Why This Recipe Works

We started our easy French toast recipe by whisking together eggs, sugar, salt, cinnamon, and vanilla and then stirring in melted butter and milk. Instead of dipping the bread in the custard mixture one slice at a time, we poured the custard into a rimmed baking sheet that we'd generously sprayed with vegetable oil spray. We placed all the bread slices in the sheet and then flipped each slice. Each side of the bread soaked up just enough egg mixture to give it a creamy, custardy center, but not so much that it cooked up flat and soggy. We baked the slices on the lowest oven rack to brown their bottoms and then turned on the broiler to brown and crisp their tops.

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Before You Begin

We developed this recipe to work with presliced supermarket bread that measures 4 by 6 inches and is ¾ inch thick. Be sure to use vegetable oil spray here; it contains lecithin, which ensures that the oil stays well distributed, preventing the toast from sticking. Top with maple syrup or confectioners' sugar, if desired.

Instructions

Adjust 1 oven rack to lowest position and second rack 5 to 6 inches from broiler element. Heat oven to 425 degrees. Generously spray bottom and sides of 18 by 13-inch rimmed baking sheet with vegetable oil spray. Whisk eggs, vanilla, sugar, cinnamon, and salt in large bowl until sugar is dissolved and no streaks of egg remain. Whisking constantly, drizzle in melted butter. Whisk in milk.

Pour egg mixture into prepared sheet. Arrange bread in single layer in egg mixture, leaving small gaps between slices. Working quickly, use your fingers to flip slices in same order you placed them in sheet. Let sit until slices absorb remaining custard, about 1 minute. Bake on lower rack until bottoms of slices are golden brown, 10 to 15 minutes. Transfer sheet to upper rack and heat broiler. (Leave sheet in oven while broiler heats.) Broil until tops of slices are golden brown, watching carefully and rotating sheet if necessary to prevent burning, 1 to 4 minutes.

Using thin metal spatula, carefully flip each slice. Serve.