Sorry I can't help....I've always wanted to try one, but never made it, so no T&T experience. But they always look and sound so scrumptious!

It's just bread pudding. I make bread puddings on the regular. Mostly savory ones, yum. The other day I did one with Texas toast bread, spicy capicola, and mozz :) I tend not to let them sit overnight, but they can be set up that way to bake the next morning. I tend to set up in the morning to bake up for dinner. A few hours of soaking up time is a good thing.

I like to use Texas toast bread, and I use other breads for puddings. Rye is great for Ruben pudding. But Texas slices are nice because of their uniform square and thickness.

I use an egg per slice of bread, plus one for the mix. A goodly splash of dairy- if you like your pudding dryer, use less, if you like it wetter, use more. With that you can go sweet, adding in sugar, vanilla, ect. Or you can go savory and add in savory seasonings.

Make sure you grease your pan well before putting in your stuff. Dip your bread into the egg, and make sure it's well coated on both sides before putting it in your pan. Pour the remain of the egg over the bread. If you are adding other stuff like meat or cheese, top the bread. Cover dish and into the fridge for the hours before baking. When ready, bake at 350. I like to leave it covered for most of the baking, then uncover at the end- usually 35-45 minutes depending on how wet the toast is and how much stuff might be on top.

Eating my French toast casserole right now. Warmed in the microwave, little maple syrup overtop. Delicious. I used a whole can of evaporated milk and it was a small casserole, nice and moist, not dried out.

Annie, i had one at a breakfast. It was made with blueberries and cream cheese.

Woodies Creme Brulee French Toast is tried and true. Every Mothers Day, Christmas, every ocassion really. My BIL asks for a pan to be sent anytime I say what do you want? I use uncut braided challah bread and pre-cut the portions to fill the pan entirely before putting the brulee in the pan. My notes say the metal pans cook quicker than the glass that have been in the fridge all night.

Here is the original recipe for review:

1 stick Butter

1 cup Brown Sugar

2 tablespoon Corn Syrup

8-10 inch round country loaf -- or 1 pound French bread or 1 Challah

5 eggs

1 1/2 cup half and half

1 teaspoon Vanilla

1 teaspoon Grand Marnier (optional)

1/4 teaspoon salt

1. Melt butter, sugar and corn syrup in saucepan over moderate heat. Pour into 9 X 13 pan.

2. Slice bread into 6 slices and place on top of the sauce in the 9 X 13 pan, press together to fit.

3. Whisk together eggs, half and half, Vanilla, Grand Marnier and salt. Pour over bread.

4. Cover and chill 8 to 24 hours.

5. Bake at 350 degrees for approximately 40 minutes, until puffy and brown

I should probably mention that the Creme Brulee french toast does not require syrup. To serve it, you scoop out a piece and invert it so the brulee is now on the top. This is so good and we usually fight for the leftovers.

David (lakeguy) on the Cooking forum shared one years ago. I made it once. Absolutely delicious!

Simpler Times Blueberry French Toast

8 cups sweet bread in 1" cubes (Brioche or Challah)
5 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon nutmeg (I used less)
3 cups milk or Half & Half
3 cups fresh or frozen blueberries
1 cup chopped pecans
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup brown sugar

Put bread in large bowl. Whip eggs, sugar and nutmeg until light in color and thick. Add milk and vanilla, stir and pour over bread. Cover and place in fridge overnight.

In the morning, mix 1 cup blueberries into bread and put in greased pan; sprinkle balance of blueberries on top, then pecans. In pan, melt butter and brown sugar until bubbly. Pour mixture over blueberries and pecans.

Bake at 325 degrees for one hour or until puffed. Serve hot with syrup.

https://www.gardenweb.com/discussions/2463154/today-s-breakfast#n=22

I call that bread pudding also. I do like bread pudding occasionally. I like my French toast the traditional way and I like it nice and crisp on the outside and soft in the middle.

I'm with Wildchild on this one. French toast only takes 5 minutes to make compared to quite a few minutes for bread pudding. I like French toast a lot, but I'm not fond of bread pudding.

I like to use Amaretto (or other liqueurs) when making French toast and use at least 2 teaspoons of liqueur when making two servings, (or one teaspoon per serving). I dust powdered sugar on top and do not use syrup. I use 1/3 cup milk for each egg plus 1 heaping tablespoon of flour, and one egg per serving. I only make French toast when I have bread that is sweet, such as brioche or challah, but I have not made challah in a while.

