Croque Monsieur Bake With Gluten Free Bread

Our answer

Nigella's Croque Monsieur Bake (from NIGELLA EXPRESS) is an easy baked version of the classic French croque monsieur. The cheese and ham sandwiches are put in a dish, a savoury egg custard is poured over and the dish can then be left in the fridge overnight. The whole dish is then baked the following day.

There has been a huge improvement in the quality and availability of gluten-free breads in recent years and most commercial breads would be suitable for the bake. The breads usually contain blends of gluten-free flours plus other natural ingredients, such as xanthan gum, which help to offset the lack of gluten and means that the bread slices should not break up too easily when you serve the croque monsieur. Use your favourite gluten-free bread for the dish and we would suggest using slightly stale slices of bread as these will absorb the custard slightly better. You can leave the slices of bread out on a wire rack overnight to help them turn slightly stale.