Baked French Toast is one of my favorite recipes on my blog. I make it nearly every weekend in the summer when I can buy fabulous bread and gorgeous fruits at the Farmer’s Market. It’s so easy to change up with whatever fruit is in season. But as much as I loved all the others, this Strawberry Rhubarb Baked French Toast is my new favorite. I love the sweet tart combination of strawberries and rhubarb with just a hint of orange.
I also made one other change in the recipe. I toasted the bread for 20 minutes before soaking it in the egg mixture overnight. I decided if toasting the bread before making stuffing gives it a better texture, then toasting the French toast bread would probably do the same thing. I thought it made a huge difference. Even the bread on the bottom near the fruit juices was firmer.
With this Baked French Toast recipe it is best to use a dense, chewy bread. I bought a loaf of Cinnamon Burst Bread from Great Harvest Bread Company. It’s a big round 1 ½ pound loaf studded with cinnamon chips and it makes fabulous French toast. Of course, if you aren’t lucky enough to have a Great Harvest store near you, feel free to substitute any dense, chewy bread that you love.
If you haven’t cooked with rhubarb before, it’s very easy to use. You just wash it, cut it into bites size chucks and add plenty of sugar to it because it’s very tart. It pairs really nicely with strawberries because of the contrasting sweet and tart flavors.
Give this one a try while there’s still rhubarb at the market.
Strawberry Rhubarb Baked French Toast
Ingredients
- 1 loaf Cinnamon Burst Bread cubed *
- 6 eggs
- 1 ½ cups half and half
- 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla
- ½ cup agave can substitute ⅔ cup sugar
- 1 tablespoon corn starch
- 1 tablespoon orange zest
- 2 cups rhubarb chopped into 1 inch pieces
- 2 cups strawberries hulled and halved
- ¼ cups butter melted
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350º. Spread bread evenly into a jelly roll pan and toast for 20 minutes.
- In a medium bowl mix eggs, half-and-half and vanilla. Pour egg mixture evenly over cooled toasted bread. Cover and refrigerate overnight.
- Combine agave, cornstarch, and orange zest, fold in rhubarb and strawberries. Pour into a greased 13"x9" baking pan.
- Place the chilled bread mixture on top of the fruit mixture. Drizzle the butter over the bread.
- Bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes or until golden brown. Cover with foil if the top is getting too brown.
Notes
More great Strawberry Rhubarb recipes you might like:
Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp, Two Peas and Their Pod
Strawberry Rhubarb Cobbler, Hooiser Homemade
Strawberry Rhubarb Bars, The Swans
Strawberry Rhubarb Compote, Gina’s Skinny Recipes
Strawberry Rhubarb Preserves, Tracey’s Culinary Adventures
Nicole@HeatOvenTo350
Wow, this looks delicious! I love everything rhubarb lately so I know I’m going to be craving this baked french toast until I try it.
Rocky Mountain Woman
So there is a Great Harvest bread store about a block from office and I’ve never tried baked french toast and I have guests this weekend!
score!!!
Emily
Yum, yum, yum. I will be trying this! I love Paula Deen’s Baked French Toast recipe too!
Faith
Love the strawberry/rhubarb combo and I bet it’s fantastic in French toast!
kristy
I wish I can find some rhubarb here too. Yours look really delish. Slurp…. Thanks for sharing. Hope you’re having a wonderful day.
Blessings, Kristy
Lora
Wow what a unique twist on French toast and a great use of rhubarb as well.
Rosa
oh, what a gorgeous treat! A divine combination. To die for.
cheers,
Rosa
Betty @ scrambled henfruit
Oh yum! This looks like the perfect breakfast for company! I’m saving this to make when my kids come, hopefully this summer. I love rhubarb and strawberries together- maybe I could freeze some to make sure I have it then! 🙂
Liz@HoosierHomemade
Looks yummy! Thanks for the mention Barbara!
~Liz
Jenni
Oooh delicious!!! I loVe the combination of strawberry and rhubarb!!
Krista @ Meet The Swans
It looks delicious! A neighbor just offered me some of rhubarb a few days ago, I’ll be heading over there to get some so I can try this out. I love strawberry and rhubarb together. Thank you so much for the link as well!
Abby
This sounds so good! And I DO have a Great Harvest Bread near me 🙂 Plus I just found out that this huge plant in the corner of my garden is a rhubarb! Yes, I need to make this as soon as the rhubarb is ripe (just not sure when that is 😉
Barbara
Lucky you! I don’t have a rhubarb plant, but it’s my understanding that on an established plant you can pull up stocks as soon as they’re the size of celery.
Nisrine M..
Quite delightful. Pretty presentation as well as ingredients!!
Reeni
What a lovely breakfast treat Barbara! And what a good idea to toast the bread first!
Janine
Like I said on Twitter, this looks divine – am definitely trying this out soon! Any suggestions for a substitute for strawberries though? They are out of season here and are getting quite expensive :/
Barbara
I would think you could substitute any type of berry. Or even just use all rhubarb, but you may have to increase the sugar if you only use rhubarb. Please let me know how you like it. Thanks!
Lorraine @ Not Quite Nigella
Mum that looks divine! And it reminds me of baked pancakes which I’ve done. Clearly we’re on the same wavelength! 😉 xxx
Paula
What a lovely fruity breakfast frittata!
Lyndsey ~The Tiny Skillet~
I sure miss rhubarb, this looks amazing Barbara! I love the golden crisp top. I would like to sink my teeth into that!
Kathleen
Oh my! I love french toast. Can’t wait to try this!!!
Maris (In Good Taste)
This looks like a gourmet brunch dish! Next special occasion I am making this!