French Toast Bread Pudding

My husband is a breakfast food lover, and he can eat it morning, noon and night. So when I ran across the Barefoot Contessa's French Toast Bread Pudding recipe, I had to try it. The difference between this recipe and regular french toast is that you can make enough to feed a large group, without having to stand at the stove and individually fry each slice. It turned out to be a breeze to make, and tasted pretty good too! I would definitely make it again, but next time only if we had a lot of people over. There was quite a lot of french toast leftover that Darren and I just couldn't finish.

FRENCH TOAST BREAD PUDDING

Ingredients:

1 challah bread, sliced 3/4-inch thick 8 extra-large eggs 5 cups half-and-half or milk 3 tablespoons honey 1 tablespoon freshly grated orange zest

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt confectioners' sugar or pure maple syrup for serving

Directions:

1.	Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Challah bread's dense consistency is perfect for making french toast.
2.	Place the bread in two layers in a 9 x 13 x 2 square or oval baking dish, cutting to fit the dish, and set aside.
3.	In a very large mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk or half-and-half, honey, orange zest, vanilla, and salt. Pour the mixture over the bread and press the bread down to soak completely.
4.	Place the baking dish in a large roasting pan. Add very hot tap water to come an inch up the side of the baking dish. Cover the roasting pan tightly with aluminum foil, tenting it so the foil doesn't touch the pudding. Make two slashes in the foil to allow steam to escape. Bake for 45 minutes, remove the aluminum foil, and bake for another 40 to 45 minutes, until the pudding puffs up and the custard is set. Remove from the oven and cool slightly. Don't be alarmed when the bread pudding is extremely puffy. It will flatten with cooling.

5.	Using a small sieve, sprinkle with confectioners' sugar and serve in square with maple syrup for drizzling.