(preferably slightly stale; sliced 3⁄4 to 1 inch thick - see the Cooking Tip)
¾cupwhole raisins(chopped dried fruit or chopped nuts; optional)
Fresh fruit such as berries, sliced peaches or pears, and/or confectioners’ sugar(for serving)
Instructions
Grease a 13-by-9-inch baking dish with butter or spray it with cooking spray.
Place the milk, eggs, sugar, maple syrup, vanilla, cinnamon, and salt in a medium-sized bowl and whisk to mix well. Set the milk mixture aside.
Arrange half of the slices of bread in the prepared baking dish, cutting the bread so that it fits in a solid layer. Pour half of the milk mixture over the bread, then evenly distribute about half of any dried fruit or nuts, if using, on top.
Repeat, creating a second layer of bread and then pouring the rest of the milk mixture on top and distributing the rest of the fruit or nuts over the bread. Lightly press the bread down into the liquid.
Cover the baking dish with plastic wrap and refrigerate it overnight. The bread will have absorbed almost all of the milk mixture. Uncover the baking dish, and if there are drier-looking pieces on top, take them off and carefully tuck them underneath the bread on the bottom so that the more milk-soaked pieces are now on top (this is messy but it all works out in the baking). Note that any dried fruit sitting on the top of the French toast will get pretty chewy when baked, and nuts on top will get toasty; the fruit and nuts that are tucked into the French toast will be softer, so disperse the fruit and nuts as you see fit.
Preheat the oven to 425 F.
Bake the French toast, uncovered, until it is puffed and golden, 30 to 35 minutes.
Let the French toast sit for 5 minutes to firm up a bit, then cut it into squares and serve it hot with your choice of maple syrup, fresh fruit, and/or confectioners’ sugar.
Notes
Top the baked French toast as desired with confectioners' sugar, more maple syrup, or a fruit syrup, berries, or other fruit. Some whipped cream would not be outside the realm of consideration. The French Toast is great warm, room temperature, or even a bit cool.
This is a good dish to use to pull the kids into the action. They can help put together pretty much the whole French toast casserole, although you’ll have to decide if they are old enough to help slice the bread (there are lots of kid-friendly plastic knives on the market). Let them pick and choose whatever dried fruits or nuts they like to go in the casserole.
If your bread is not slightly stale, you can help that along. Slice the bread and leave it out on a wire rack overnight or for several hours to dry out a bit. If you are in a rush, you can bake it in a preheated 300-degree oven for about 10 minutes until it is a bit dried out.