How To Make A Crowd-Pleasing Batch Of Toast In The Oven

One of the best parts about holidays, long weekends, and ski trips is getting everyone together under one roof to have a good time and share some food. Breakfast for 12 can be a tricky undertaking, however, because everything needs to come out hot, fast, and preferably at the same time. Nobody's got any patience to wait for someone to poach each egg individually, which is why sheet pan pancakes are your friend. The same problem applies to toast. Unless you can convince one person to stand in front of the toaster for half an hour, you're going to need a plan for making a whole lot of toast in a timely manner so that everyone can enjoy breakfast at the same time. 

Thankfully, it's easy to toast a whole loaf of bread in the oven. All you need is a sheet pan and a loaf of everyone's favorite bread (individual bread requests are a whole other problem). All a toaster really does is cook the outside of a slice of bread so that it turns brown; there's no real magic to it. An oven can do the exact same thing given the right time and temperature, and it will leave you hands-free for a few minutes, time you'll need to flip all those flapjacks.

It's not easy to get eggs and pancakes on the table for a crowd all at the same time, and toast should be the least of your worries. You can get a couple of pans of toast browned up in no time. All you have to do is preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and spread the slices of bread out on a clean sheet pan. Then, pop the whole thing into the oven on one of the middle racks and leave the bread inside for a few minutes, until the tops start to look brown. Flip the slices over, let them brown on the other side, and your toast is ready.

While it's tempting to pre-butter the bread or spread some olive oil on before you toast it, it's not necessary. In fact, your breakfast crew will probably want all different toppings on their toast, so don't overthink it — just toast the bread plain.

The oven isn't the only way that you can toast several slices of bread at a time, however — there's also the broiler. Toasting your bread under the broiler will go much faster than when using just the oven, so be sure to have someone on toast watch. Otherwise, the process is very similar to toasting in the oven. Turn the broiler on to preheat, spread the bread out on a sheet pan, and then place the pan under the broiler for two or three minutes. When one side is toasted, take the pan out and flip the bread, then put it back under the broiler to toast the other side.

Broiling will get your bread toasted in four or five minutes flat. Plus, if you like your bread crunchy on the outside but cooler and chewy on the inside, this is the way to go. Toasting in the oven, on the other hand, will dry your bread out throughout the slice. If you like a crispy, dry toast, the oven will give you the best results. Whatever method you choose, just make sure you don't walk away from the oven and burn the toast. If you keep an eye on it in the oven, perhaps while you cook your bacon on another sheet pan at the same time, everyone at the breakfast table will be happy.