Pumpkin Spice French Toast Bake
Got leftover rolls? Use them to soak up some sweetly spiced custard and bake them into this fantastic pumpkin spice french toast. Put it together the night before for an easy brunch the next day.
Bread
This french toast is so good that Iβll make a special batch of my favorite brioche rolls just for this recipe. I make the rolls, slice them down the middle once they cool, and let them dry out overnight. You want whatever bread you use to be very, very dry β nearly stale. The drier the bread is, the more itβll soak up that flavorful custard.
Brioche is a rich, flavorful bread that soaks up the custard really well, so itβs great for this pumpkin spice french toast. But any bread will work!
Custard Soak
While you can use a whisk to beat everything together, I almost always use my immersion blender. Just because I donβt like those stray egg whites. You can achieve the same thing with a whisk, Itβll just take you a bit longer and a little more elbow grease.
The first few tests, I just added the bread to the pan and poured the custard on top. Everything baked up fine, but there were annoying chunks of dry bread with no soak. So after that, I tossed the bread cubes in the bowl of custard soak before adding them to the pan. Youβll have perfectly coated bread every time!
Topping
The topping for this pumpkin spice french toast is a buttery brown sugar pecan crumble that perfectly balances out the soft, custardy middle. When you put the assembled french toast in the fridge to start soaking overnight, you can make the crumble topping so itβs ready to go the next day.
I donβt add the crumble top before the overnight soak because the flour would turn gummy with the liquid on the bread. Waiting until right before you bake it ensures the crunchiest top!
Storage & shelf life
Refrigerate any leftover pumpkin spice french toast for 3-4 days.
Pumpkin Spice French Toast Bake
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Soaking Time: 12 hours
- Cook Time: 50 minutes
- Total Time: 13 hours
- Yield: 15 servings (9 x 13) 1x
- Category: Brunch, Sweet
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American
Description
This easy french toast bake is the perfect fall brunch!
Ingredients
For the french toast:
- 2 cups half and half
- 7 large eggs
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
- 2 TB vanilla extract
- 1 cup pumpkin puree
- 1 TB pumpkin pie spice
- 1 tsp salt
- 12 cups dry or nearly stale bread, cubed
For the topping:
- 1/4 cup all purpose flour
- 1/4 cup brown sugar, packed
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp nutmeg
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter, cold and cut into chunks
- 1 cup pecans, chopped
Instructions
- Assemble everything the afternoon before you plan to bake the french toast. Combine the half and half, eggs, sugar, brown sugar, vanilla extract, pumpkin puree, pumpkin pie spice and salt in a large mixing bowl.
- Use an immersion blender to combine everything until smooth and completely blended. You donβt want any stray egg whites.
- Gently toss the cubed bread with the pumpkin mixture, making sure all of the bread is evenly coated. Add the soaked bread to a buttered 9 x 13 pan and pour all of the remaining pumpkin mixture evenly over the top.
- Cover the pan and refrigerate for 8-12 hours, preferably overnight.
- The next day, preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- To make the topping, add all of the topping ingredients except the pecans to the bowl of a food processor and pulse until the cold butter disappears and the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in the chopped pecans
- Uncover the soaked bread and sprinkle the topping evenly over the top. Bake for 50 minutes, or until puffed and golden brown.
- Allow to cool for 30 minutes before slicing and serving warm with maple syrup.
Equipment
Buy Now β Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 slice
- Calories: 550
- Sugar: 24.2 g
- Sodium: 876.1 mg
- Fat: 15.6 g
- Saturated Fat: 4.4 g
- Trans Fat: 0 g
- Carbohydrates: 85.8 g
- Fiber: 5.3 g
- Protein: 16.4 g
- Cholesterol: 96.5 mg
