Baked French toast for Valley Fire victims

In late September I deployed to Middletown, California, to serve with the Mercy Chefs, where chefs cooked breakfast, lunch and dinner for victims of the Valley Fire. Many of those served had lost everything when the fire storm raged through the community on September 13. Nearly 2,000 structures -- including 1,280 homes -- were destroyed by the fast moving wildland fire.

The chefs served over 2,500 meals during the 10-day deployment from Mercy One, a 32-foot kitchen trailer. The kitchen is based near Dallas, Texas. Chefs and support staff converged on Middletown from homes in California, Colorado, North Carolina, Virginia and Texas toward the end of September.

Once the managing chef posted the menu each day, we set about preparing the different dishes for the next day. Several days into the mission, I saw an excessive amount of biscuits, cinnamon rolls and apple crumb cake in the refrigerator trailer. Quick calculations showed that the leftovers would give us five two-inch hotel pans, enough to feed a filling breakfast to 150 persons.

This recipe for baked French toast is offered as I prepared it for our fourth breakfast. (I posted a recipe for Dutch oven baked orange French toast last year.) I quickly put the formula together after briefly confirming custard ratios on the internet. Note that I didn't add any sugar or syrup to the recipe. I felt the orange juice and berries added sufficient sweetness to the dish.

BAKED FRENCH TOAST WITH MIXED BERRIES

The important thing here is to fill each pan with diced or crumbled biscuits and pastry. I understand that you won't duplicate my mix of leftovers breads. You'll need about three and one-half to four pounds bread for each hotel pan. (Remember the apples in the crumb cake added additional weight to the formula.)

6-1/2 pounds buttermilk biscuits, cut into medium dice
4-1/2 pounds iced cinnamon rolls, cut into medium dice
8-1/4 pounds apple crumb cake, crumbled
10 pounds frozen mixed berries, thawed
2 flats whole eggs (30 eggs per flat)
1 gallon whole milk
6 cups orange juice
1/4 cup ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon ground nutmeg
1/4 cup vanilla extract
1 tablespoon kosher salt

Lightly grease or spray each 12 by 20 by2-inch hotel pan. Equally divide crumbled/diced biscuits and pastry among five hotel pan. Spread 2 pounds berries over each pan.

In a large bowl, whisk the eggs, milk, juice, cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla and salt together. Evenly pour 6 to 7 cups of the custard over the bread in each pan. Cover and place in the refrigerator overnight.

In the morning, bake in a 350-degree F oven for 45 to 60 minutes, until set and puffed up. Serves 25 to 30. Serve with fresh berries if available and maple syrup.