Creating Old Fashioned Bread Pudding with Rum Sauce is easy if you follow these simple steps:

1. Preheat Oven: Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C). Grease a 9×13-inch baking dish.

2. Prepare Bread: In a large bowl, combine the cubed stale bread and set aside.

3. Mix Wet Ingredients: In another bowl, whisk together the milk, heavy cream, eggs, granulated sugar, vanilla extract, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt until well combined.

4. Combine: Pour the wet mixture over the cubed bread, ensuring all pieces are well soaked. Add raisins if desired.

5. Let it Sit: Allow the mixture to sit for about 10-15 minutes so the bread absorbs the custard mixture.

6. Transfer to Baking Dish: Pour the bread mixture into the prepared baking dish, spreading it evenly.

7. Bake: Place in the oven and bake for 30-40 minutes, or until the top is golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

8. Cool: Remove from the oven and let it cool for about 10-15 minutes before serving.

For the Rum Sauce:

9. Melt Butter: In a saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat.

10. Add Sugar and Cream: Stir in the brown sugar and heavy cream, mixing until the sugar dissolves.

11. Add Rum: Once combined, remove from heat and stir in the dark rum and vanilla extract.

12. Serve: Drizzle the warm rum sauce over the bread pudding before serving.