French Toast

1. Put a large skillet, preferably nonstick, over medium-low heat while you prepare the egg mixture for soaking the bread. Heat the oven to 200°F.
2. If the bread is whole, cut it into 8 slices no more than 1 inch thick. Crack the eggs on a flat, hard surface and open them into a wide, shallow bowl large enough to hold a few slices of the bread. Add the milk and whisk until the mixture is smooth. Then whisk in a small pinch of salt and the sugar and vanilla if you’re using them.
3. Put 2 or 3 slices of bread in the bowl. Use a fork to turn the slices, pressing on the crusts a little if needed to help them soak up the liquid.
4. Sprinkle a couple drops of water into the pan; if the drops skid across the surface before evaporating, it’s hot enough. If not, turn up the heat a bit. Put a pat of the butter in the skillet. When it stops foaming, lift a piece of bread from the egg mixture and let it drip off, then transfer it to the pan. Repeat soaking and transferring the bread until the skillet is comfortably full; don’t overcrowd or the toast will be hard to maneuver and won’t brown properly.
5. Cook each piece until nicely browned underneath, 3 to 5 minutes, adjusting the heat if necessary to keep the bread from burning. You might need to move the slices around in the pan to help them cook evenly. When the bottom turns golden brown, turn and cook on the other side, another 3 to 5 minutes. Serve right from the pan and keep cooking the remaining batches. Or transfer them as they finish cooking to an ovenproof plate and put them in the oven to stay warm for up to 20 minutes.

—Recipe from How to Cook Everything: The Basics