Bread pudding is not in fact pudding, it's a tasty dessert (or breakfast) that uses stale bread, warm spices, eggs, butter, and buttermilk that's served with a sweet sauce on top.
1/4cupunsalted buttermelted, plus more for greasing the pan
2cupsbuttermilkor whole milk
1 1/2tspcinnamon
1/2tspground nutmeg
1Tbspvanilla extract
1/2tspsalt
1cupdark brown sugarpacked
16ozfrench breadcubed, day old or dried-out in the oven
Vanilla Sauce
1cupheavy cream
2/3cupgranulated sugar
1Tbspall-purpose flour
3Tbspunsalted butter
1tspvanilla extract
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease a 9x13” glass baking dish and set aside.
Whisk eggs in a large mixing bowl until they are frothy. Add the cream, butter, buttermilk, cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla extract, salt, and brown sugar. Whisk to combine mixture - it will be slightly lumpy.
Slice French bread into 1” cubes and spread evenly into the prepared baking dish.
Pour the cream mixture over the bread and stir gently to distribute the ingredients evenly.
Leave the dish to sit for 10-15 minutes until the bread has absorbed the cream mixture.
Bake for 1 hour until the top of the bread pudding is golden brown and no wetness is visible seeping up through the top layer. The bread pudding should bounce back slightly when pressed.
While the bread pudding is cooking, prepare the sauce.
In a medium saucepan, whisk together 1 cup heavy cream, granulated sugar, and flour. Add the butter to the mixture and heat over medium until the butter melts completely and the mixture begins to simmer and thicken.
Remove from heat and whisk in 1 teaspoon vanilla extract. Set aside to cool.
Pour sauce over the bread pudding, slice, and serve warm.
Notes
If you do not have stale bread, cube the bread and place it on a baking sheet. Pop it in the oven at 350F for around 10-15 minutes. You don't want to crust the bread too much, just remove the moisture from it.
We used traditional French bread, but sourdough, challah, or even raisin bread would work wonderfully.