond extract to our French toast because that’s the way my husband likes it. I think vanilla extract would be tasty as well.

Before baking, I topped it with granulated sugar for a little bit of sweetness and a crunch on top.  The neat thing about baking it is that the top was crunchy and underneath, it was really moist, almost like bread pudding.

Baked French Toast (serves 2-3)

½ baguette, sliced 1-inch thick (any French bread will work)
1-2 tablespoons butter
2 eggs
1 cup whole milk
½ teaspoon almond or vanilla extract
¼ teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
¼ teaspoon cinnamon (optional)




Arrange sliced bread in a 9 x 9 x 2 inch pan.  You may have to squeeze the bread a little to fit. Butter the tops of the slices of bread.

In a bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, vanilla, and salt. Pour mixture over bread. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

Take out the pan about 20 minutes before you plan to bake it so that it comes to room temperature. Sprinkle the top with the sugar.

Bake at 425 degrees for about 20 minutes until the top is golden brown. It will be puffy when you take it out, but will fall after coming out of the oven. Let cool slightly before serving. Dust each serving with powdered sugar. We didn’t think it needed any syrup, but berries or other fruit may be good on top.