Oven-Baked Banana French Toast

This weekend, something amazing happened: I had leftover challah in my refrigerator!  Usually my kids devour it at Friday night dinner and Saturday morning breakfast, but for some reason, there was almost a whole loaf left.  And, there was still a little left over from last week as well.  This was a great excuse to make French toast for Saturday dinner.

I used my mom's recipe, but added some mashed bananas.  I had frozen some bananas that were going bad, thinking that I would make banana bread out of them.  But I haven't been in a banana bread kind of mood lately, so I decided to use them here.  You can freeze the bananas whole; once you've defrosted them, peel them and they'll be all mushy.

My mom's recipe usually calls for an overnight soak - it's great for brunches.  I only soaked the bread for a couple of hours, but it still worked out okay.  I think longer would have been even more tasty, though.  Also, the original recipe called for French bread, but the challah worked very well, too.  I used brown sugar because I thought it would go well with the bananas, but you could use regular sugar as well.

Note: It makes a lot more than I have pictured!  I forgot to take a picture until after I had served it.  The ones in the pictures were soon devoured as well.

Oven-Baked Banana French Toast

 l loaf French or challah bread, ends removed, cut crosswise in 1-inch thick slices
1-1/2 cups milk
4 large eggs
1/2 cup orange juice
1/4 cup brown sugar
3 bananas, mashed
1 tsp. vanilla extract
cinnamon for sprinkling

Arrange bread slices in a single layer in a 9x13 baking pan.  Beat remaining ingredients except cinnamon together, until well blended.  Pour over bread.  Cover and refrigerate at least 1 hour and up to 24 hours so that bread soaks up the liquid.

Heat oven to 425 degrees.  Lightly grease a jelly roll pan or another 9x13 baking dish. (Or, line pan with aluminum foil and grease the foil.) Transfer bread to greased pan and sprinkle with cinnamon.  Bake 15 minutes or until puffed and lightly browned. 

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