The secret's out... Paula Deen has the best basic bread pudding recipe in existence. Except if you don't want to contract instant diabetes type II (or get fat), you might want to cut the FOUR CUPS OF SUGAR down to 1.5 cups. It's really enough, I promise.
Oh all right, if you really want more sugar, you can drizzle the brandy-butter sauce on top.
Also, I added two sliced bananas, about a cup of golden raisins, and some extra walnuts (instead of pecans).