A Dish For All Seasons (Bread Pudding)
The What
I LOVE bread pudding. Sweet or savory, made with almost any kind of bread-from bagels to brioche, enveloped in a custard of eggs and milk, the epitome of comfort food. Each spoonful is a revelation, crispy, crunchy outside and meltingly soft custard-like inside, YUM, it’s so good.
The Why
I’m guessing bread pudding was born out of economics, a way to not waste day-old bread. Who was that frugal genius? It’s everything a dish should be-comforting, multi-textured, versatile, simple, and most of all amazingly delicious.
The Who
My favorite recipe is a mash-up of a Mark Bittman recipe in The New York Times and one from Bon Appetit, Apple-Raisin Bread Pudding. That’s the beauty of bread pudding, it lends itself well to additions and changes. Play with this recipe and make it your own. I even have a rift for a Tres Leches Bread Pudding, yep, so many variations, so little time.
The How
It’s super versatile, I have used french bread, challah, brioche, or ciabatta. If I want a richer dish I replace part of the milk with half-half (25-50%) or add 1-2 additional eggs for a more custard-like pudding. I have added apples in the fall, berries, or peaches in the summer, dried fruit when my fruit basket is empty or folded in homemade preserves … For you chocoholics, throw in a handful of chocolate chips. You get the picture, this is a slam dunk. For Thanksgiving, a savory bread pudding with mushrooms, peppers, and Parmesan will grace our table, it has become an annual holiday tradition.
Toast the cubes in the oven at 350 degrees for 7-10 minutes
The Pay-Off
My kids would clean their rooms and do their chores for bread pudding, especially if I added a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top. Yep, a fam-favorite for many reasons.
Adapted from Simple Bread Pudding by Mark Bittman
Ingredients
- 2 cups milk replace 1/2 with half-half for a richer pudding
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter (1/4 stick) more for greasing pan
- 1/2 cup sugar for a sweeter pudding use 3/4 cup
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Pinch salt
- 1/2 loaf sweet egg bread like challah or brioche cut into 1.5-2-inch cubes (about 5 to 6 cups)
- 2 eggs, beatened Like itt custardy? Add an extra egg
Optional Fruit Add-Ins Replace 1/2 cup of bread with any of the following
- 1 apple peeled and cored, cut into 1/2 inch dice. Granny Smith for tart, Golden Delicious for sweet.
- 1 cup fresh blueberries
Instructions
- Heat oven to 350 degrees.
- Butter a 2-quart baking dish and fill it with cubed bread (8x8 or 9x9 square pan will work)
- Toast cubed bread pieces in 350 degrees oven for 10 minutes. This is an optional step. If you do toast bread, definitely soak the cubes before baking.
- In a small saucepan over low heat, warm milk, butter, vanilla, sugar and salt. Continue cooking just until butter melts; cool.
- Add eggs to cooled milk mixture and whisk; pour mixture over bread. Let sit for abot 30 minutes so the bread can soak up the egg mixture. This makes a more custard like pudding.
- Bake for 30 to 45 minutes, or until custard is set but still a little wobbly and edges of bread have browned. Serve warm or at room temperature.
Tweaks
- Like cinnamon add 1/4 teaspoon to egg mixture.
- In place of fruit use 1/4-1/2 cup jam or preserves, dot pudding, distributing evenly
- Sprinkle bread pudding with cinnamon before baking. For a crunchy top, sprinkle top with 2 tablespoons cinnamon sugar before baking. (To make your own cinnamon sugar, combine 1/2 cup granulated sugar with 2 T cinnamon)
- Golden raisins work well in this bread pudding too!