Sweet and custardy, this overnight baked Peach French Toast Casserole is covered in beautiful fresh peaches. Easy enough for every day, but decadent enough for company.
French toast casseroles are amazing in theory. Prep everything the night before and bake in the morning. With minimal work in the morning when you’re still tired, you can have a delicious hot breakfast, worthy of weekend company.
However! I find baked toast casseroles are rarely actually that good in reality. Somehow they’re always too soggy, too dry, or too bland. Many French toast casseroles include cream cheese, which seems to separate out and bake in little curdled-like bits.
After years of trying, I finally have what I’m deeming an actually worthwhile one: this peach French toast casserole is perfection!
It’s not soggy, not bland, and not dry. It’s rich and decadent, without being overly sweet. It has almost more of a bread pudding-like consistency. The fresh peaches take it to a whole new level, adding sweet, fresh, juicy flavor.
The best part about this French toast casserole? It’s a great way to use up leftover, slightly stale bread!
Whenever we have leftovers from a loaf of bread, I freeze it. The stale bread is perfect for this casserole, easily soaking up the liquid.
Challah is my favorite bread to use for this. But when I bake a fresh loaf of challah, we never have leftovers! So if I’m using a fresh store-bought loaf of bread, I just let it sit out for a day or so beforehand to get a little stale.
Why do we want to use stale bread rather than fresh bread? It’s time for my favorite subject… kitchen chemistry!
Kitchen Chemistry
As bread absorbs liquid, the overall starchy structure of the bread begins to weaken. Bread that is fresh and moist will dissolve into the liquid. However, bread that is stale and dry is able to draw in significantly more moisture before dissolving and becoming too soggy.
Any sort of soft white bread works. I’ve even made this with leftover hamburger buns after summer BBQs! French bread is another delicious option, too.
Whatever kind of bread you use, you’re looking for 16 ounces of bread, cut into 1 1/2-inch cubes.
To rehydrate our stale bread, we’re going to add a mixture of egg yolks, heavy cream, milk, and sugar. Whisk together in a large bowl, add in the cubes of bread, and toss to combine.
Make sure to push all the pieces of bread into the custard – we want each piece to be fully saturated with the custard mixture!
Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and store in the refrigerator for at least two hours, preferably overnight.
When you wake up the next morning, remove the French toast casserole from the refrigerator. Transfer the (now soggy!) bread into a greased 9″ springform pan.
Preheat the oven to 325 °F. Once the oven is heated, bake the casserole for 30 minutes, until the top is well browned and the casserole is baked through. If you like the top layer to be slightly caramelized, I love to pop this under the broiler for a minute or two at the very end. Just keep an eye on it – it will go from golden to black quickly! (As evidenced by my photo – oops!)
Remove from the oven, cool for 10 minutes, and run a knife around the outer edge of the casserole. Unmold from the springform pan and transfer to a serving dish.
Top with a dusting of confectioners’ sugar, if desired, and arrange with a layer of thinly sliced fresh peaches.
I always like to bake this in a springform pan. Being able to remove the casserole from the dish is a lovely presentation – and makes cutting the first slice so much easier!
No springform pan? No worries! This peach French toast casserole can also be baked in a 9 x 9-inch square baking dish or a 7 x 11-inch baking dish.
A 9 x 13-inch baking dish can also be used – the resulting slices will just be thinner.
Sweet and custardy, this overnight baked Peach French Toast Casserole is covered in beautiful fresh peaches. Easy enough for every day, but decadent enough for company.
As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programs, I earn from qualifying purchases.