Make your morning special with this easy and delicious gluten-free berry French toast casserole. Everything you love about traditional French Toast, but gluten free and baked all in one pan!So good!
1loafgluten-free white bread, approximately 400g / 14oz, cut or torn into small cubes
2tablespoonbutter, melted
2teaspooncinnamon
Strawberry mixture:
2cupsstrawberries, sliced, fresh or frozen
2tablespoongranulated sugar
1tablespooncornstarch
Egg mixture:
3eggs
1cupmilk
1teaspoonvanilla extract
To serve:
icing sugar
maple syrup
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 300°F (150°C). Toss the bread cubes in the melted butter and cinnamon and spread out on a baking sheet in an even layer. Bake for about 20 minutes, turning halfway, until the bread is dried out and slightly toasted.
In a medium-sized bowl, toss together the sliced strawberries, granulated sugar and cornstarch.
Increase the oven temperature to 375°F (190°C). Grease a 9” square baking dish and set aside. In another bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, and vanilla. Spread half the bread in an even layer across the bottom of the baking dish. Top with a layer of half of the strawberry mixture. Repeat with remaining bread and strawberries.
Drizzle half of the egg mixture over the bread and strawberry mixtures, slowly enough that the bread absorbs the liquid. Gently press down on the top of the casserole to ensure that all bread and strawberries have absorbed some of the egg mixture.
Bake, covered with foil, for 20 minutes, remove the foil and bake uncovered for an additional 10- 15 minutes, or until browned and toasted on top. Dust with powdered sugar and serve warm with maple syrup.
Notes
Top Tips
Toast the bread – With gluten-free bread, I find that toasting fresh bread in the oven works best to dry it out, rather than using day-old bread, which is what is traditionally done for non-gluten-free French toast.
Bake covered and then uncovered – Baking it uncovered helps the casserole set, but letting it bake at the end uncovered, gives it a nice toasty/crunchy top.
Add the liquid slowly – When adding the egg mixture, add it slowly and make sure that the bread is absorbing it as you add it. You want all the bread and strawberries moistened.
Make ahead – This dish should be served freshly baked, but you can toast the bread the night before. You can also prepare the egg mixture the night before and refrigerate until ready to use. Don't mix the strawberries with the sugar and cornstarch, or pour on the egg mixture until ready to bake.
Double up – this recipe can be doubled and baked up in a 9” x 13” baking dish.
Variations
Switch up your berries: Instead of strawberries, you can also use blueberries, raspberries or a combination of berries. If only using raspberries, you may want to increase the amount of granulated sugar added to the berries, to compensate for using a less sweet berry.
Storage
Leftovers – store any leftovers in the fridge up to 2 days and reheat in the microwave.