Baked French Toast- Recipe

Overall Rating: 3.65

He said: 3.5 This dish definitely has potential but I think where we might have dropped the ball was in waiting too long to bake it. We (a.k.a. she) made it friday night for the next morning but we arrived at our destination too late in the day to justify baking french toast so we put it away for Sunday morning. If you're serving a finickey eater (like my brother) be sure to negotiate the sogginess issue as the middle of this dish tended to be a bit eggy. The redeeming aspect of this dish was the DELICIOUS praline topping via (my side mistress) Paula Dean that was rich enough to substitute for the maple syrup (which I used just for good measure). If this had not been a community dish and we were not feeding 7 other people I would have definitely gone back for 3rds/4ths/5ths/etc...

She said:  3.8 This was relatively easy to make, and seemed to please the crowd. We were heading up to the mountains for the weekend, and I wanted something easy to pop in the oven, and to feed a group of people (kids AND adults). I did alter it a little bit, as Paula Dean isn't the healthiest of cooks {whatevs}, but most of it remained the same. See recipe below.

Price: $

Level of easiness: Easy

Good for: Big groups, brunch, families, friends

Would we make it again?: Heck yes

Date tried: 2/19/2011

Recipe adapted from: Paula Dean http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/baked-french-toast-casserole-with-maple-syrup-recipe2/index.html

Recipe adapted from Paula Dean, but altered (photo via):

Ingredients:

• 1 loaf French bread
• 6-7 large eggs
• 1.5 cups half-and-half
• 1 cup milk
• 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• Dash salt
• Praline Topping (see recipe below)
• Maple syrup (I didn't add it to mine, but Buddy the Elf Kevin did)

Praline Topping:

• 1/2 pound (2 sticks) butter
• 1 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1 cup chopped pecans
• 2 tablespoons light corn syrup
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• Combine all ingredients in a medium bowl and blend well.
• (this recipe makes more than enough to cover the entire casserole; I didn't use all of it)

Directions:

• Slice french bread into 17-20 slices, apx. 1-inch each. Fill a buttered 9 by 13-inch flat baking dish with the slices in 2 rows, overlapping the slices. 
• In a large bowl, combine the eggs, half-and-half, milk, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt and then wisk until blended but not too bubbly.
• Pour mixture over the bread slices, making sure all are covered evenly with the milk-egg mixture. Spoon some of the mixture in between the slices (This is really important!).
• Cover with foil and refrigerate overnight.
• The next day, preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
• Spread Praline Topping evenly over the bread and bake for 40 minutes, until puffed and lightly golden. Serve with maple syrup.

Notes:

Make sure that you cut the bread into thick slices, or else the casserole will be watery (thicker slices will soak it up). The next morning before putting it into the oven, spread the liquids around to ensure that all of the bread is covered, and that it's not swimming in juices. Don't underbake, or it becomes soggy.

Enjoy!