French Toast Bread Pudding

French Toast Bread Pudding is the most magical of all brunch recipes. With a beautifully caramelized outer crust and a soft, sweet, gently spiced interior, this will truly blow your mind.

Have you ever been in a restaurant and tasted something so incredibly good that you just couldn't leave without finding out how it was made?

Years ago when I was at a cozy B & B in northern California, with a very small dining room and an even smaller kitchen, I tasted the best French toast of my life. I was desperate to know everything about it.

I made my way into the kitchen and chatted with the chef long enough to get a rough idea of the ingredients and cooking technique. I wrote everything down the second I had the chance.

I call it French Toast Bread Pudding. In cake form, it's a combination of your favorite French toast and your favorite bread pudding.

I've been making it for about twenty years now. It never fails to be the biggest hit at any brunch.

Some Ingredient Notes

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• soft sliced bread - Challah, Brioche or another egg bread is a great. You can even use croissants, cinnamon rolls or raisin bread, or any combination thereof. Substitution: You can use gluten-free bread if you'd like. I've used Canyon Bakehouse's Seven Grain & Cinnamon Raisin gluten-free breads for this, and the results are delicious!
• unsalted butter - It's a good idea to bake and cook with unsalted butter so you can control the salt content in the finished product.
• milk - Low-fat and whole milk are best for this recipe.
• half and half - This is part of what makes this so rich.
• pure vanilla extract - I use this one.
• ground cinnamon - Warming spices are always lovely in French toast. Substitution: You can also use cloves or allspice, or a combination.
• neutral oil - Vegetable or avocado.
• mini chocolate chips: The bits of chocolate will melt in your mouth with each bite. Substitution: Raisins, currants, or any combination thereof.

How to Make French Toast Bread Pudding

- Preheat the oven to 400°F and grease a 10-inch bundt pan, or a 10 x 3 or 4-inch cake pan.

- If the bread you're using has a tough crust, remove it. Then cut the slices in half or fourths.

- In a large saucepan, whisk the eggs with the milk, half and half, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon and salt, until it's blended. Now heat it, and let it warm only enough to dissolve the sugar.

Below are the different stages of what this mixture will look like as it's whisked. The 4th image is right after it's been warmed. It will never be 100% blended, but should be a smooth consistency.

- Melt the oil and butter together in a large sauté pan, and then dredge each slice of bread into it, coating one side only.

- Line the bottom of the greased pan with one layer of the bread, greased side down, tearing the bread into any sizes and shapes necessary to better fit the pan.

- Pour enough of the egg mixture to cover the layer of bread. Bake this until the egg mixture appears solid.

- Dredge each of the remaining bread slices into the egg mixture and add them to the cake pan, greased side down. Between each layer, drizzle with about ½ cup of the egg mixture and a sprinkling of the chocolate.

Below are the different stages of the layering process for making this amazing French toast dish.

- Pour in any of the remaining egg mixture that the pan will hold, adding it little by little. Then place the pan on a foil-lined baking sheet, and bake for about 1¼ hours.

- Let it rest for about 15 minutes. Then, go around the sides of it with the dull side of a small knife, to make sure it isn't stuck. Invert it onto a large platter.

(More detailed instructions are in the recipe card below.)

Do you have to use a bundt pan?

I use a bundt pan because I love the presentation, but you can also use a round cake pan -- ideally a springform pan, or a deep 9 x 13-inch casserole dish.

Recipe Tips

• As you're layering the bread, break the bread into any shapes and sizes necessary to fill all of the crevices.
• French toast bread pudding rises quite a bit above the top of the pan. That's okay! It'll fall down as it cools.
• If you have any trouble releasing it onto a plate or platter, leave it upside down for a while in the pan. If it's still not coming out, run a kitchen towel under very hot water, wring it out, and place this on top of the inverted pan. Leave it for a few minutes and try again.

More Amazing French Toast Recipes

• Buttermilk French Toast Bake with Bacon and Eggs
• French Toast Cassserole
• Pain Perdu

Can it be made ahead?

While French Toast Bread Pudding can be made ahead, it's best when baked the same day that you're planning to serve it. You can however, make the egg mixture and prepare the bread the day before.

Can you use leftover French toast to make this recipe?

Great question, but unfortunately not. The key to the success of this recipe is all in the technique.

I hope you adore this French Toast Bread Pudding as much as my family and I do!

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