Baking Project: Week/Recipe #2

I saw some day-old bread at the bakery and have since been wanting to make bread pudding. We got invited to a friend's house for some BBQ on Saturday, so I thought this would be a great time to make it. Technically I broke one of the rules to use my recipe books, but I counted it towards my project since I have never made bread pudding before. I was thinking of doing mango bread pudding, instead of just raisins since mangoes are in season right now, but decided to stick to the simplest.

I was planning to go to the bakery and get the day-old bread, but we were running late with errands that I ended up just stopping at the grocery store to see what they had. They had a french loaf, but it was huge! The recipe called for 6 slices, so I had no other plans for the rest of the loaf. Instead, I bought these two mini subs - like michitas. I looked up on the web and it says day-old bread is used because it absorbs more of the liquid than fresh bread. I don't have anything to compare it too, but I liked the softness of the fresh bread and it did a great job in absorbing the liquid but maintaining its breadiness. Maybe the whole day-old thing is an excuse to sell day-old bread and continue the "poor man's dessert" label of this dessert.

Back to the recipe. The recipe I found has only 8 ingredients. Super simple, very little measuring, no extra stuff. It puffs up in the oven (first picture), but deflates after it cools off. Our friend had some ice cream and fresh mint leaves, which go perfect together (second picture). I realized after that it's really just like a fancy, baked french toast :) So I'm having the leftovers for breakfast this week! Heat it up a bit and add milk... MMMmmm. This one is a keeper recipe.