French Bread Pudding

1 cup sugar
1 stick butter, softened
5 eggs, beaten well
1 pint (2 cups) half and half
Dash of cinnamon
1 Tablespoon vanilla
1/4 cup raisins
12 slices stale French Bread (sliced 1 inch thick)

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Cream together the sugar and butter. Add eggs, cream, cinnamon, vanilla and raisins, mixing well. Pour into a 9-inch square pan (1 3/4 inches deep). Arrange the bread slices in the egg mixture and let stand for 10 minutes to soak up some of the liquid. (You can tear the bread up into pieces and pour the above mixture over and press down lightly to get it to soak up the liquid either way is great). Let the bread slices sit another 10 minutes and push them down so that most of the bread is covered by the egg mixture. Set the pan in a larger pan filled with water to 1/2 inch from top. Cover pudding with foil. Bake for 45 to 50 minutes, uncovering the pudding for the last 10 minutes to brown the top. When done, the custard should still be soft not firm. Serve slightly warm with Lemon Sauce.