I took one loaf of Trader Joe's par-baked ciabatta bread, which I did not bake as directed, and cut it into cubes. The package said the loaf was 8 ounces, but the scale said it was more like 11 ounces! In any case, I ended up with
7 cups of cubed Italian bread
Take these bread cubes and distribute them evenly along the bottom of a well-oiled 9-inch by 13-inch baking pan.
Sprinkle
1/2 cup dried cherries
on top, ensuring that they are evenly distributed.
In a small pot over low heat, mix together
3 cups soy milk
12 ounces chocolate chips
2/3 cup sugar
until the chocolate has completely melted and is fully incorporated into the milk. Pour half of this chocolate mixture into a blender along with
1 3/4 cups okara
1 tsp. vanilla (I used vanilla paste!)
Liquefy completely. Add the rest of the chocolate mixture into the blender and blend thoroughly (if your blender is big enough -- otherwise do this in two batches).
When chocolate-okara mixture is completely liquefied, pour the mixture evenly over the bread cubes. Pat any floating cubes down into the chocolate mixture with a spatula or spoon to ensure that all of the bread is covered.
In a bowl, combine
1 cup cherry preserves
1 tsp. lemon juice
thoroughly. Pour the cherry mixture evenly over the bread-chocolate mixture.
Cover the bread pudding with foil and allow it to sit for 30 minutes before transferring it to a 350 degree Fahrenheit oven. Bake for an hour and allow to cool for at least 20 minutes before serving. (I think it tastes better after cooling completely.)
Verdict: I think this tastes great, but it might be fun to experiment with liquids aside from soymilk. Perhaps coffee or some kind of liquor could give this dessert a deeper and richer flavor. But I'm not going to complain about a cherry-chocolate combination, and this was pretty easy to make!
