For many years my sister, Sarah S, made a variation of this recipe for breakfast on Christmas morning. Not only does it taste great but you prepare it the night before so you’re not spending the most exciting morning of the year busy in the kitchen.
Being wheat-free, it’s not often that I set out to make French toast, but when I volunteered to host a belated Gourmet Dinner Club (GDC) holiday brunch (that didn’t take place until mid-January), I decided to adapt Sarah’s recipe using gluten-free sandwich bread instead of the French bread the recipe called for. Since sandwich bread is much larger, I opted to cut it into pieces – like what you’d do for bread pudding. Ideally you want to cover most of the bread with the liquid – you can see from the picture that I didn’t quite do that.
Using a good gluten-free bread is a definite must for this recipe since it’s all about the bread. Canyon Bakehouse Heritage Style Whole Grain is my current favorite gluten-free bread. To begin with the slices are big – as in what people who eat full of gluten bread are used to. This is a first in the gluten-free bread world. And it tastes pretty good. Ed asked me to get more of it which doesn’t usually happen with gluten-free bread.
This recipe works best if your bread is slightly stale – fresh bread gets too soggy. If your bread is fresh, cut it into cubes and let it sit out on the counter for a few hours. This will help to dry it out.
Since you’re soaking the bread in good ingredients like half and half, eggs, freshly squeezed orange juice, orange liqueur (such as Cointreau or Grand Marnier – both are gluten-free/wheat-free) and freshly grated nutmeg, it would be hard not to have a good finished product. Lest I forget, that you’ll want to pour real maple syrup all over this delicious French toast plus dust it with a bit of powdered sugar. This French toast has a lovely orange flavor that pairs well with maple syrup.
And, if you’re not avoiding gluten, this recipe works great with full of gluten bread, too. You don’t need to make any adjustments to the other ingredients.
I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention Hootie the Fruit Bird. Nancy H couldn’t just make a fruit salad – she made a work of art, too.
| Baked Orange French Toast (Gluten-Free) | Print |
- 14 ounces of whole-grain sandwich bread (about 12 to 14 slices), cubed
- 6 large eggs
- ½ cup freshly squeezed orange juice
- 2 cups half and half
- 4 tablespoons butter, melted
- ¼ cup maple syrup
- 3 tablespoons orange liqueur (such as Cointreau or Grand Marnier
- Zest from one large orange (~ 1 tablespoon)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- ¼ freshly grated nutmeg
- For serving: powdered sugar and maple syrup
- Slightly stale bread works best for this recipe. If your bread is fresh, cut it into cubes and let it sit out uncovered for a few hours to dry it out.
- Coat a 9”x13” glass pan with cooking spray. Place bread cubes evenly in pan.
- In a medium bowl, whisk eggs.
- Add orange juice, half and half, butter, maple syrup, orange liqueur, orange zest, vanilla and nutmeg and whisk to combine.
- Pour mixture evenly over the bread cubes and press cubes down. Mixture should almost reach the top of the cubes – add more bread if you have too much liquid.
- Cover and refrigerate overnight (at least 12 hours and no more than 15 hours).
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Remove pan from refrigerator. Press down the bread so it’s a bit more covered in the liquid.
- Bake for 40 to 50 minutes or until liquid is set and bread is golden and crispy. Check at 30 minutes – if the bread is browning too much, cover it with foil.
- Let sit out of oven for 10 minutes before serving.
- Just before serving, sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve with maple syrup.
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