French Toast Casserole

French Toast Casserole is the perfect way to use leftover or stale bread. 

We make homemade bread and often end up with and end piece that goes a bit stale or a center piece that was cut crookedly and doesn't work well for toast or sandwiches. We put these pieces in a bag in the freezer. When we have enough pieces collected, we make French Toast Casserole. This recipe is a conglomoration of a few different recipes we have tried.

French Toast Casserole 

Ingredients:

12 slices of bread

8 large eggs

4 T. sugar

1 ½ t. vanilla extract

3 c. milk

cinnamon

Directions:

Grease a 9x13 baking dish. Tear the bread into pieces and spread out in the baking dish, making sure that the bottom is covered. 

In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, sugar, vanilla, and milk. Pour the mixture over the bread. Sprinkle with cinnamon, cover, and refrigerate overnight.

Heat oven to 375 degrees. Remove the cover from the baking dish. Bake, uncovered, for 40 to 50 minutes, or until puffy and slightly browned on top. Cut into squares. Serve plain or with syrup.

Options:

• Top the casserole with raspberries or blueberries just before baking.

• Make a strudel-like topping by combining ½ c. flour and ½ c. brown sugar and sprinkling this on top before baking. 

• Layer chunks of cream cheese in between layers of bread before pouring the liquid.