Ingredients :

• Brioche (or Challah) — This is the heart of the dish. No white sandwich bread, no baguette—with brioche or challah, the final texture is melt-in-your-mouth in a way nothing else can replicate. It is imperative that the bread be stale or dried in the oven. Fresh bread soaked in cream results in mush.
• Cream + Eggs — 8 eggs for 8 people is generous. We use light cream or half-and-half, which gives a result close to a baked custard, dense and rich. Whole milk also works if you want to lighten it up, but the texture will be less enveloping.
• Brown Sugar — Twice — Once in the cream to sweeten everything, and a second time in the topping to form the caramelized crust. Do not replace with white sugar in the topping: brown sugar provides that deep, slightly smoky caramel flavor.
• Pecans — They toast in the melted butter and provide the only real crunch in the dish. Sliced almonds work if you don’t have pecans. You can also go without—a topping of butter + brown sugar + cinnamon is enough to get a beautiful crust.