Overnight French Toast

Some recipes are like shooting stars.  They pass before my eyes too quickly to capture on film.  Overnight French Toast falls into that category.  Hence, the pictogram up there.

Here’s how OFT and I came to meet.  I made Nick Malgieri’s Brioche and I would find myself looking for any excuse to have a slice as long as it was in the house.  Having bread near me is dangerous.  So I needed an exit strategy…fast.

Enter Alexandra’s Kitchen and her Overnight French Toast.  I had a hunch that Nick’s brioche would make a perfect canvas for baked custardy goodness…and maybe some blueberry syrup…to fancy up a Saturday morning breakfast.  So with a little bit of prep the night before, and after a warm up before hitting the oven, I was rewarded with a scrumptious, hot dish of baked french toast.

The Mistah and I plowed through it so quickly that it was all gone before I realized there was no photographic evidence of its existence.  But unlike shooting stars and comets, you don’t have to wait indefinitely to experience Overnight French Toast.

Overnight French Toast

Adapted from Alexandra’s Kitchen

BAH Note: Don’t want to wait overnight for your French Toast?  Prep everything before you leave in the morning and voila, Overnight French Toast for dinner at the end of the day.

  • 1 loaf brioche or other dense bread
  • 1/2 stick butter, softened
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 2/3 cup milk
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt (or vanilla salt if you have some)
  • 3 tablespoons sugar

Slice off six slices of bread approximately one inch thick.  Cut the slices in half so that they are easier to arrange in the dish.

Butter the inside of a 9×13 baking dish and one side of each slice of bread.  Place the bread, buttered side up, in the dish.

Whisk the eggs, milk, vanilla, sugar, and salt together in a bowl.  Pour the custard over the bread and let it rest in the refrigerator, covered, at least an hour or overnight until the bread absorbs the custard.

40 minutes before you are ready to bake, remove the dish from the refrigerator to let it come to room temperature.  Bake at 425 degrees for 20 to 30 minutes or until the bread is puffed and golden brown.

Serve immediately with syrup.

{printable recipe}