Fruit Bread Pudding

This recipe is from What Cooking? Vegetarian.  I have wanted to try and make this for some time, but I just never got around to it.  For Easter this year I wanted to make a fruit based dessert, but I really did not want to deal with dough.  Luckily I remember this recipe.  I changed the fruit used, but the main recipe is very close to that in the cookbook. 



1 cup blueberries

1 cup blackberries

1 apple, cored, peeled and chopped

1 pear, cored, peeled and chopped

3/4 cup light brown sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

7 tablespoons water

8 ounces white bread, thinly sliced with crusts removed

Place the fruit in a large saucepan with the brown sugar, cinnamon and water.  Stir and bring to a boil.  Reduce the heat and simmer for 5 to 10 minutes or until the fruit is tender but retains its shape
Meanwhile, line the base and sides of a 4 cup glass bowl. with the bread slices, ensuring that there are no gaps between the pieces of bread. 
Spoon the fruit onto the center of the bread lined bowl, and cover the fruit with the remaining bread.  Place a saucer on top of the bread and weight it down.  Refrigerate overnight. 
Turn the pudding out onto a serving dish.  Serve at once with home made whipped cream or vanilla ice cream. Or use vegan toppings in place of the whipped cream and ice cream.