French Toast Casserole (!!) featuring creamy ricotta cheese, fresh summer berries, and homemade brioche. Cause all we do is win win win no matter what! You’re gonna love it.
Featured comment
I made this today for having friends over for brunch, and it was amazing!!! I made the dough the night before and cut it up and put it in the fridge, then let it come to room temperature the next day to finish the recipe. Perfect texture and rich and sweet- but not too much- and making the dough was easy. Every single person asked for the recipe, this is now my go to sweet breakfast dish!
Laurie
Oh sweet baking! How I love/unlove it.
Love = the warm, bready smells.
Love = the taste-testing along the way. what else is a spatula for though?
Love = the finished product. because when that beautifully deep skillet with golden brown French Toast and berries lands on the table, in a moment of transformation you go from regular person to full blown BOSS. you have just made baking history with your skills. you might be the most domestically gifted person alive right now.
So mostly I love baking. But there’s that one little thing that I UNLove = the lack of flexibility.
I have gotten so … I don’t want to say sloppy, but that’s sort of what it is … can we just say casual to preserve my self esteem? I’ve gotten so CASUAL with the process of just cooking and adjusting on the go for easy dinner recipes (taste // add more salt // taste again // give it a shot of lemon zest // more tasting // roast it a little longer) that I feel like I’ve totally lost my stamina and patience with baking. I mean, you cannot adjust these things real-time when you are working with fussy ingredients like YEAST and EGGS and BUTTER and FLOUR and by the way – is my oven temperature possibly off by a few degrees? Ugh, baking. Just loosen up already.
But there comes a time in life where you have to ask yourself the most important question: am I willing to get my bake on in order to end up with a big old school style of everything-in-one-large-pan French Toast Casserole on my table?
Correct answer: yes.
French Toast Casserole – let’s break it down.
A) French Toast because breakfast is so good and carbs are life, B) Casserole because it is fun to share food, and C) bonus note that this is not a super flexible recipe necessarily, but to my comments above about it being fussy and all that? this is actually a relatively easy recipe as far as homemade completely from scratch baking awesomeness goes.
Such as golden brown French Toast baked in a large dish and bombed with ricotta and berries. This French Toast Casserole is meant to be shared with all your best people – I mean, this heavy dish of breakfast glory is going to weight at least 800 pounds, so text your squad NOW, girlfriend. You’re going to need some help with this one. I know, I know, having people over sometimes feels a little panicky, but brunch seems moderately approachable when it comes to hosting, right? French Toast Casserole is your jam for this.
Look out, brunch goals. We are on the loose.
Here’s the deal with the dough. You have two options.
- Store bought pre-made dough from a can, like those biscuits that everyone uses for everything.
- Homemade brioche that will blow your mind with how easy and amazingly delicious it is.
K, it might be obvious which one I’m pushing for here, but let me just say this – I am not above the canned biscuit situation. If I were really pressed for time, I might just go there. No snub noses here.
But know this: I AM pressed for time 99% of the times that I’m making something like this for some kind of brunch event and I STILL find it worth the extra five minutes that it takes to make the homemade dough. I said FIVE MINUTES because the recipe I’m using comes from Artisan Bread in Five which is based around the concept of baking bread with just five minutes of prep for the dough. Could this be any easier? This is baking for casual girls. This is where I live.
It’s buttery, rich, a tiny bit creamy thanks to the ricotta, and speckled with juicy bites of raspberry and blueberry that sort of explode with goodness in each bite. Topped with powdered sugar and syrup and you are gonna be rocking those brunch goals.
ROCK-ING.
Ricotta Berry French Toast Casserole
- Total Time: 50 minutes
- Yield: 12–16 1x
Description
French Toast Casserole with SUPER EASY 5 minute homemade brioche, ricotta cheese, and berries. No canned biscuits! So delicious!
Ingredients
For the Brioche Dough (you will use half of this amount for one 9×13 of French Toast Casserole and the other half can be frozen)
- 4 eggs, beaten, room temperature if possible
- 3/4 cup butter, melted
- 3/4 cup warm water
- 1/4 cup honey
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1 1/2 teaspoons dry active yeast
- 4 cups flour (more as needed for dusting hands and surface)
For the French Toast Casserole Filling
- 3 eggs
- 1 cup whole milk ricotta cheese
- 1/4 cup honey or maple syrup
- 1–2 cups raspberries and/or blueberries
Instructions
- Dough: Mix the eggs, butter, water, honey, salt, and yeast in a bowl. Add the flour and stir until just combined (you can just use a wooden spoon for this – no mixer necessary). Cover with plastic and set aside (at room temp) for about 2 hours or until puffy and sticky. Split the dough in half and freeze one half for later. Coat your hands and your surface with plenty of flour, roll out the remaining half batch, and cut it into bite sized pieces.
- Filling: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Whisk the eggs with the ricotta cheese and honey. Add the bite sized dough pieces and the berries. Stir gently just once or twice to combine.
- Bake: Transfer to a greased 9×13 casserole dish and bake for 30-ish minutes, until the top is golden brown and the insides are fully baked. Sprinkle with powered sugar and syrup.
Notes
Sometimes the dough can get really sticky. I am pretty generous with the amount of flour I use – also, you can chill it for a while to make it less sticky. In terms of how to cut it into bite sized pieces, I usually roll it flat, then roll it into a log, and then use a kitchen scissors to cut.
- Prep Time: 20 mins
- Cook Time: 30 mins
- Category: Breakfast
- Cuisine: American
Keywords: french toast casserole, french toast, berry casserole, breakfast casserole
One More Thing!
