Baked French toast with honey
French toast is the perfect breakfast dish for a luxurious morning meal. But no one can enjoy their morning in peace while slaving over a stove. So this recipe is baked in the oven and prepared the night before. That way you can feel relaxed and savour your french toast.
French toast
French toast is traditionally made with stale old bread that you would otherwise throw out. And with pan-fried French toast, you can quickly see why. For with fresh bread, the bread tends to fall apart after soaking. So when making pan-fried French toast, I do always use stale bread.
However, I don’t always use stale bread for my oven-baked French toast. Sometimes I even use freshly baked brioche bread, by using brioche, it just gives it that bit of extra richness. Even though stale plain bread is definitely delicious, it’s just about personal preference and what you have on hand.
Honey
Most French toast is made with eggs, milk and depending on the country cinnamon and sugar. But since I greatly prefer the taste of honey in my food, I use honey in my baked French toast.
Honey contains more nutrients than standard processed sugar, and I find it has more flavour too. So I find it the perfect ingredient for my baking. It can be a bit tricky sometimes since sugar contains no water. Whereas honey can contain up to 20% water, which is not a bad thing since honey naturally contains varying amounts of water. It also means that a teaspoon of honey doesn’t contain as much sugar as the equivalent amount of sugar. Which is all the better if you’re trying to keep an eye on your sugar intake.
If you like baking with honey maybe try out this delicious honey cake recipe.
Overnight breakfast
I love overnight breakfasts, mainly because they allow me to start my day in peace while still enjoying a special breakfast. In our house, we always have a special breakfast on Sunday. It’s a tradition started by my grandparents. They make a luxurious breakfast every Sunday morning, whether it’s just for the two of them or for the whole family. So I continued that tradition and serve a special breakfast every Sunday morning. But to be able to truly enjoy that breakfast, I find that an overnight breakfast is the way to go.
All you have to do is remember to prepare the breakfast the evening before and stick it in the fridge. Then in the morning you just take it out and put it into the preheated oven. While it’s baking you can get ready for the day or go back to bed for another half hour. Then you get to enjoy your breakfast in peace. Depending on the other big and small people in your home.
Pin it for later:
Overnight French toast breakfast recipe
Ingredients
French toast
- 1 small loaf 1 lb loaf
- 500 ml milk of choice
- 200 gr honey
- 50 gr butter
- 5 eggs
- 3 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp vanilla extract optional
The topping (optional)
- 60 gr butter
- 30 gr flour plain
- 30 gr oats rolled
- 50 gr soft brown sugar
- 1 tsp cinnamon optional
Instructions
French toast (night before)
- Ideally, you do the preparations the night before, but if you accidentally forgot. You can let it soak for half an hour or so before you put it in the oven.
- Cut up the loaf of bread into big chunks, alternatively, you can also rip it into chunks if you prefer. Place the chunks of bread into the oven dish.
- Melt the butter and add to a medium size bowl, then add in the honey, cinnamon, vanilla, and the milk.
- In a separate bowl, beat the eggs and add to the bowl with the milk mixture and mix well.
- Pour the mixture over the bread chunks in the oven dish and let soak overnight in the fridge, or for at least 30 minutes.
The topping
- Pour the flour into a small bowl and rub in the butter, then mix in the oats, soft brown sugar, and cinnamon.
- If you make it the night before you can store it in the fridge.
Into the oven (the morning)
- Preheat the oven to 220 °C or 425 °F
- If you've not made the topping yet then do so now. Then sprinkle the topping on top of the soaked bread chunks.
- Bake in the oven for 30 minutes or until golden brown.
- Enjoy with some cinnamon sugar or a drizzle of honey.
