Mushroom, Bacon, and Swiss Strata

Ingredients

• 0.5 teaspoon pepper black freshly ground
• 2 tablespoons butter 
• 12 ounces ciabatta bread cut into 1-inch cubes ( 7 cups)
• 1.5 cups egg substitute 
• 2 teaspoons thyme sprigs fresh chopped
• 3 cups milk 1% low-fat
• 16 ounce mushrooms 
• 2 cups onion chopped
• 0.3 teaspoon salt 
• 6 ounces swiss cheese shredded reduced-fat
• 8  bacon crumbled cooked

Equipment

• bowl
• frying pan
• oven
• whisk
• baking pan

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 35
2. Arrange bread in a single layer on a jelly-roll pan.
3. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes or until toasted.
4. Place bread cubes in a large bowl.
5. Melt butter in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat.
6. Add onion and mushrooms to pan; saut 10 minutes or until liquid evaporates and vegetables are tender.
7. Add onion mixture to bread; toss well to combine. Arrange half of bread mixture in a 13 x 9-inch baking dish coated with cooking spray.
8. Sprinkle with half of cheese and half of bacon; top with remaining bread mixture, cheese, and bacon.
9. Combine milk and next 4 ingredients (through salt), stirring with a whisk.
10. Pour milk mixture over bread mixture. Cover and refrigerate 8 hours.
11. Preheat oven to 35
12. Remove strata from refrigerator; let stand at room temperature for 15 minutes.
13. Bake strata, covered, at 350 for 30 minutes. Uncover and bake an additional 15 minutes or until set.
14. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.
15. Garnish with thyme sprigs, if desired.