There are many ways to make oven French toast, but there are a few key tips for making this dish successfully. While there are basic ingredients that are essential to any French toast recipe, there are also a few optional additions as well. Interesting variations on the original oven French toast recipe are also available. Some of the most important tips, however, involve the way in which the dish is cooked.
The essential ingredients for making oven French toast are largely the same as for traditional French toast. Many chefs have their own specific variations, but the most common ingredients are eggs, milk, cinnamon, sugar and vanilla extract. Have the French toast basics available before attempting to create a baked version. Add in one or two unusual ingredients, such as nuts, lemon zest, honey, or orange juice to give the oven French toast a special touch.
Another tip is to use a recipe that is a greater variation on the original oven French toast recipe. For example, the dish can be made into a casserole by cutting bread up into cubes and adding a topping to the entire mixture. A savory version can be created by sandwiching ham and cheese slices in between two slices of bread and then dipping the sandwich into an egg mixture before baking. Other ideas to try are using a different type of bread, such as cinnamon raisin bread, and garnishing the finished product with fruit.
A few tips are helpful for actually cooking oven French toast. One of the most important things to remember is to grease or butter the bottom of the pan that you will be baking the French toast in. Many recipes call for a butter mixture to be poured into the pan, but even if the recipe does not call for this, the pan should be greased with regular cooking spray.
It is important to make sure that the bread has adequate time to soak up the egg mixture before baking. It is often easiest to refrigerate it overnight. If it seems as though the top of the bread is browning too quickly during baking, aluminum foil placed over the top of the pan will slow down the browning while the rest of the dish finishes cooking.
