A Step by Step Recipe for New Orleans-Style French Toast - "Pain Perdu"

This is not your typical French toast recipe. This is New Orleans-style French toast, made using thick slices of bread soaked in a custard batter, then after being browned lightly in a pan, their baked golden brown. This cooks the inside into a creamy, almost bread pudding-like texture, as the outside gets crisp and golden.

"Pain Perdu" means "lost bread," and this recipe was a scrumptious solution for what to do with those stale loaves of bread that were about to be "lost." This recipe is just one of the countless French-influenced dishes of New Orleans, and one of the most delicious. Here's what you need:

• 2 eggs
  
• 1/2 cup milk
  
• pinch of salt
  
• 1 tsp sugar
  
• 1 tsp vanilla
  
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
  
• 1/4 tsp allspice
  
• 6 thick slices of day old French bread (staler bread is fine as long as you can slice it)
  
• 3 tbsp butter
  
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
  
• powdered sugar (optional)