Gluten-Free Dairy-Free Bread Pudding

1. Lightly spray an 8” x 8” square baking pan or a 9” x 9” baking dish with cooking oil. You can also grease it with butter or coconut oil if you’d like.
2. Transfer the chopped bread to the baking pan and try to arrange it so that it is all tightly nestled and there aren’t a lot of air pockets between the chunks. 
3. Note: I use an 8-inch square cake pan and I lay four slices of bread on the bottom of the prepared baking dish. Because there will be a few small holes in between the slices, I fill any holes with little chunks of bread. I then chop the rest of the loaf into little bread cubes and lay them on top.

Make the Custard: 

1. Heat the oat milk, coconut milk, brown sugar, and sea salt in a small saucepan over medium-high heat, whisking frequently until the milk is frothy and looks like it is just about to boil. Don’t bring the mixture to a full boil. This hot and frothy milk is known as scalded milk.
2. Remove the scalded milk from the heat and allow it to cool for a few minutes.
3. Whisk in the eggs one at a time until they are well incorporated, then stir in the vanilla extract.

Make the Bread Pudding:

1. Pour the custard mixture evenly over the bread chunks. The bread will start to float up in the liquid so press the bread mixture down with the back of a wooden spoon so that all of the bread is saturated in custard and it appears like it’s in an even layer (this doesn’t need to be perfect). 
2. Pro Tip: For the best result, allow the bread to soak up the custard for 20-30 minutes (or even longer). If you can make this ahead of time, allow it to sit in the refrigerator overnight before baking. This allows the bread to become so soggy that it results in a dense cake-like texture. Without this step, the texture of the individual chunks of bread is more distinguishable.
3. When you’re ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and cover the casserole dish in aluminum foil. Bake on the center rack of the preheated oven for 40 minutes.
4. Remove the foil and continue baking for 5 to 10 minutes, until the top is slightly golden brown.
5. Dust the top of the bread pudding with powdered sugar (if desired) and spoon some of the sauce (instructions below) over the top to allow it to soak in.
6. Slice the bread pudding and serve warm with more sauce drizzled on top.

Make the Bread Pudding Sauce:

1. Add all of the ingredients for the bread pudding sauce to a small saucepan and bring it to a full boil. Continue boiling, whisking constantly, until the sauce is thick, about 3 to 4 minutes. Remove the sauce from the heat and use it to serve the bread pudding.
2. If the sauce cools down before you have a chance to use it, heat it back up on the stove top or in the microwave until hot. You can store leftover sauce in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.