pioneer woman baked french toast

1. For the French toast: Grease the baking pan with butter. Tear the bread into chunks, or cut into cubes, and evenly distribute in the pan. Crack the eggs in a big bowl. Whisk together the eggs, milk, cream, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla. Pour evenly over the bread. Cover the pan tightly and store in the fridge until needed (overnight preferably). Or you can make it and bake it right away—delicious no matter what!
2. For the topping: Mix the flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, salt, and some nutmeg in a separate bowl. Stir together using a fork. Add the butter and use a pastry cutter to mix it all together until the mixture resembles fine pebbles. Store in a plastic bag in the fridge.
3. When you’re ready to bake the casserole, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Remove the casserole from the fridge and sprinkle the topping over the top. Bake for 45 minutes for a softer, more bread pudding texture or for 1 hour-plus or more for a firmer, crisper texture.
4. Scoop out individual portions. Top with butter, drizzle with warm pancake syrup, and sprinkle with blueberries.

BAKED FRENCH TOAST PIONEER WOMAN / REE DRUMMOND

• FRENCH TOAST

• butter, For Greasing
• 1loaf crusty bread (Sourdough Or French Bread)
• 8whole eggs
• 2cups whole milk
• ¹⁄₂cup heavy cream
• ¹⁄₂cup sugar
• ¹⁄₂cup brown sugar
• 2tablespoons vanilla extract

• TOPPING

• ¹⁄₂cup flour
• ¹⁄₂cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 1teaspoon cinnamon
• ¹⁄₄teaspoon salt
• freshly grated nutmeg (optional)
• ¹⁄₂cup cold butter, Cut Into Pieces
• warm syrup, For Serving (amount optional)
• butter, For Serving (amount optional)
• 1cup fresh blueberries, For Serving (optional)

• For the French toast: Grease the baking pan with butter. Tear the bread into chunks, or cut into cubes, and evenly distribute in the pan. Crack the eggs in a big bowl. Whisk together the eggs, milk, cream, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla. Pour evenly over the bread. Cover the pan tightly and store in the fridge until needed (overnight preferably). Or you can make it and bake it right away—delicious no matter what!
• For the topping: Mix the flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, salt and some nutmeg in a separate bowl. Stir together using a fork. Add the butter and with a pastry cutter, and mix it all together until the mixture resembles fine pebbles. Store in a plastic bag in the fridge.
• When you’re ready to bake the casserole, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Remove the casserole from the fridge and sprinkle the topping over the top. Bake for 45 minutes for a softer, more bread pudding texture or for 1 hour-plus or more for a firmer, crisper texture.
• Scoop out individual portions. Top with butter and drizzle with warm pancake syrup and sprinkle with blueberries.

Ease into Your Morning with Pioneer Woman’s French Toast Casserole

Ree’s recipes have an eye for ease and are aimed at feeding a crowd, so I knew her French toast casserole had to be in the running for the breakfast edition of Kitchn’s ongoing recipe showdowns. Ree brings her homestyle approach to the breakfast bake with torn bread, a rich cinnamon-flecked custard, and a crunchy crumb topping. I headed to the kitchen to see where her French toast casserole ranked among the rest.

How to Make Ree Drummond’s Baked French Toast Casserole

The first step to this French toast casserole is two-fold: choosing the bread and breaking it down to size. Ree suggests using a loaf of crusty sourdough or French bread. (I chose the sourdough since another casserole in the battle, Chrissy Teigen’s, calls for French.) I tore the bread into bite-sized chunks and scattered them into a buttered 9×13-inch baking dish. Then I whisked 8 eggs, whole milk, heavy cream, granulated sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla extract together — then poured that mixture over the bread, and refrigerated overnight.

Separately, I also prepped the topping, combining flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, salt, and fresh nutmeg in a bowl. I cut a stick of butter into the sugar-flour mixture with a pastry cutter until it looked like small pebbles, and stored it in the fridge until ready to bake.

When it comes time to bake, you’ll preheat the oven to 350°F, scatter the topping evenly over the casserole, then bake for 45 minutes to an hour. (Mine was perfect at 50 minutes.) Then scoop onto plates and finish with a pat of butter, syrup, and fresh blueberries.

What I Thought of Ree Drummond’s Baked French Toast Casserole

Of all the French toast bakes I tested, Ree’s came the closest to the classic baked breakfast dish I had in mind. It was the only recipe to suggest sourdough, which added a subtly tangy flavor and chewy texture. Tearing the bread, rather than cubing (mirroring Chrissy’s method) or slicing (as in Ina and Joanna’s recipes) puts more of the bread in contact with the custard, allowing it to absorb more of the liquid and bake up together in the heat of the oven. As a result, this was the easiest casserole to slice and serve.

The cinnamon-spiced custard is rich and well-proportioned to the amount of bread. My main complaint about this recipe is that it’s overly sweet. Many commenters noted that Ree uses half of the granulated sugar called for in the custard in the video posted alongside the recipe. I tested with the amount in the written recipe, but found, as other readers did, that keeping the brown sugar and leaving the granulated sugar out all together might be the best option of all.

Griddled French toast is buttery and crisp on the outside, while at the same time custardy-soft inside. The topping of this casserole plays off that contrast big time with its crunchy crumb topping atop a tender interior. It is a standard crumble topping, similar to what you’d scatter over baked fruit in the summer. Freshly grated nutmeg paired with classic cinnamon adds a touch of sophistication that I really liked.

Cinnamon Baked French Toast

You can either make this a moist, bread pudding-like dish…or bake it a little longer for something crispier.

Ingredients

FOR THE FRENCH TOAST:

1 loaf crusty sourdough or French bread

8 whole eggs

2 c. whole milk

1/2 c. heavy whipping cream

3/4 c. sugar

2 tbsp. vanilla extract

 

 

FOR THE TOPPING:

1/2 c. all-purpose flour

1/2 c. firmly-packed brown sugar

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/4 tsp. salt

1 pinch nutmeg (optional)

1 stick cold butter, cut into pieces

Fresh fruit (optional)

Directions

1. Grease a 9 x 13-inch baking pan with butter. Tear bread into chunks (or cut into cubes) and evenly distribute in the pan.
2. In a medium sized bowl, mix together eggs, milk, cream, sugar, and vanilla. Pour evenly over the bread. Cover tightly and store in the fridge for several hours or overnight.
3. In a separate bowl, mix flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt. Add nutmeg if desired. Add butter pieces and cut them into the dry mixture until mixture resembles fine pebbles. Store in a Ziploc in the fridge.
4. When you’re ready to bake the casserole, preheat oven to 350° F. Remove casserole from the fridge and sprinkle crumb mixture over the top. (If you’re using fruit, sprinkle on before the crumb mixture.) Bake for 45 minutes for a softer, more bread pudding texture. Bake 1 hour or more for a firmer, less liquid texture.
5. Scoop out individual portions. Top with butter and drizzle with maple syrup.