This is my grandma’s recipe, and I’ve seen similar bread aplenty at church potlucks, grandma’s gathering with her girl friends when they played bridge together and, of course, at my grandma’s house. She loved cooking and us kids enjoyed her hearty, homey food immensely. And grandma hated throwing food away, so she’d use every scrap and leftover.
If you have any bread leftovers or bread that is soon going to go stale and you know that no one will eat it before, this is an excellent way to utilize this bread.
Because, yes, throwing bread away still seems like a blasphemy to me, because it’s just such an essential food. This recipe though, gives old bread a new life, and what a life that is. This pudding is chock full of raisins and cinnamon and the vanilla sauce is an absolute luxury. You’ll probably want to lick your fingers clean, I’m telling you!
This is a very rustic and hearty dessert, probably not as much even a dessert as a sweet fix. I love having this bread pudding with coffee. And there’s probably only one tip I’d give for this recipe. Don’t use pre-packed sliced bread that keeps long and well. If you have a leftover half a loaf of some kind of rustic bread from a bakery, that’s your best option. Other than that, just follow the instructions below and enjoy!
