Baked French Toast

Name: Baked French Toast
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 30 min
Cuisine: International
Ingredients: ½ - ¾ Large white French stick (a couple of days old); For spreading Butter (salted or unsalted); 3 Eggs; 450 ml Milk (any kind); 1-2 tsp Vanilla extract (to taste); 1 orange Zest; 1 - 2 tsp Ground cinnamon (to taste); 2 - 3 tbsp Demerera sugar (or granulated / caster)

Love Baking Over a year ago 1,798 views

Cook: 30 mins

Breakfast

Ingredients

½ - ¾ Large white French stick (a couple of days old)
For spreading Butter (salted or unsalted)
3 Eggs
450 ml Milk (any kind)
1-2 tsp Vanilla extract (to taste)
1 orange Zest
1 - 2 tsp Ground cinnamon (to taste)
2 - 3 tbsp Demerera sugar (or granulated / caster)

Accompaniment

Description

A different take on French toast. Soft middle with crunchy outside. A bit more time consuming than pan-fried, but worth it. A good way of using up slightly stale baguette.

Method

1
Slice the baguette into 8-10 cm chunks then slice each one lengthways into 3 (if using a thinner baguette, just slice in half). Butter each slice then place, butter side up, in a large baking dish (in one layer, not overlapping). Grate over half of the orange zest and dust with a little ground cinnamon.
Whisk together the eggs, milk and vanilla extract. Pour over the bread. Leave to soak for 2 minutes, then turn the bread over, grate over the rest of the zest and dust with more cinnamon. Leave to soak for another 2 minutes, then turn over again before leaving for about 20 minutes (longer won't hurt it). During this time, you can turn it again half way through if you are around, but I usually just leave it. There will be almost no liquid left when it is ready to bake.
Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C. Scatter 2-3 tbsp sugar over the top.
Bake for 25 to 30 minutes until golden, and slightly caramelised and crunchy on top.
Dust with a little icing sugar then serve immediately with maple syrup and fresh berries if you would like. Also good with a dollop of yogurt.

Chef's Tips

Easily scaled down. For 1 person, I use a piece of baguette approx. 20cm in length, 1 egg and 150 - 160 ml milk.

Scraping off the stubborn crunchy bits from the baking dish afterwards is a great cook's perk!