Brown Sugar Sheet-Pan French Toast

Brown Sugar Sheet-Pan French Toast

With a cracking, caramelized brown sugar crust topping and soft, custardy slices of challah, this sheet-pan French toast is sweet perfection all by itself, without the need for maple syrup or powdered sugar. Baking it on a sheet pan eliminates the need to stand at the stove, pan-frying slices in batches. And while the oven is on, it’s easy to throw in a pan of bacon as well. If you can plan ahead, it’s best to start this the night before; the longer the challah soaks in the cinnamon-scented egg mixture, the better and more cakelike the result.

Yield: 6 to 8 servings

6 large eggs

2 ¼ cups/535 grams whole milk

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

½ teaspoon fine sea salt or table salt

1 (1-pound) challah loaf, cut into 1-inch-thick slices

1 packed cup/210 grams dark brown sugar

½ cup/113 grams unsalted butter, melted

In a bowl, whisk eggs until well combined, then whisk in milk, vanilla, cinnamon and salt.

Place the bread in a rimmed sheet pan. Pour the mixture on top and flip the slices to coat with custard on both sides. Let bread soak in the refrigerator for 4 hours or overnight. Flip the bread again halfway through soaking (or about an hour before baking).

Heat oven to 375 degrees. Pour brown sugar and melted butter onto a baking sheet and use an offset spatula to help combine it into a smooth mixture.

Carefully place the bread on top of the sugared baking sheet, leaving any excess liquid in the other pan. Bake for 27 to 35 minutes, or until the tops are golden brown and puffed and the sugar is bubbling.

Serve immediately, with the crunchy brown sugar side facing up, and drizzle more of the pan syrup on top.

TIP: I made this today. One pan soaked in the custard overnight and the brown sugar did not caramelize. The other pan was made up in the morning and only soaked in the custard for a short time - it was caramelized and I liked it better. Added orange zest to the custard. Both versions were eaten with delight. Will definitely make it again

If you're already using a saucepan to melt the butter, why not combine the brown sugar with the butter in it. That's certainly easier than trying to stir it all together on the sheet.

Delicious! My only change is to use salted butter instead of unsalted for the brown sugar mixture. Also LOVED the tip about cutting into chunks instead of slices - way easier to soak.

Agree with those who would decrease butter and brown sugar. I soaked my bread in chunks on a bowl and cooked in a 9x13 baking dish. It was great

I had a loaf of croissant bread, so used that here to great results. I warmed the bread in my toaster oven in advance to dry it out. This turned out to be a great strategy because it absorbed the milk/egg mixture quite rapidly (e.g., within 20 minutes), which is great when you’re hungry and don’t want to wait!

A winner!

This is a forgiving recipe—if you don't use the exact measurements, it'll be fine: I had a half a baguette, stale, and used that for two people. Followed instructions, but reduced the ingredients on the fly/by the eye (two egss? Sure) and, since it was just half a baguette, baked it in a small cast-iron skillet.

Delicious and simple. A bit sweet for my taste, so I topped it with plain Greek yogurt, and that was wonderful. Served it with a fruit salad with a bit of mint.