Lakeguy's recipe looks really good, but it is not fast. I think it is worth making, however, and I might have to try it. I have pecan liqueur (from New Orleans) thatI could use in it in place of vanilla. Also, I would not put syrup on something that has that much sugar in it - 1-1/2 cups total!

Judi, what size pan did you use? Did you cover the pan with foil before baking? One hour seems like a long time to bake uncovered, but pan size will also make a difference.

Wildchild, if you read the title of this post it's about French toast casserole. You may call it bread pudding, but it's definitely not the same.

Lars, I took a look at my recipe and notes. I made it in July 2004. Labeled it "Very Good and Rich". I reduced the sugar by half and omitted the syrup. I don't remember what size dish I used.

David got the recipe from a B&B called Simpler Times Inn in Oklahoma.

We used to make an overnight French toast recipe for Christmas morning as well as a sort of egg, cheese and sausage/bacon bread casserole. I never liked the French toast version, but found the leftover eggy slices made good turkey sandwiches when the slice was cut into two slices so you ended up with eggy on the outside and bready on the inside, perfect for mustard and/or cranberry.

I think of French toast being made with whole slices of bread and bread pudding being made with 1" cubes of bread. I think JoanM's recipe qualifies as French toast casserole, since it uses slices of bread. Once the bread is cubed, I think it more resembles bread pudding, but one could use slices of bread instead of cubes.

I'll be interested to see what everyone comes up with. Back in the day we were at an Easter brunch and they had a stuffed cream cheese french toast TO DIE FOR. I was chasing that memory when I came across this recipe. It's been years now bu, anyone ever watch Donna Day's show (Donna Erickson) about ideas for families? Her's sounded DELISH!

https://www.mycouriertribune.com/community_living/donnas-day-try-easy-stuffed-french-toast-during-christmas-weekend/article_2c3b3c86-6424-11ec-85cc-f70298a5af38.html

Here's a link I found. As I recall it was tooo moist, and super super sweet, probably more 'pudding' like than french toast. Probably because I used the wrong bread???

I would use Challah when I make it.

I have never made it overnight, because it is so quick to fix.

sliced thick bread, French, Texas toast, or Sara Lee Artesano

Egg, beaten

Milk

Beat egg and milk and add sliced bread, flip so both sides are in egg mixture

Melt butter in skillet

Add soaked bread, let cook a few minutes and flip

Serve witn syrup of choice

I do not add vanilla or sugar. There is enough sugar in the syrup and enough vanilla in the bread.

Sherry, my preferred way is the you are describing. But…after having the overnight version, I thought it would be fun to have for guests.

I wouldn't make traditional French toast for more than 2 people.

Eld, this one is really good. It's from Caswells on the Bay B&B and I've made it several times - only we are not breakfast people so I've served it for our dinner. And then I'm making it fresh, not putting it mostly together the night before but as written:

Serves 6. Great make ahead recipe. Soak the bread in orange batter overnight and bake in the morning.

6 eggs

2/3 C orange juice

1 T orange zest

1/3 C milk

1/4 C granulated sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla

1/4 tsp nutmeg

3T Cointreau or other orange liquor (Eld, I've halved that and subbed more orange juice, not being one who likes a strong alcohol taste in many foods)

12 slices French Bread sliced 1" thick (Franciscan brand thick sliced works perfectly or you can slice your own)

1/3 C butter which you will melt morning, do it in your microwave and tilt the pans to cover bottoms

1/2 C finely chopped pecans

Powdered sugar and fresh fruit for garnish

Whisk together eggs, orange juice and zest, milk, sugar, vanilla, nutmeg, liquor. Dip each slice bread, turning to coat both sides. Place slices on ungreased 10x15 jelly roll pan and pour remaining batter over. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.

Next morning. Preheat oven to 375. Melt and divide butter evenly between two 9x12 glass pans. (toast browns on both sides in glass, no need to turn during baking) Spread the bread single layer both pans and sprinkle with pecans. If you have batter remaining on your jelly roll, you can pour it over the bread again in the baking pans.

Bake on middle rack in oven for 20 min. Garnish with powdered sugar and fresh fruit or berries after baking, can offer a variety of different syrups.

My note: It's yummy. I'll serve it with scrambled eggs and bacon or sausage when having it for dinner. I halve the above recipe when making it for the two of us, and have found when using the Franciscan brand bread I can use one 7x11 pan for half recipe, crowding the bread only a little 😊

Morz, thank you. It looks amazing.