There are some french bread casseroles that want you to arrange the bread in a 9X13 dish, pour the egg-milk mixture over, and let it sit overnight. Bake in the morning.
When making regular french toast, when the bread is soaking (which I only do for a few minutes), I press on it with the flat of the fork to encourage it to soak up more goodness.
Yeah, the recipe I use is one of those. The recipe calls it “custard style” but I don’t bother soaking overnight or baking.
Huh?
I use the baking method. I also use heavy whipping cream instead of milk. I pre-heat the oven to 500F, Give the pan about 5 minutes in there, and then turn it down to 325-opening the door to let the temp come down quickly. If you try this I highly recommend parchment paper lining a glass lasagna pan. This way you can check the browning on the bottom, and don’t spend a year and a half alternately soaking and scrubbing the pan afterwards.
If you want to fry it, think of it like a grilled cheese sandwich. Everyone who ever had trouble making a properly melty-yet-thouroughly-browned grilled cheese needed to turn the heat down and be patient.
ETA: I find putting sugar in the milk makes it not absorb well. That’s why God made maple syrup.
I know this is heresy but I don’t use stale bread. I use brioche thick cut and then a mixture of eggs and half and half. That’s it. No vanilla or anything else. You should be able to make creamy scrambled eggs if there is any egg mixture left over.
Cook in a cast iron pan over medium until GBD on both sides and top with real maple syrup (not pancake syrup).
I use 2 eggs, whipped.
Add:
~ 1 cup milk.
1 T Sugar
1/2 t Almond extract.
Whip well
For bread, I either use day old French Bread, or day old croissants, sliced in half.
I soak the bread in the egg mixture for about a minute, and fry on a buttered skillet until done.
If I use croissants, I also use a bacon press to flatten them a bit.
Alton Brown doesn’t always provide the best recipes, but his french toast is excellent. He finishes in the oven, if I remember correctly.
Here it is.
I like this recipe I got off of Slate.com, but I like to use brioche rather than challah.
For the truly lazy, in a rush - you can prepare simple mixtures as mentioned above in several posts - and then dip pretty much any fresh/day old white bread - but then toss the pieces onto a waffle iron and let it cook it for ya.
Both sides cooked evenly, looks kinda cool and funky, and a fast way to do several pieces quickly if you have more than one or two people wanting to eat French Toast.
Old Burns and Allen Show joke:
Gracie to neighbor: “You are going to Paris on vacation?”
Neighbor: “Yes - isn’t it exciting!”
Gracie: “Could you buy me a toaster while you are there?”
Neighbor: “A toaster? Why?”
Gracie: “George loves French toast.”
Waffle iron? Yikes- that sounds fantastic! All those little indentations to hold the syrup. Yum.
Some good ideas here. I’m intrigued by the waffle iron method and may try it.
And of course, I forgot to add that one must sprinkle the FT with cinnamon before serving.
I did not see the program but my husband reported last week watching a cooking show where thick slices of French bread was advisds, soaked overnight. We were both astonished yet intrigued. No idea what chef or show and Food Network searching hasn’t yielded any definitive answers.
So you’ve met the French Toast Resistance.
If you like it to brown, thin with milk. If you prefer it to stay more yellow, but want it fluffier than just eggs, use water instead – you don’t need much. Cook on relatively low heat.
Cook scrambled eggs or omelettes on low also. Higher temps cook away some of the yummy. Learned that trick from Rex Stout’s character, Nero Wolfe.
No,no. We’re the Vichy Pain Perdu collaborationist. (Gestures with whip) You want the house a block down on the right… 
Higher temps can result in watery eggs or browned eggs, which is fine if you like that sort of thing.
I’m going to disagree about the high temp thing. I cook my omelets and scrambled eggs over scorching heat–they take about 30-45 seconds to finish. They are neither watery nor browned. They may be a different texture than what you usually like, though.
Watch Julia Child make an omelet. From when the eggs hit the pan to when they’re turned out on the dish is 30 seconds, by my count. If it’s good enough for her, it’s good enough for me. (For awhile I did the slow, Gordon Ramsey risotto-esque method of scrambled eggs, when I finally lost patience and discovered on my own that high heat makes eggs in less than the time it takes to toast bread and with a texture that I personally prefer, although I can see some people liking the other method. Then I discovered Julia Child does omelets this way, so I don’t feel as uncultured using the method I stumbled across. If it’s good enough for her, it’s good enough for me, dagnabbit. 
)
I use a recipe that soaks overnight then bakes. It has orange liqueur in it and is delish. I’ll see if I can find a link. Best thing is you don’t have to cook first thing in the a.m., just preheat the oven and bake. It’s very fluffy and delicious.
I use the recipe - three eggs, two cups of milk, a cup of sugar, and a quarter teaspoon salt - soak each slice in a bowl then fry on a griddle.
That’s us, though we don’t add vanilla. About one egg for each piece of bread, dip them into the batter so the sides are coated, and then cook.