Bread and butter pudding

Bread and butter pudding is a traditional dessert popular in British cuisine. It is the baked form of French toast. Read more about this on Wiki.
Few days back I was googling for a bread halwa recipe. My friend N had made this bread halwa and we liked it a lot. I wanted to use up a few slices of bread which were lying in my refrigerator since a week. But while searching for the halwa recipe the first site I landed upon had a Bread pudding recipe. I found it quite simple and I dropped the idea of making halwa and instead made this pudding. It is simple, easy to make and tastes great. Here's the original recipe.
I have changed the proportions slightly to make a smaller pudding.

Ingredients
Milk - 1 cup
Butter - 2 tbsp
Sugar - 1/3 rd cup (brown or white) (I used white) [Increase or decrease as per taste]
Eggs - 1 large
Cinnamon powder - 1 tsp
Ground Nutmeg - pinch
Vanilla Extract - 1/2 tsp
Bread - 2 cups, torn into small pieces
Raisins - few (optional)

In a pan, heat milk just until a film forms on top. Add the butter and stir until butter melts and then cool to lukewarm.
Combine sugar, eggs, nutmeg, cinnamon and vanilla. Beat with an electric mixer at medium speed for 1 min. (I did this step with the help of my blender at the lowest speed possible). Slowly add the milk mixture.
Place bread in a lightly greased pan.
Sprinkle raisins. Pour the batter on top.
Bake at 350 deg F for 30-40 min or until set. Serve warm.


Note :
Depending on the type of pan used adjust the time of baking. Don't forget to grease the pan. I have tried this in a square pan as well as a loaf pan and prefer using a square pan as it bakes within 30 mins in it. This dessert tastes best when warm so while serving take the required amount and heat it in a microwave for 30 sec. Store the rest in the refrigerator. This recipe is good for using day old bread. I have also tried this using pieces of jam filled Danish pastry.

I am sending this along with Banana Walnut Loaf to Mansi's Vegetarian Thanksgiving event.


Update : I am sending this to Bread Mania event at Sindhura's blog.