This is an excellent recipe. I didn't need to modify it at all, but I did based on what I had available. I substituted walnuts for pecans and added orange-flavored cranberries before layering the bread. The flavor was excellent and the walnuts helped to tone the richness of the french toast. The only note I would add is that I would let it set for approximately 10-15 minutes before serving. The butter, sugar, syrup mixture needs a little time to carmalize and the french toast retains the heat for quite a while after serving. The 10-15 minutes will also allow the bread to firm up a little and arrive at a nice texture.
SOP, I love you. I made this today for a friend of mine who came for breakfast with frozen blackberries sweetened with a little sugar and some homemade whipped cream...and out of the baked French toast recipes that I've tried this one is absolutely the best. I did make some adaptations which worked out quite nicely; added a little more orange peel than the recipe called for and a little less orange juice (about 1/2 cup). I also used brioche instead of French bread and was delighted with the results! Thank you (and the bed & breakfast you and your husband stayed at!) for supplying this amazing recipe. It'll be on my repetoire for YEARS to come!
Great recipe! Tasted just like warm pecan rolls, but much easier to make. After having read over 200 reviews of the recipe, I made the following adjustments: greased bottom and sides of the 9X13 pan with shortening (for easier release of the baked french toast); cut the slices of french bread 1" thick; added twice the amount of orange zest; used a total of 6 whole eggs (both yolk and egg white) and 1/2 c. + 2 T. 2% milk for the liquid mixture (to better cover all of the bread); baked the dish for 45 minutes; and let the dish set for 10 minutes after taking it out of the oven before serving it. I did not add the white sugar to the liquid mixture, but I did use an entire cup of light brown sugar for the pecan topping as the recipe called for. My company loved it and immediately asked for the recipe. It made 6 large or 8 small servings.
This recipe is phenomenal. One tip is to either use stale bread or crisp it up in the oven before hand. My family adores it!
WOW- was a hit for Christmas Eve brunch! I used real maple syrup instead of corn syrup & 3/8 cup of Egg Beaters for the egg whites. The pan was completely empty when I went back for seconds!!! P.S.- If you use one of the loaves from the twin pack of Pepperidge Farms french bread, it fills the 13x9 perfectly. Good texture, too.......
Very good! I used skim milk and 5 whole eggs. I also used walnuts instead of pecans. I used sourdough and I wouldn't recommend that because it tasted too "sour" with the OJ and all. My 3-year old loved sprinkling the powdered sugar on top! (And...this is the first thing I've baked in my brand-new oven! I'm so excited!)
I made this for Christmas day breakfast. They were good, but way too sweet, and I even cut the sugar down a bit. They were not immediately requested again by the kids, which is my barometer for rating a recipe. I may try this again sometime with a few tweakings to the recipe.
This was really good and really easy! I'm making it for the second time this morning. Going to leave out the cinnamon this time. Does fine to make it the night before. Going to make it immediately this time.
I made this for a brunch at work and it was a big hit. I baked it in two round dishes instead of an oblong so I could warm it in the microwave. The round bread fit nicely in the round dishes. I will definitely make it again!
