BFD - May '11

May's BFD was going to be last week, but hubby was out of town on a business trip. The only available night for this week just also happened to be Open House for the kids' schools. So, for this month, breakfast for dinner was a relatively light meal:

Bread Pudding with Apples and Cinnamon
Fresh Sliced Strawberries Topped with Vanilla Yogurt

Yeah, I know we had strawberries last month, but hey, it's strawberry season! Anyway, on to the bread pudding. Call me gauche, but in my mind a bread pudding is like a french toast casserole; or a dessert alternative to cornbread stuffing. Whatever the case, bread puddings are fairly simple to make: cubes of bread combined with an egg/milk batter, or custard. (As an added bonus - the above link to the bread pudding recipe contains a video from start to finish.)

Don't let the directions scare you - especially regarding the water bath. The video shows a fancy roasting pan that's used to put the 9x13 bread pudding pan in. I don't have a large roasting pan, so I had to use a pan that came with my old oven and it worked fine. Seriously, that is the hardest part to making this recipe, other than making bread cubes. I used one loaf of french bread. Normally, I make my own french bread (sounds kinda snotty doesn't it?), but I was pressed for time so I had hubby buy two loaves of el cheapo french bread.

I decided to forgo the raisins, but I did peel and dice two Granny Smith apples; then I mixed them with some cinnamon sugar and stirred them into the bread cubes. The next step is to pour the custard mixture on to the bread cube mixture and pat down the bread cubes. When it was baked and fresh out of the oven, I let it cool for 10 minutes and then I dusted it with some powdered sugar. Yum. If this is your main meal, then it will comfortably serve 6-8. If it is one of several dishes, then it could easily serve 12. Since this was such a hit, I will definitely make this again. Maybe next time I'll look for some sort of caramel and pecan custard. Or chocolate chips.