Assemble ingredients.

Preheat oven to 325°F.

Grease or line 9”x13” pan with greased tin foil.

In large bowl, break the French bread into small pieces, crusts and all. Pour 4 cups of milk over the bread. Cover and let sit for 30 minutes then handcrush mixture until well blended.

In separate bowl, beat the eggs well. Add the sugar and beat again. Add the salt, vanilla, grated orange rind, cinnamon, nutmeg, maple syrup, and butter. Blend well. Pour over bread-milk mixture and mix well.

Lastly, gently fold in the blueberries being careful not to break the berries. Pour into prepared pan. Smooth batter evenly in pan. Place pan inside a larger pan. Place on oven rack in upper part of oven. Carefully pour hot water into exterior pan until the water reaches about ½ way up the sides of the pudding pan.

Bake for about 50 minutes or until top of pudding is nicely tanned and it springs back to a light touch and/or a cake tester (or toothpick) inserted into 2-3 places in the pudding comes out clean.

Remove from oven and water bath and transfer pudding pan to a rack to rest for 20 minutes. Slice into 12 pieces and serve warm with a brown sugar sauce, lemon curd, crème anglaise, or ice cream.

In saucepan, mix the brown sugar, cornstarch, and salt together well. Add the boiling water, corn syrup, Grand Marnier, and vanilla together. Mix well. Add butter. Microwave until sauce boils and reaches desired consistency. Serve over blueberry bread pudding.