If you have day-old or stale sourdough bread, this recipe is for you! This sourdough French toast casserole recipe solves two problems: make French toast in one dish without wasting your leftover sourdough loaf. Voila! Now, you have breakfast for the whole family.
Perhaps you joined the sourdough movement, or maybe you have leftover sourdough from dinner. Either way, you won’t have to throw it out. Using the same ingredients you would use for classic French toast, you’ll have servings for six without the mess and clean-up. Skip flipping one slice of French toast at at time, and make this easy one-dish French toast bake with sourdough bread.
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Why Sourdough French Toast?
Simply put, sourdough bread makes much better tasting French toast than any other bread (in my opinion). Plus, if you’re serving a large boule with dinner, you may have leftover sourdough bread. You can adjust the recipe depending on how much leftover bread you have.
Your sourdough loaf doesn’t have to be day-old or stale, either. Set your oven on low and dehydrate fresh bread, or make this sourdough French toast bake the same morning with a fresh loaf. Regardless of your preference, you can adjust the recipe as you see fit using the modifications below.
Sourdough French Toast Casserole Ingredients
To get started, you’ll need some standard French toast ingredients—and maybe a few extra! For this recipe, I include plain, full-fat yogurt to create more of a custard. Without yogurt, the French toast bake could become too soggy.
Check your pantry or add these ingredients to your shopping list:
- Sourdough loaf
- Eggs
- Plain, full-fat yogurt
- Half-and-half
- Vanilla extract
- Sugar
- Butter
- Salt
- Powdered sugar
- Maple syrup
- Berries, optional
How to Make Overnight French Toast Casserole with Sourdough Bread
You can prepare this French toast bake the night before, or make it the same morning. It all depends on how dry your bread is! If you want to make it overnight, but your bread is fresh, you can dry it out in the oven.
Preheat your oven to 200º before cutting the bread into cubes. Arrange bread on a baking sheet and place in the oven for 10 minutes.
Overnight Preparation
Start by cutting up your stale sourdough loaf into cubes. Because you’re going to refrigerate the dish, your ingredients can be cold from the fridge (no need to rest to room temperature). After mixing together your sugar and wet ingredients, slowly pour the batter over the sourdough bread pieces in a large bowl.
Reserve some of the batter until you’re sure you will need it all. If you’re using less bread or the bread is not as dry, you won’t need all of the batter. Still, you will want all of the bread soaked and to have a little extra batter to absorb overnight.
If the bread is still not completely coated in batter, you can add an additional ¼ cup yogurt and ¼ cup half-and-half. Gradually pour over French toast bake and fold it in until the bread is fully coated.
Optionally, reserve a bit of the batter for the morning. If you prefer it to be more custardy, or it has absorbed all of the batter, add some of the batter and pour it over the French toast bake in the morning.
Same-day Preparation
This recipe can be easily made on the same day. First, you will need to consider how dry your sourdough bread is. Depending on how fresh or stale it is, you will need to make a few adjustments.
Fresh bread:
- Use the same ingredients
- Adjust oven temperature to 400º
- Bake covered for 30 minutes, uncovered for 5 minutes
Stale bread:
- Add an extra ¼ cup of half-and-half to your batter
- Allow the bread 15 minutes to soak up the batter
- Bake covered for 30 minutes, uncovered for 5 minutes
When to Make Sourdough French Toast Casserole
There are so many occasions for this recipe, but my favorite might be easy weekend breakfasts! Save your sourdough loaf from weeknight dinners or sandwich bread and set it aside for this recipe. If you have a loaf that’s going to go stale but can’t make this recipe right away, wrap it in plastic wrap and refrigerate it. Then, cut it up when you’re ready to make French toast casserole.
If you have some extra time, you can prepare this in the morning on weekends. Or, you can prepare it during the afternoon or evening, bake it the next morning, and have it ready for breakfast all week. Store it in an airtight container and serve it for up to five days.
This recipe is also great for gatherings! You can easily double the recipe by following the notes in the recipe card. Serve it for Christmas or Easter brunch, bring it to a potluck, or serve it to friends.
Sourdough French Toast Casserole
Use your day-old sourdough loaf to create this delicious French toast casserole topped with powdered sugar, fruit, or maple syrup.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 40 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour + overnight
- Yield: 6
- Category: Breakfast
- Method: Bake
Ingredients
- ½ to ¾ loaf day-old sourdough loaf (about 3 cups), cubed
- 3 eggs
- ½ cup plain, full fat yogurt
- ¼ cup half-and-half
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 tablespoon butter, melted
- ⅓ cup sugar
- Pinch of salt
- Powdered sugar to garnish
Instructions
The night before:
- Cut day-old or stale bread into cubes and set aside in a large bowl.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs, yogurt, half-and-half, and vanilla until smooth.
- Slowly stir in melted butter, ensuring it’s evenly mixed in.
- Add sugar and pinch of salt, and whisk until smooth.
- Pour mixture over bread cubes and gently fold everything together. Continue to fold the bread with the mixture until it has coated all of the bread. There may be some additional French toast batter in the bowl, which is fine.
- In a 9x13 baking dish (or similar), coat with non-stick spray. Add the French toast mixture into the dish. Make sure to add all of the remaining French toast batter into the pan.
- Cover dish tightly with foil and refrigerate overnight.
The next morning:
- Pull the dish from the refrigerator and let it rest at room temperature.
- Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 425º.
- Keep the dish covered in foil and bake for 35 minutes.
- Remove the foil and bake uncovered for an additional 5 minutes, or until the top of the French toast casserole is light golden brown.
- Immediately dust with powdered sugar, top with fruit, and serve with maple syrup.
Notes
To double the recipe, follow the recipe above and multiply all ingredients by two. Slowly add French toast batter and fold into bread until coated, and reserve any remaining batter for the morning. If needed, pour over the casserole prior to baking. Bake at 425º, covered, for 45 minutes and uncovered for 5-10 minutes until lightly golden brown.
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