I make excellent French toast from a little New Orleans cookbook where it's called Pain Perdu (forgotten bread). The bread has to be slightly stale (dry it out in a standard toaster if it's too fresh). I don't have the recipe here but it's the usual eggs and milk thing, plus (about) a tsp of sugar and (about) a quarter-tsp of salt and a dash of vanilla. And use a half/half mix of cooking oil and butter on the griddle; the butter gives flavor but the oil keeps it from getting too heavy.