Baked caramel French toast

Baked caramel French toast, not soggy

Baked caramel French toast is very tasty and easy to make. It can be put together the day before. All you have to do in the morning is stick it in the oven and let it bake while you get ready. When I am sure I won’t   get time to cook breakfast in the morning, this French toast saves the day!!

There are many caramel toast recipes in the net and I have tried more than 10 different recipes. They all came out like bread pudding, too soggy and too sweet for breakfast. This recipe is the result of our kitchen lab experiments. It is not at all soggy and is very much like the pan fried version in texture.

Combine all the sugar, molasses, butter and cream in a heavy bottom pan. You can use 2/3 to 1 cup sugar depending on how sweet you want the toast. We are happy with the lower amount. You can use brown sugar instead of sugar and molasses. Heat over low medium heat to melt butter and dissolve sugar. The mixture need not boil. Pour into a 9 x 13 pan and tilt the pan to spread caramel uniformly. Sprinkle the cinnamon on top.

Cube the sandwich bread and keep in a very large bowl. Combine the eggs, milk, vanilla and salt. Beat well with a whisk. Pour on top of the bread and mix gently, not mashing the bread. Bread will absorb all the liquid in 2-3 minutes. Spread the bread cubes on top of caramel in the pan. At this point, you can choose to refrigerate it for the next morning or to bake right away.

Baking the same day: Start with a cold oven and bake for 30-35 minutes at 200°c.

Baking next day: Increase the baking time by 10 to 15 minutes.

Keep the casserole covered with a foil during the first half of baking. Otherwise the top will become too crunchy. You can invert the whole casserole to a serving platter. What I do is cut it out as serving size squares. A silicone scraper does this very well without removing the caramel or damaging the baking pan.