Looks good - I think the sauce is the key. It would give my rather one-dimensional (texture-wise) bread pudding a 2nd note.
I just wish I could figure out how to have some texture within the bread structure - some pieces a bit harder than others, without having them be too hard. The soaking for 30min-4hrs seems to make mine all the same texture. I soaked the one I made for just 15 min - same result.
I guess that’s how it’s supposed to turn out!
Maybe if you soak *portions* of the bread for varying times?
And perhaps you could try something harder/sturdier than challah.
(By the way: we used to be able to buy in the supermarket a frozen ready-to-bake braided challah; I can’t recall the brand. But we never see it anymore. It always looked nice on the holiday dinner table. Does anyone see it in the stores now?)
-JT