Many french toast bakes seem to have one thing in common… they start with more of a specialty loaf of bread such as a baguette. I don’t know about you but that’s not typically a staple in my house. I don’t eat a lot of bread, and when I do it’s typically the fit and active bread from Aldi which is more of a low carb bread. Occasionally we will have rolls, or Italian bread leftover from a family get together, but more than likely if you go looking for bread in my kitchen my Aldi sandwich bread is all you will find. It’s good stuff and for under $2 a loaf it’s pretty budget friendly.

I love French Toast Bakes. I love regular french toast but a french toast bake takes it to a whole different level. It’s also incredibly simple to make. Reheats well, or I’ve even eaten cold like bread pudding the next day.  While I didn’t (and probably should have) done out the math for this the recipe probably wasn’t over $5 and did a good job feeding my whole family with leftovers.

Ingredients:
3 cups whole milk
18 eggs
1 whole loaf of bread (minus 6 slices I’ll explain why later)
2 tablespoons vanilla extract
2 tablespoons maple extract
salt
sugar (I used 2 tablespoons total but you can adjust to your liking- or use a sugar substitute baking blend- check your specific brand for measurements)
2 tablespoons cinnamon
1/4 stick of butter cut into small pieces

Directions:

Put a layer of bread into pan. I made a double layer with about 6 pieces whole and 2 ripped up pieces to fill in the wholes. I sprinkled 1 tablespoon sugar, 1 tablespoon cinnamon, and a pink salt over the layer.

In a bowl I added 6 eggs, 1 cup of milk, and 1 tablespoon each maple and vanilla extract. I whisked until blended with a fork and poured over the bread.

I made a second layer of bread. This is where I am going to tell you why you want to take 6 pieces of bread from the entire loaf. I didn’t do this, and my top layer got a little dry. I could have prevented this from happening by making a single wide layer not double wide. Alternatively I could have added more egg mixture, but it seems easier to just take away a layer of bread.

I sprinkled 1 tablespoon sugar, 1 tablespoon cinnamon, and a bit more pink salt onto the mixture.

I took 1/4 of a stick of butter and cut it into small pieces. I took the pieces and put in top of the bread. If you wanted you could add a little more.

On top of this I added the egg mixture. This time it was 2 cups of milk, 12 eggs, 1 tablespoon vanilla extract and 1 tablespoon maple extract.  I mixed with a fork until smooth and then poured over bread mixture.

I let the mixture sit while the oven preheated so all the eggs and milk could be soaked up by the bread. I turned the oven to 375. Once the oven was heated I baked for about 40 minutes, however I started checking at 30 minutes. Depending what kind of bread you use it may need less or more cooking time.

Here is the finished product. I know I know… it doesn’t look like the most amazing beautiful french toast bake out there…. I used simple sandwich bread so it’s definitely lacking the visual appeal of the french toast bakes made with a fancy loaf of bread. But… what is lacks in looks it makes up for in flavor.

When I serve this I like to serve with with real maple syrup and a side of sausage links. Something about maple syrup and sausage is a heavenly combination for me. More butter is always good too.

Enjoy!