QUICK & EASY BREAD PUDDING

QUICK & EASY BREAD PUDDING image

Yield 8 people

Number Of Ingredients 8

4 slices of crusty bread (baguette works beautifully, but if I don't have it on hand, St,John's bakery's Angeligus bread is FABULOUS!)
3 cups of 1% milk
2 tsp. of nutmeg
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
2 tsp. vanilla extract (preferably alchohol free. Try Frontier fair trade)
1/3 cu. white sugar
3 lg. eggs
1/8 tsp. kosher salt

Steps:

Preheat the oven to about 350 degrees. Begin by sliced the bread into quarters. Next, in an electric mixer, whisk the eggs (preferably at room temperature,) on high until moderately frothy. Reduce the speed to medium high, and add the sugar gradually until well incorporated. Add milk, nutmeg, and cinnamon until well blended, and transfer to a medium sized sauce pan. Gently heat, and add vanilla stirring constantly until the custard like mixture lightly coats the back of a wooden spoon. Remove from heat. Arrange the bread neatly at the bottom of a lightly greased 8x8 inch baking pan. Pour the custard over the bread, pushing down if needed, and allow the bread to soak for about 10 minutes. Place the pan in the middle of the oven and allow to bake for 1 hour, rest for 15-20 minutes in the oven, and cool for a further 5 minutes outside of the oven. Sprinkle with nutmeg or confectioner's sugar and enjoy!