Your First Bread Pudding
#12 Return to the oven until the top is nicely browned, 15-25 minutes.
Think of this as breakfast for dessert. When I first heard the words ‘bread’ and ‘pudding’ slapped together and offered as a dessert, well, let’s just say I was skeptical. But after several exploratory samples, I realized that bread pudding is like the best French toast ever. With whipped cream and booze. Hello!!! The picture above is from a pear, tart cherry, and pecan episode I dished out over the holidays.
This is a great and easy recipe that I’ve used over and over. Get a nice solid enriched bread, like a brioche, challah, or even egg diner rolls. They will soak up the liquid really well. Variations on this theme are only as limited as your time, energy, creativity, and pocketbook dictate. So, feel free to play.
Here’s the master recipe which yields two 10″x6″ bread loaf pans, or two 9″ round pans. They freeze well if you let them cool and wrap tightly with plastic wrap, so don’t worry about making two at a time.
- 2 pounds of bread (1″ cubes)
- 1 quart cream
- 5 (or 6) eggs
- 1 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 TBSP. vanilla extract
- 1 tsp. salt
- misc. flavorful ingredients (nuts, fruit, chocolate, etc.) about 2 – 2 1/2 cups total.
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
Follow the pictures below for the rest, and enjoy!
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- #1 Cut 1 inch (or so) cubes
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- #2 Whisk together everything but flavorful ingredients.
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- #3 (optional, but yummy) 1 cup toasted pecans.
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- #4 Butter (or spray, but really, butter) the pans.
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- #5 Mix everything together and let the bread absorb the moisture.
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- #6 Season if you like (nutmeg, cinnamon, cayenne?).
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- #7 Test a piece (like French toast) for flavor. Or let it ride.
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- #8 Fill Pans
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- #9 Cover with foil and bake 30 minutes at 350 degrees.
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- #10 Remove foil.
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- #11 If you want, (and I think you want) pour on a little melted butter and sprinkle some raw sugar, the effect is very nice.
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- #12 Return to the oven until the top is nicely browned, 15-25 minutes.
Once you take these guys from the oven, let them cool. Then, get them out of the pan to cool further on a wire rack or something that will let them breathe. Once they are pretty much room temperature, refrigerate, or wrap and freeze for future use. If you have a little caramel sauce, and some whipped cream, you better quality assure a piece while your standing there. Better safe than sorry.
Treat yourself to a little slice of nice -
-Scott
This is almost identical to my Bread Pudding recipe. One of my favorites. But I think you will enjoy my story. There was a blizzard brewing and I thought I would make some bread pudding. So off to the Axtell Market. The only bread left in the store was hot dog buns. Much to my surprise they work just fine — in fact some of my family prefer them. Who knew?
This one goes in the ‘gotta try this when the family is in town for the weekend’ pile. Yummmooo! Thanks, scott!
Rachel- I bought some diner rolls the last time I made this, and they worked brilliantly! God save the Axtell Market, and the bread pudding(s) they will help your family enjoy in the future.
All my best-
-Scotty