Bread Pudding Recipe (Pain Perdu)

Don't ya wanna bite?

How 'bout something sweet now? This one's Pain Perdu (literal translation lost bread) or old fashion Bread Pudding. This also came out of not wasting; one could and we often did substitute rice for the bread. (remember us and rice) We ate French bread therefore used the left over pieces (in my, not so humble opinion, stale is better. Soaks up more of the good stuff). Rember Pain Perdu. (lost bread)   If one is not prone to like sweets this can be made savory as well.  The ingredient list for traditional sweet bread pudding is as follows:

1 baguette of French bread (tips of fingers to elbow in length)(or equivalent in bread of choice)
2 tbs. vanilla
juice of 2 lemons
7 cups of milk 2 tbs. grated lemon rind
3 eggs 1 1/2 cups raisins
2 cups sugar (the holidays we substituted glazed fruit)
Tear/break bread into small pieces & place in 9x13 baking dish. Pour milk over bread & let soak while preparing remaining ingredients. Break eggs into a medium sized bowl, add sugar and blend together, add lemon juice, vanilla & lemon zest. Stir raisins (glaced fruit @ holidays) into bread & milk mixture 'till evenly distributed. (mix well) Pour mixture into pan making sure that everything is blended thoroughly. Place pan in the center of a pre-heated 350 degree oven & bake for an hour & 15 min. or until browned around the edges. In a bain marie  (which means in french water bath) a method for baking that consists of placing a container (pan, dish etc.) in a larger, shallow pan of warm water during the baking process.    If substituting rice use leftover or if you're making it @ the same time make certain it's slightly under cooked so it will absorb only a slight bit of the custard mix while baking. Either way it is a great way for using "lost" anything the more famous one being Pain Perdu (bread pudding).