How to Make Good French Toast

My French Toast was always inconsistent until I saw a demo on Alton Brown's "Good Eats" show.

You start the night before, by putting your bread out on a rack to get stale. (So your toast doesn't fall apart when you add the egg batter.) The next morning, you mix up your favorite egg batter, Mr. Brown says to use only half and half with eggs, but I use skim milk with egg beaters if on hand. I also make my french toast with reduced calorie bread. Fill a 6 inch cake pan with your egg batter. I like to use this size since it fits my regular bread well. Then dip your bread in, 30 seconds on each side. And put on a cookie rack for two minutes to let the egg mixture seep toward the center. Next cook in your pan. The less you move your toast at this point the better. I lift up a corner to test brownness. When it's brown on both sides, move it to your oven set at 375 Degrees F (to cook the center), and fry the rest of the toast. Alton Brown suggests moving your fried toast to a cookie sheet lined with a cooling rack, but I simply use a Oven Crisper Sheet. By the time the last of my french toast is fried, the first slices are ready to come out of the oven.

In our house Maple Syrup is the only thing we pour on our french toast and waffles.