Originally Posted by
squeakr
Stale bread is good; stale brioche better.
Slice it fairly hick; coat with the eggs, milk and vanilla mixture. Then put it on a greased baking sheet at 350 degrees till it's brown on each side.(8 min or so) Foolproof!
Stale bread (or as you say, stale brioche) is indeed key. Another thing which helps IMHO is to soak the bread overnight--in the fridge, of course--in the custard mixture. And yes, baking vs. cooking in a pan is a big deal, too.
Seeing this thread inspired me to cook some up from breakfast this morning. We did have about half a loaf of stale bread to dispose of, but I didn't think to do the overnight soak.