This recipe is part of our delicious berry recipes page. Check it out!
How does it work for freezing? What stage do you freeze? When shouldn’t be thawed? Thank you!
My entire family loves this recipe! It is quick and easy and love the tip about freezing the extra dough. I used the extra dough to make some rolls that turned out just as delicious as the French toast. I’ve made it with berries and plain, I might have to do chocolate or apple next!
This looks great and I am making a few batches to feed around 35-40 people. It says the cut the dough in half and freeze it no matter the recipe size. Can I double the recipe and use all of the dough and triple the filling ingredients or what do you suggest?
Thank you!
Hi Vienna! If you double the recipe, and would like to use all of the dough, you’ll need to quadruple the casserole filling. We hope you enjoy the recipe!
This recipe looks delicious! I’d love to make it soon. It’s perfect for brunch, especially a girls’ brunch. How would you use the frozen dough to make another batch of this brioche French toast? OR could I bake the other half of the dough to make a brioche loaf? If so, what instructions should I use?
I’ve loved all of your recipes and share your web recipes with all the other cooks and bakers in my life. Your recipes are my go-to! Sadly, however, I’ve got to say that the home made brioche dough was definitely not worth the extra time and made a yummy looking breakfast with other delicious parts completely inedible. It went straight into the trash 🙁 I’m an experienced baker and love to bake anything from scratch, but this didn’t work for me! The textures and flavors of the bread were not good. In the future, I wouldn’t bother with the home made brioche part of this recipe. I would just buy store bought brioche instead or use another kind of frozen sweet dough. I love biscuits, but canned biscuit flavor and the heaviness from cut up pieces with the creaminess would be an abomination here. Might I suggest revisiting this recipe and offering modifications with premade bread or other frozen light and sweet dough ingredients instead?
This looks amazing! Would it be possible to cook about a week ahead of time and freeze? I’m hosting big brunch in the near future and would like to do as much as I can ahead of time. I saw the comments about doing it the day before but I don’t think I’ll have enough time for that!
Thanks!
Do you have any tips for freezing the other half? I just let mine thaw overnight from making the first half in the spring, and the dough had essentially a crust on the top, and tasted weird and had gotten a lot of ice crystals during freezing so there was also standing water. I had frozen it in a tupperware. Should I have done something different for freezing/storage?
This came out really good. I do have a question about thawing the latter half of the dough. How long should it thaw? Thank you.
We’d suggest thawing it overnight in the fridge.
I appreciate this recipe, but please don’t claim that the brioche is worth the extra “5 minutes” of prep, and then casually note in the instructions that it needs 2 hours to rise.
The prep time of the brioche is not measured in effort; it is measured in how much time I’ve carved out to execute the recipe.
I made this for my wife’s birthday today. We love it. Does the rest need to go in the fridge or just leave it out? Thanks
So glad you enjoyed the recipe! We’d store leftovers in the fridge.
The berries really makes this dish so I’d use the full two cups. And make sure the berries are well dispersed because if you get a bight of bread without fruit it is a little bland. The bread is great and light and fluffy. I think I’d add cinnamon and vanilla next time to give it more of that French toast taste.
Quick question. Instead of only using half of the brioche recipe and saving the other half, can you just reduce the ingredients in half and use all of it in this recipe?
Question: can you bake the other half of the brioche dough instead of freezing it?
Yes, we think that’d work just fine!
I’ve made this twice now. The first time I used the can biscuits, the second, with the homemade dough. Significantly better with the homemade dough. Question: for the 1/2 in the freezer, is it best to move it first to the fridge to thaw, and then to the counter to come up to room temp for at least 2 hours, or can it come straight out to the counter to thaw and come to room temperature? (Though I know it will be much longer than 2 hours.) Thanks, and thanks for another great recipe!
Glad you like the recipe, Michelle! I’ve let the dough defrost on the counter directly from the freezer, and had great results.
Thank you, Krista!
Iwan to make without egg it is possible?
We haven’t tried making this without eggs or using an egg substitute and we’re not sure how well it’d turn out. If you end up trying it, we’d love to hear!
I am making the dough now but I plan on making the full recipe tomorrow. I hope that it works if I chill the cut dough pieces overnight.
So am I correct in that you only use 1/2 the dough for this recipe?
That’s right – you’ll just freeze the other half. 🙂
all of the pictures show this using a cast iron pan. however, the directions say to use a 9×13 casserole dish. is it easy to transfer, and what size would that need
I am in awe – the homemade brioche prep only took a few minutes, it was so easy! Waiting for this to come out of the oven now 🙂
Any recommendations for making this ahead of time? Up until what step would you go before putting in the fridge or freezer?
Also could you make it without any fruit? If so would you need to sub anything in?
Thanks.
Sorry, beginner baker here. Would just like to find out at what temp and for how long should I bake the dough if I just want brioche loaf?
Thank you.
I made this today for having friends over for brunch, and it was amazing!!! I made the dough the night before and cut it up and put it in the fridge, then let it come to room temperature the next day to finish the recipe. Perfect texture and rich and sweet- but not too much- and making the dough was easy. Every single person asked for the recipe, this is now my go to sweet breakfast dish!
Made this for Christmas Eve Brunch, there was not a bite left. So good! Will be making this again many times!!! Also I love that your older recipes are just as amazing as your newer ones, thanks for the consistently amazing content!
Hello. Could you put the entire casserole together the night before and just bake the morning of?
I’m planning to make this for brunch tomorrow. While making it tonight and refrigerating it overnight and then baking in the morning work?