Challah French toast bake
Instead of frying French toast slice by slice, put it in the oven in one dish. The challah soaks up the custard for half an hour, and the crumble on top gives a contrast a frying pan can never deliver. Assemble at night, bake in the morning.
Your own work in that: 0 min.
- Soaking the challah 30 min
- Crumble 8 min
- Baking 40 min
- Resting 10 min
Step by step
0 / 5 doneCube the challah and pour over the custard
Cut the challah into 3 cm cubes and tip into a buttered 22×32 cm dish. Whisk the eggs with milk, cream, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon and salt and pour over the bread. Press down with a spatula so every cube is submerged.
Ingredients: 500 g challah · 6 pcs eggs · 400 ml milk · 150 ml whipping cream (30%) · 70 g sugar · 2 tsp vanilla extract · 1 tsp cinnamon · ½ tsp salt
TipFresh challah turns to mush. If fresh is all you have, dry the cubes for 15 minutes at 150 °C.
Press down so every cube drinks up the custard.Leave for 30 minutes
Cover with film and leave at room temperature for 30 minutes — or overnight in the fridge. The challah should swell: press a cube and it should be soft all the way through, not dry in the core.
Ingredients: 500 g challah · 6 pcs eggs · 400 ml milk · 150 ml whipping cream (30%) · 70 g sugar · 2 tsp vanilla extract · 1 tsp cinnamon · ½ tsp salt
Rub the crumble
Mix the flour, brown sugar and cinnamon, add the cold butter and rub with your fingers until you get coarse pea-sized lumps. Stir in the chopped pecans. Keep chilled until baking.
Ingredients: 80 g plain flour · 70 g brown sugar · 60 g butter · ½ tsp cinnamon · 60 g pecans
TipCold butter is essential — melted butter turns the crumble into a hard glaze.
Pea-sized lumps, not sand.Bake for 40 minutes
Heat the oven to 180 °C (ideally while the bread soaks). Scatter the crumble over the top and bake for 40 minutes until deeply golden and puffed and set in the middle. Test with a skewer in the centre: it should come out moist but with no liquid custard; if the custard still runs, bake 5–10 minutes longer, and cover the top with foil if it darkens too fast.
Ingredients: 80 g plain flour · 70 g brown sugar · 60 g butter · ½ tsp cinnamon · 60 g pecans
Puffed edges mean the eggs have set.Rest and serve
Leave for 10 minutes — the bake settles and can be cut into portions. Dust with icing sugar and serve the maple syrup in a jug so everyone pours their own.
Ingredients: 100 ml maple syrup · 1 tbsp icing sugar
Before you start
Assemble at night, bake in the morning
Prepare the base and crumble separately and chill. In the morning add the crumble and bake for 45 minutes — a cold dish needs 5 minutes more.
With fruit
Stir 200 g of blueberries or diced apples between the cubes. The fruit releases juice, so reduce the milk by 50 ml.
Instead of challah
Brioche or a plain white loaf both work. Avoid sourdough — its acidity clashes with the vanilla.
