Blackberry Vanilla Overnight French Toast Casserole

Bake a bread that looks just a little too funky? This casserole saves the day. You're welcome.

A messed-up loaf of sourdough bread is essentially French toast ready to happen. And if you forget your parchment paper and try baking your bread in your dutch oven without it, only to have it stick to the pan and rip apart when you try taking it out? That’s not just French toast—that’s a French toast casserole.

Yep. I really did that. I was being lazy and didn’t feel like getting all the way to the store to buy parchment paper for my bread, and thought I could maybe get away with not using it. Newsflash: always use the parchment paper when you bake bread in a dutch oven. Don’t be lazy like me. It’s not worth it.

Any who, with a loaf of misshapen sourdough bread, I decided that attempting a French toast casserole seemed like the right move. Mixed with real vanilla bean and blackberries, it is the perfect lazy morning brunch when you don’t feel like making an effort when you wake up on the weekend.

It really is simple. All you have to do is butter a casserole dish, chop up your bread into little cubes, toss in the dish with some fresh blackberries, whisk together the wet ingredients, then pour over the bread cubes. Let it soak overnight, and bake in the morning. It’s the type of lazy breakfast that was perfect for my lazy behavior that weekend, and honestly, I’m thankful for the mess up.

In an effort to keep this simple, let’s dive into the recipe. Remember that you don’t have to use sourdough bread, any artisanal bread will do. As long as you get at least six cups of bread cubes that will fit nicely in an 8x8” casserole dish.

Happy brunch, and enjoy!

Blackberry Vanilla Overnight French Toast Casserole

Makes 6-8 servings.

Ingredients:

• 6 cups sourdough bread cubes (or other artisanal bread)

• 1 cup blackberries

• 3 eggs

• 2 cups milk

• 1/2 vanilla bean (split and scrape)

• 1/4 tsp cinnamon

• 1/8 tsp nutmeg

• Dash of salt

• Butter, for greasing

• Powdered sugar and maple syrup, optional

Instructions:

1. Grease an 8x8” casserole dish with butter.

2. Toss the bread cubes and the blackberries together, then place in the buttered dish.

3. Whisk together the eggs, milk, vanilla bean, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt.

4. Pour over the bread evenly, making sure all of the cubes are absorbed in the egg mixture.

5. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the fridge overnight.

6. The next morning, bake in the oven for 45-50 minutes at 350 degrees.

7. Let it stand for a few minutes before slicing and serving. Add powdered sugar and maple syrup on top of slices, if desired.