brunchI rarely make french toast since it takes a while if you are baking it in the oven. But, when I do make it, get ready for some deliciousness!
I took a bite of my piece already!
You can use any type of bread as long as it is crusty. I put in a slice of Ezekiel bread for myself. But, this was mostly white Italian style bread. You could do the entire dish with Ezekiel bread if you wanted! And the great part is that you can put the bread in the casserole still partially frozen.
Half Ezekiel, half white bread here.
Light Baked French Toast
Serves 3–You can easily double this and make in a 9×13 pan instead.
Ingredients:
- 2 cups skim milk (or any milk you prefer)
- 4 egg (could use some egg whites if you want even lighter)
- 1 Tbsp. good vanilla
- 2 tsp. ground cinnamon, and then some for dusting on top
- 1 tsp. sugar
- 1 tsp. butter or Earth Balance to grease the bottom and sides of pan, PLUS 2 tsp. butter for the top of the casserole
- Half a loaf of crusty bread (whatever you prefer)–preferably, a natural bread
- pinch of salt
Directions:
- Preheat the oven to 350 F.
- In a small square baking dish, grease the bottom and sides with your butter or Earth Balance.
- Slice your bread in 1-1.5 inch slices. If the bread slices are already sliced, then layer in double slices. Add the bread to the baking dish and make sure it is compactly arranged. You can cut up a few cube slices and stick in the empty spots of the casserole to keep everything in place.
- Whisk your eggs, vanilla, milk, and cinnamon. Pour over top of your bread in the baking dish. Sprinkle with cinnamon and a tiny pinch of salt.
- With 1 tsp. sugar, dust over top of the french toast. Cut tiny slices of butter/Earth Balance and place on top of the french toast.
- Bake 45-60 minutes until all the liquid is cooked or absorbed and the top has become lightly golden.
Serve with real maple syrup, fruit, fruit compote, agave, or honey! You can easily make variations on this with bananas, or other fruits, or pecans, etc.
Yum yum yum. The reason this recipe is lighter is because I cut out the heavy cream, reduced the butter significantly, and reduced the sugar to only 5 grams of sugar for the entire recipe.
