1. Preheat oven to 475F.
2. Cut bread into cubes and toss together with melted butter. Bake for 2-3 minutes, until golden. Remove from the oven and set aside.
3. Turn heat down to 350F.
4. Sauté onion in olive oil until softened.
5. Whisk eggs, half and half, salt, pepper, thyme leaves and nutmeg in large mixing bowl.
6. Place toasted bread in a buttered baking dish and toss together with onions, ham and 3 cups white cheddar.
7. Pour egg mixture over bread and press down on the bread to ensure all cubes are soaking up the custard. Top with remaining cup of cheese.
8. Bake for 45-50 minutes, or until a fork inserted in the middle comes out clean. I recommend letting it rest for 5-10 minutes before serving.
9. Store any leftovers in the refrigerator for up to 2 days.
This delicious recipe just needs to include the size of the baking dish. I found a 9×13 dish works perfectly if you’d like to include this in the recipe.
Thanks to the previous commenter I adjusted the spices and added more thyme and nutmeg. I also halved the sea salt and sprinkled some salt flakes on top instead. It is pretty salty already between the ham and white cheddar.
Next time I make this, I will prep the night before and allow the bread to soak overnight. I will also use two cups cream instead of three. That aligns with other breakfast casserole/bread pudding recipes that I use, and when I made this recipe it was too milky and underdone after 45 minutes.
The flavor was great and overall it’s a good dish.
This was so delicious! We actually had it for our evening meal with a green salad on a wet, cold, dreary day. Super comfort food. Next time though I will double all the seasoning… the tellicherry pepper is amazing but could have used twice as much of that, the nutmeg, and thyme. The ham provided enough salt for us.
Looks like a great recipe.