Make Ahead Maple Baked French Toast

Ingredients

• 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided
• 1 loaf Italian bread, roughly torn into 1 1/2-inch pieces
• 1 pound cooked crumbled bulk breakfast sausage, optional
• 2 1/2 cups milk
• 6 eggs, beaten
• 1/2 cup sugar, divided
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup maple syrup, divided
• 1/2 cups sliced almonds

Directions

Coat a 9- by 13-inch baking dish with 1 tablespoon butter. In a large bowl, combine the bread with the sausage, if you’re using it, and move everything into the prepared dish. Whisk the milk, eggs, 1/4 cup sugar, vanilla, and 1/4 cup maple syrup until smooth, then pour it evenly over the bread. Use a wooden spoon to gently push the bread into the custard so it can soak it up. Stir together the remaining butter, sugar, and maple syrup, then mix in the almonds. Sprinkle that almond mixture over the bread, cover the dish, and refrigerate overnight. The next morning, place the dish on the middle rack of a preheated 325 degrees F oven and bake until the bread is starting to brown and the almonds are toasted, about 35 minutes.