A traditional bread pudding is made of cubes of day-old bread soaked in a mixture of eggs, dairy, and sugar. Like many recipes, its thrifty origins have given way to a lot of innovation, and altering the main ingredient might be the best way to put your stamp on bread pudding.

You can use sourdough to provide a tangy complexity to bread pudding, as it has a combination of beneficial bacteria and wild yeast that creates a delicate sour flavor. That hint of sour tang offsets the sweetness of the bread pudding, and sourdough's crisp crust and soft yet chewy crumb is ideal for soaking up the pudding base while holding its shape.

If you want to further experiment with using different breads in your pudding, you can make whole-grain rye bread pudding if you tinker with the amount of liquid. You can also use more decadent breads rather than leftovers, including croissants, Krispy Kreme doughnuts, and King's Hawaiian rolls.