Take The Stress Out Of Breakfast With Giada De Laurentiis' French Toast Trick

If you prefer a sweet breakfast to a savory one, there are typically three classic options: waffles, pancakes, and French toast. All are delicious and typically budget-friendly, but the downside is that they usually need to be cooked one at a time. There's not much you can do to make waffles more time-efficient, but it is possible to bake sheet pan pancakes or transform French toast into a breakfast casserole. You can also take a tip from Giada De Laurentiis' playbook by combining the two concepts to make sheet pan French toast.

De Laurentiis' sheet pan French toast starts out with diced chunks of Italian bread briefly soaked in an egg batter, although she chooses to use half and half instead of milk. After she puts the bread in the pan, she goes to town with toppings. She covers it with sugar, chocolate chips, and blops of sweetened ricotta cheese before baking it until it turns brown and the middle sets up. As if the breakfast casserole wasn't sweet enough, the TV chef also likes to serve it with maple syrup and berries. In her opinion, it makes for the perfect springtime brunch dish.

Giada De Laurentiis' idea of cooking French toast in the oven is certainly a time-saver, but you don't need to cook it the same way she does. Swap the Italian bread for another thick bread like brioche or challah, or go with sourdough if you enjoy a sweet-and-sour flavor contrast. If you're really into sweet stuff, you may even find Hawaiian bread to be best for French toast. You can also replace the ricotta with cottage cheese or cream cheese, or omit it altogether if you'd like a lighter dish. As for the chocolate chips, those could be swapped out for nuts or dried fruit.

If the reason you're not sold on French toast casserole as opposed to regular French toast is because you prefer a whole slice of bread, you can bake that on a sheet pan, as well. First, dip your bread into the same type of French toast batter you'd use if you were to cook it in a skillet, then fit as many slices as you can into a buttered sheet pan and bake the toast until it's golden brown. This type of toast might not stand up to as many toppings as De Laurentiis piles on her breakfast casserole, but you can always add add vanilla pudding mix to the batter for an extra-special treat, then top the finished product with whipped cream and berries.