Easter Morn French Toast Bread Pudding

While we always enjoy the prospect of serving at the men's shelter, we don't always enjoy the dawn wake-up that accompanies breakfast for dozens of people.  This is a special meal, however, and a sunrise worth witnessing.  It's Easter Morn, and to see the sunrise is to be reminded of the Son that rose triumphantly after bearing our cross, destroying the power of sin and death forever.   

Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?   

A morning like this deserves our observation in all its early glory.  But, to quote Pastor Bob at Grace, we will be brewing up a cauldron of strong coffee for medicinal purposes.

If your childhood includes memories of church basement pancake breakfasts that scented your entire family with griddle for the remainder of the day, you may be wary to revisit the scene.  Don't worry; breakfast has come a long way since then.  Team Grace is Gen X and we'll openly accept the claim that we "forever redefined workplace attitudes to embrace a healthy work/life balance".  In other words, we will not be flipping pancakes for 90 minutes at dawn on Easter Sunday.  We assume there is a better way.  Enter the Barefoot Contessa, a chef who believes you should never work so hard in the kitchen that you don't enjoy your own party.  When we ask, "What will keep us relaxed enough to quietly savor the sweet early hours of Easter but still feed the souls of men who aren't enjoying much home cooking these days?" Ina replies, "Why, French Toast Bread Pudding, of course."

We LOVE this recipe.  It's everything you adore about French toast and nothing that you don't.  Ina has a few renditions out there calling for brioche or croissant, but we concur with the adage, "Eat as if there were a tomorrow" and so make ours with a heart-healthier whole-grain bread.  It's not the fastest breakfast out there due to the long baking time, but it can be prepped the night before and baked the morning-of while groggy.  The water bath that keeps the custard so creamy is easily accomplished by nesting half- and full-size roasting pans.  (We use disposable knowing our shelter kitchen does not stock eight half-size hotel pans.)  It pairs perfectly with sweet breakfast sausage, real maple syrup, berries and a dollop of plain yogurt to cut the sweetness.   Basically, it rocks.  Happy Easter.

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French Toast Bread Pudding
48 servings (2 slices of bread each)

• 3 cartons of 18 large eggs, cage-free if possible
• 2 gallons, less 2 cups, whole milk  (reserve and gently warm remaining 2 cups for coffee creamer)
• 3 cups honey
• 3 TBS cinnamon (+ 2 tsp each clove and nutmeg if you so desire)
• 3 TBS pure vanilla extract
• 6 TBS orange zest, about 12 oranges (reserve and thinly slice zested oranges for garnish)  OR 2 tsp orange extract
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 12 lbs thick-sliced hearty whole-grain bread (we use 4 XL loves of Innkeepers 8 Grain Bread from Costco, ends reserved for breadcrumbs)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.   For water bath, warm 3 gallons of tap water in an XL stock pot over high heat. 


Arrange eight half-size disposable roasting pans in an assembly line.  Tear eight pieces of foil to cover each pan and lightly oil one side.  Fill pans with two layers of bread pieced tightly together.  You should be able to fit 12 slices per pan.

In an XL mixing bowl (or better yet, a commercial mixer), whisk together the eggs, milk, honey, vanilla, orange zest, and salt.  If you don't have a gynormous mixing bowl at your disposal, we'd suggest dividing the wet ingredients in half and mixing up two batches of the pudding; a single batch could get unruly. 

When bread is in place, divide the pudding evenly between the pans and press down gently to be sure the bread is saturated.  Cover the pudding with the oiled foil, tenting the foil so it doesn't rest on the pudding and piercing it two or three times to allow steam to escape.

Prepare the water baths by placing four full-size roasters on top of four full-size sheet pans. The sheet pans will catch any drips from the puddings and will stabilize the water baths, important if you're using disposable pans.  Fill each full-size pan with 6 cups hot water from the stovetop.  Position two puddings (sideways) inside each water bath and carefully transfer to hot oven.

Bake puddings for 45 minutes, then remove foil and bake for an additional 45 minutes until the top has browned and pudding is set.  Remove pudding from the oven and allow to cool slightly before serving.  Cut each pudding into six pieces and serve hot.  




ON THE SIDE
Fixings for 40

• 60 full-size sweet chicken sausages (we like Amy's Chicken Apple Gouda)
• 1 TBS olive oil
• 64 oz real maple syrup
• (4) XL cans OJ concentrate 
• 1 qt plain, low-fat yogurt
• 4 lbs fresh strawberries

Preheat oven to 350. 

Lightly oil a full-size sheet pan and arrange sausages in a single layer.  Bake per the directions until lightly browned, flipping sausages half way through the cooking time.  Keep warm until ready to serve.  (Note:  Plan on more than one sausage per person; a few men will even come back for thirds.)


Pour maple syrup into a small sauce pan and gently warm through over low heat.  Keep warm until ready to serve. 


Mix OJ per instructions and chill until ready to serve.


At mealtime, serve each piece of pudding with a ladle of warm syrup and a link of sausage.


Offer a handful of berries on top and a scoopful of yogurt on the side.