Pain Perdu Casserole

Pain Perdu was a breakfast that my Dad made for me ALL the time. Pain Perdu, is French for “Lost Bread”.  It was a way to “do something” with the stale bread that would be wasted.   This is a take on what my Dad made, but it is a recipe from "The Pioneer Woman".

 

Ingredients:

• 1 loaf crusty Sourdough or French bread, preferable stale

Custard:

• 8 large eggs
• ½ C. heavy cream
• 2 C. whole milk
• ½ C. sugar
• ½ C. brown sugar
• 2 T. vanilla extract

Topping:

• ½ C. flour
• ½ C. brown sugar, firmly packed
• 1 t. cinnamon
• ¼ t. salt
• ½ C. (1 stick) butter, cold, cut into 16 pieces

• Maple syrup and powdered sugar, for serving

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, heavy cream, milk, sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla.
3. Slice the bread into small bite size cubes and place in a 10” by 15” casserole dish or baking pan.
4. Pour the custard over the bread and allow the custard to soak into the bread for 10 minutes before putting the casserole dish into the oven. (You can press down on the bread, so it absorbs more of the custard.)
5. Make the topping while the bread absorbs the custard; combine all the topping ingredients in a medium size bowl with a pastry cutter, if you have one, just use a large fork, if you don’t.  The topping should look like small peas when you are finished.
6. Sprinkle the topping over the bread custard mixture.
7. Bake for 45 minutes for a soft pudding like consistency or for 1 hour for a firmer consistency.
8. Serve with powdered sugar and maple syrup.

Tips and Tricks:

• This can be made ahead of time.  Pour the custard over the bread and cover tightly and place in the refrigerator overnight.  Make the topping and place it in a Ziploc bag until you are ready to bake the next day.   
• This makes 10 large sized servings.