Baked Apple French Toast
Day-old bread and sliced apples soaked in a cinnamon custard and baked until the center sets and the top goes golden — a pan of French toast for four made from bread nobody wanted.
Ingredients
- 6 slices day-old bread
- 1 apple cored and thinly sliced
- 1 teaspoon butter for greasing
- 2 large eggs
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 pinch salt
Instructions
- Grease an 8-inch square baking dish with the butter and heat the oven to 375 degrees F.
- Shingle the bread slices in the dish at an angle, overlapping them, and tuck the apple slices between and under the bread so the fruit is spread through the pan.
- Whisk the eggs, milk, brown sugar, cinnamon, vanilla and salt together until no streaks of egg remain.
- Pour the custard evenly over the bread. Press the slices down with the back of a spoon so every piece is wet.
- Let the dish sit for 20 minutes at room temperature. This step decides the texture, and skipping it leaves dry bread in the middle of the pan.
- Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, until the top is golden, the apples are tender, and the custard in the center is set rather than liquid when a knife is slipped in.
- Rest for 5 minutes before cutting. The center firms up as it cools.
- Serve with a little maple syrup or a dusting of powdered sugar.
Notes
Do not buy special bread for this. Slightly stale sandwich bread, leftover dinner rolls, hot dog buns or the heels of a bakery loaf all work, and they can be mixed in the same pan.
If the only bread on hand is fresh, tear it into pieces and dry it in a 300 degree F oven for 10 minutes before assembling.
Assemble it the night before, cover, and refrigerate. It bakes straight from cold, with an extra 5 to 10 minutes added.
Firm apples hold their shape better over 35 minutes. Softer ones cook down into something closer to applesauce between the slices, which is also good.
A pear, a handful of frozen berries, or a sliced banana can stand in for the apple without any other change.
Leftovers reheat well in a skillet with a little butter, which re-crisps the edges better than a microwave.