It seems like everyone is making bread these days. I'm not a professional baker, but I have been playing around with some quick breads and some yeast breads. While doing so, I discovered that refrigerated quick yeast won't rise. Why am I telling you this? Because my attempt at making egg bread didn't come out well, so I repurposed it into a bread pudding.

You don't have to bake any bread to make this recipe. Choose a store-bought bread like challah, egg bread or brioche as the base for this fool-proof pudding. Banana and chocolate are one of my favorite dessert combinations. This is cozy comfort for these long tedious days we are all living through. Enjoy!

Tasty tips

--Dry the bread so it can absorb the custard. (You can do this by putting it out on the counter overnight or in a 250-degree oven for half an hour.)

--Allow the bread to sit until you can see some of the custard has absorbed into the bread.

--Use a water bath to keep the cooking temperature even so that the custard does not overcook and curdle.

Banana Chocolate Bread Pudding

Serves 6 to 8

8 cups (1-inch cubes) of challah, brioche or egg bread

4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped

2 bananas, sliced

6 large eggs

2 large egg yolks

1 1/4 cups sugar

3 cups milk

1 tablespoon vanilla

Whipped cream, (optional)

1. Grease a 9-by-13-inch glass baking dish. Arrange the bread, chocolate and bananas in the dish, mixing them around, making sure that they are evenly distributed.

2. In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the eggs and egg yolks on medium speed until they are frothy. Add the sugar and beat the mixture until thick and lemon colored, about 3 minutes. Add the milk, reducing the speed to low, and mix to combine. Add the vanilla and mix to combine.

3. Preheat the oven to 375 F. Ladle the custard over the bread. Let the pudding sit for 30 minutes to 1 hour to help the bread absorb the custard, occasionally pushing the bread down with a wooden spoon. (You can test to see if a bread cube has absorbed some of the custard by cutting into it.)

4. Place the baking dish in a larger baking pan than the baking dish and pour enough boiling water into the outer pan to reach halfway up the sides of the pudding dish. Transfer the pudding into the oven and bake for 40 to 45 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the center comes out clean.

5. Remove the pudding from the oven, sprinkle it with powdered sugar and let rest about 10 minutes. Serve in squares alone or with whipped cream. It is also excellent served cold the next day.

(Diane Rossen Worthington is an authority on new American cooking. She is the author of 18 cookbooks, including "Seriously Simple Parties," and a James Beard Award-winning radio show host. You can contact her at www.seriouslysimple.com.)