Baked French Toast with Bacon Crumble
Personally I am not a big fan of sweets for breakfast, and well, sweets in general, but my kids are. If you put anything sweet in front of my kids however, well, that is a different story, and as the great parent that I am, I decided to make them some baked french toast. Now I typically go with a standard style of French toast where I dip the bread into a egg mixture, and pan fry it, and be done with it. This process was actually handed down to my oldest son as well, and as much as he does not like eggs, he has no fear of getting that bread soaked in there and tossed into a skillet. I wanted to change that, and after my coworker came in one morning and said that his wife made this great baked French toast, well, that flickered a light in my brain and hence why I baked the french toast.
Let’s get started.
Ingredients:
- 12 1.5 inch thick slices of white bread, or Texas toast, top of bread removed
- 1 stick of unsalted butter
- 1 1/4 cup of light brown sugar, plus 2 tbsp
- 4 egg yolks
- 6 eggs
- 2 cups of milk
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 pinch of salt
- 8 slices of Nueske’s bacon (or your favorite), cooked and crumbled
- Maple Syrup, optional
Start by adding the butter and the 1 1/4 cup of brown sugar to a bowl. Place it in a microwave, or in a pot on the stove, and melt the butter and brown sugar. Set aside.
To a mixing bowl, add the eggs, milk, vanilla, salt, and cinnamon. Beat the eggs until everything is nicely incorporated.
Get a 9×13 baking dish ready and preheat your oven 350 degrees.
Take the butter and brown sugar mixture and pour it into the baking dish. Spread it evenly on the bottom of the baking dish.
Take a slice of the bread and submerge it into the egg mixture. Let the mixture soak into the bread, then place the slice of bread onto the bottom of the baking dish. You should be able to get two slices next to one another, and fit six into the bottom of the dish.
Repeat this with all of the bread, stacking the other six slices of bread on top of the first layer.
Pour any remaining egg mixture into the baking dish. Sprinkle the top of the bread with the additional brown sugar.
Cover with aluminum foil, and place in the oven for 40 minutes. While this cooks, cook your bacon. Once the bacon is cooked, let it drain on some paper towel, then crumble it and set it aside.
After 40 minutes, uncover the baked French bread, raise the heat to 425, and cook an additional 10 minutes.
When you are ready to serve, take a sturdy spatula and get underneath two of the slices. Get a plate ready, and flip it onto the plate to expose that brown sugar goodness.
Shower with baked French toast with the crumbled bacon and a drizzle of syrup, and dig in.
Again, I am not a sweets person, but after watching and more importantly, listening to them, eat this French toast, I was sold. It was everything you would expect in a French toast, but possibly better. That buttered brown sugar was pretty amazing, and when cut into, the bread was soft and delicious and those hints of vanilla and cinnamon just took it over the top. Well, the bacon took it over the top. Enough said. This baked French toast was enjoyed by all and consumed by my kids for the next couple of days. That is always a great sign of a delicious dish. I hope you enjoy!
Baked French Toast with Bacon Crumble
Ingredients
- 12 1.5 inch thick slices of white bread or Texas toast, top of bread removed
- 1 stick of unsalted butter
- 1 1/4 cup of light brown sugar plus 2 tbsp
- 4 egg yolks
- 6 eggs
- 2 cups of milk
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 pinch of salt
- 8 slices of Nueske’s bacon or your favorite, cooked and crumbled
- Maple Syrup optional
Instructions
- Start by adding the butter and the 1 1/4 cup of brown sugar to a bowl. Place it in a microwave, or in a pot on the stove, and melt the butter and brown sugar. Set aside.
- To a mixing bowl, add the eggs, milk, vanilla, salt, and cinnamon. Beat the eggs until everything is nicely incorporated.
- Get a 9×13 baking dish ready and preheat your oven 350 degrees.
- Take the butter and brown sugar mixture and pour it into the baking dish. Spread it evenly on the bottom of the baking dish.
- Take a slice of the bread and submerge it into the egg mixture. Let the mixture soak into the bread, then place the slice of bread onto the bottom of the baking dish. You should be able to get two slices next to one another, and fit six into the bottom of the dish.
- Repeat this with all of the bread, stacking the other six slices of bread on top of the first layer.
- Pour any remaining egg mixture into the baking dish. Sprinkle the top of the bread with the additional brown sugar.
- Cover with aluminum foil, and place in the oven for 40 minutes. While this cooks, cook your bacon. Once the bacon is cooked, let it drain on some paper towel, then crumble it and set it aside.
- After 40 minutes, uncover the baked French bread, raise the heat to 425, and cook an additional 10 minutes.
- When you are ready to serve, take a sturdy spatula and get underneath two of the slices. Get a plate ready, and flip it onto the plate to expose that brown sugar goodness.
- Shower with baked French toast with the crumbled bacon and a drizzle of syrup, and dig in.
- Again, I am not a sweets person, but after watching and more importantly, listening to them, eat this French toast, I was sold. It was everything you would expect in a French toast, but possibly better. That buttered brown sugar was pretty amazing, and when cut into, the bread was soft and delicious and those hints of vanilla and cinnamon just took it over the top. Well, the bacon took it over the top. Enough said. This baked French toast was enjoyed by all and consumed by my kids for the next couple of days. That is always a great sign of a delicious dish. I hope you enjoy!