She came up with this recipe during the depression and she had 6 kids plus a husband, lots of chickens and a huge garden to care for. As we all know money was very hard to come by during the great depression. Even though my grandpa worked as a coal miner times were hard for him and my grandmother so they had to learn to be very frugal.
Grandpa passed a bakery every day on his way home from work so he would stop and buy the day old bread to feed their pig they were raising for meat for the winter. Some times he was able to get a lot and some times just a couple of loaves. On the days he was able to get a lot my grandma would keep out a few loaves to make things for the family to eat, like dressing, french toast and her bread pudding.
Because my grandma had so much work to do she came up with some easy recipes to fix her family meals. Like her bread pudding. It was easy and cheap and fed them all. When she made the bread pudding she always made a big pan of it and if the kids were running late for school all they had to do was cut a piece and walk out of the house eating it on their way to school. You don't need a fork or spoon for her bread pudding. It really is a easy recipe.
Grandma Queen's Bread Pudding
12 cups day old bread torn or cut into bite size pieces
1 cup sugar
1 raisins
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 egg (beaten )
2 cups (about) water
Place the bread in a big bowl. Add sugar, raisins and cinnamon. Mix well. Add beaten egg and just enough water to moisten the bread so it will hold together.
Do not use fresh bread with this recipe. It turns to mushy. I go to the bread store and buy day old bread and let it sit a couple of more days before using. Regular white bread or french bread works well in this recipe. Wheat bread might but I do not like wheat bread so I don't use it. Add just enough water to make it hold together. You don't want it to wet. When it turns golden brown and puffed up in the middle it is done. It will deflate and become fairly even as it cools. As soon as you take it out of the oven you can sprinkle a cinnamon sugar mixture over the top to give it a little more sweetness. I use to do that but when I became a diabetic I quit doing that to cut down on some of the sugar.
I am the only one of over 50 grandkids that still make grandma's bread pudding. When I lived in Michigan I had to make enough for my family plus my mom and several of her brothers and sisters as well. None of them ever bothered to learn how to make it but they loved to eat it. I learned her recipe from memories of watch her make it and from the taste her's always had. It took me a few tries before I got it right but I finally did and am so glad I did. I always loved her bread pudding. Eating it now brings back wonderful memories of sitting at the kitchen table with her eating a piece of bread pudding and drinking a cup of hot tea and just having a nice talk about the old days. She was the only grandparent I had in my life while growing up. All the others lived far away and I never saw them. She has a big influence on my life and I love her dearly even though she has been gone 20 years now. I miss her so very much. She was a wonderful grandma.
Prepping Granny