Creme Brulee French Toast

1 quart heavy creme
1 vanilla bean
8 egg yolks
¾ cup sugar
2 pounds challah bread (ex large loaf), cut into 1 inch slices
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Butter a 10-inch spring form pan. Wrap the bottom and sides with foil, making the pieces long enough to fold up and over the top of the pan while baking. A criss-cross pattern of two of more long pieces of foil works best. Combine the creme and vanilla bean in a medium saucepan over medium heat just long enough to warm the creme, about 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and let the mixture steep until cool, about 15 minutes. Pour the cream into a mixing bowl, straining out the vanilla bean. Cut the bean open lengthwise and scrape out all of the fragrant little black seeds. Stir the vanilla seeds back into the cream. Add the egg yolk and sugar to the cream, and then whisk the custard mixture until well combined and uniformly light yellow. Make a layer of bread slices, cutting or tearing slices as needed to fit evenly. Pour about ¼ of the custard mixture evenly over the bread. Repeat with 3 more layers of bread and custard. The bread may rise a bit above the rim of the pan on the last layer. Pour the remaining custard over it slowly so that you get minimal runoff over the pan’s edge. Fold the foil up over the top. Arrange a plate over the foil and weigh it down with a can of beans or other heavy can from the pantry. Refrigerate for about 1 hour so that the custard soaks through the bread thoroughly. Remove the can and plate. Shortly before the mixture is finished soaking, preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Place the spring form pan in a water bath that comes about halfway up the pan’s side. Bake for about 1 ½ hours, until firm at the center. Open the foil top and cool the French toast. Fold the foil back over and chill until ready to use.( If you need your spring foam pan for something else, the French toast can be unmolded after several hours when it is chilled thoroughly. Run a knife around the inside of the pan, then release the spring on the pan’s side. Wrap the French toast tightly in plastic for longer storage.) When you are ready to serve the French toast, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Arrange the French toast on a baking sheet, and bake for about 10 minutes until warm in the center and lightly toasted and crisp on the surface. Sprinkle with cinnamon/sugar mixture before re-heat.