Bread Pudding

Bread pudding is basically the same recipes but you add different flavors to it to make it your own.  You can make it sweet or you can make it savory.  You can use any type of bread including Italian or French breads, croissants, brioche, raisin bread, doughnuts what ever you have left over.  I’ll give you the basic recipe and then some ideas of what to do with your bread pudding. 

Basic Bread Pudding

3 eggs

4 cups milk or cream

1 ¼ cups sugar

¼ cup butter, melted

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

½ teaspoon salt

1 loaf of day old bread, cubed

In a large bowl, beat eggs. Add the milk, sugar, butter, vanilla, cinnamon and salt; mix well. Gently stir in bread cubes.  Let the mixture sit to absorb all of the custard mixture.  Pour into a 13 x 9 baking dish.   

Cover with foil & bake for 1 hour at 325 degrees.  Remove foil & bake 15 minutes longer, or until top is golden.  Test by inserting a knife near the center and it should come out clean. Serve warm or cold. Refrigerate leftovers. Makes 12 to 16 servings.

My mother always added raisins but you can add cranberries, blueberries, peaches, canned apples, pecans, figs, dates or the fruit of your choice.  Try adding a little canned pumpkin pie to the recipe for pumpkin pudding.   You can also put a simple powdered sugar glaze on top or a warm sauce.

Vanilla Bread Pudding Sauce

½ cup light brown sugar
1 tablespoon all purpose flour
¼ tsp. ground cinnamon
1 egg
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1 ¼ cups whole milk or heavy cream
1 pinch salt
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Whisk ½ cup of light brown sugar, the flour, a pinch of cinnamon, 1 egg, 2 tablespoons of melted butter, 1 ¼ cups of whole milk, and salt together in a heavy saucepan until smooth. Heat over medium heat, whisking constantly, until thickened and the sauce coats the back of a spoon, 10 to 12 minutes (it only took us 5-6 minutes before it was thick enough, probably because we used heavy cream).  Stir in the vanilla extract. Pour sauce over warm bread pudding, and/or serve on the side in a bowl.

Butterscotch Bread Pudding 

 

1 day-old loaf of bread, torn into small pieces

4 cups milk

2 cups brown sugar

1/2 cup butter, melted

3 eggs, beaten

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 cup butterscotch chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter a 9 x 13 inch baking dish.

In a large bowl, combine bread, milk, sugar, butter, eggs, vanilla and butterscotch chips; mixture should be the consistency of oatmeal. Pour into prepared pan.

Bake in preheated oven 1 hour, until nearly set. (It should have a "thigh wiggle" or wiggle as much as a well endowed thigh.) Serve warm or cold.

Variation:  Turn it into chocolate by adding chocolate chips. 

Different vehicles -  muffin tins or tiny muffin tins for appetizers, small ramekins 

White Chocolate Bread Pudding

I love white chocolate and this is a great dessert recipe.

3 cups whipping cream

10 ounces white chocolate

1 cup milk

½ cup sugar

2 eggs

8 egg yolks

1 loaf French bread or 1 loaf Italian bread, cut into 1/4 ” slices and dried in oven

1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 275.  Spray a casserole dish large enough to hold the bread and egg mixture with non-stick vegetable spray.

Add cream and chocolate in a double boiler. Stir until melted and remove from the heat.

Also in a double boiler, whisk together the milk, sugar, eggs, egg yolks and vanilla and heat until till just warm.

Pour this into white chocolate mixture and blend.

Place the bread in the baking dish & pour half the cream mixture over the bread.

Let it absorb for a few minutes & pour remaining cream mixture over the pudding.

Cover with foil & bake for 1 hour.  Remove foil & bake 15 minutes longer, or until top is golden.

Sauce

8 ounces white chocolate, melted

3 ounces heavy cream

2 tablespoons chocolate shavings (to garnish)

In a double boiler, melt 8 oz white chocolate with the cream.

Remove from the heat & stir until blended.  To serve you can serve warm or chilled.

Savory Tomato Bread Pudding

You can make in small muffin cups and serve as an appetizer or serve as a side dish.

1/4 cup chicken broth or juice from the canned tomatoes

3 tablespoons brown sugar

2 large cans of diced tomatoes, drained

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

3 tablespoons chopped fresh basil leaves

1 pinch cayenne pepper

1/4 cup butter

1 (1 pound) loaf day-old bread, cubed

1 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Grease a 9 x 13 inch baking dish, or one of similar size.  In a small saucepan, combine the wine, brown sugar, tomatoes, Worcestershire sauce, basil and cayenne pepper. Simmer over medium-low heat for 10 minutes.  In a large skillet, melt butter. Toss the bread cubes in the butter to coat, then toss with Monterey Jack cheese, and transfer to the prepared baking dish. Pour the tomato mixture over the bread.  Bake for 25 to 30 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the top is nicely toasted.

You can add a little hot sauce if you want heat or you can a browned sausage to goose it up. 

Puerto Rican Bread Pudding - Buden

Just for a hoot, I thought I’d share this PR bread pudding I found. 

1 cup water

2 (3 inch) cinnamon sticks

15 whole cloves

1 teaspoon anise seed

2 tablespoons water

1/2 cup white sugar

    

1 (1 pound) loaf day-old bread

4 cups evaporated milk

4 eggs

1 ½ cups white sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

¾ teaspoon salt

¼ cup butter, melted

Bring 1 cup of water to a boil in a small saucepan over high heat. Add the cinnamon sticks, cloves, and anise seeds. Cover, and set aside to steep for 15 minutes.  You can substitute 1 tsp. ground cinnamon if you don’t have the sticks (it’s cheaper also).

Meanwhile, combine 2 tablespoons water with 1/2 cup sugar in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Stir occasionally to dissolve the sugar completely, but stop stirring once the mixture comes to a boil. Stay near the stove to monitor the color, swirling the pan gently to redistribute the caramel as the sugar begins to darken. Cook to about 310 degrees F, or until the sugar turns light golden brown, then pour into a 9 x 5 inch loaf pan. Set aside to allow the caramel to harden.

Preheat an oven to 350 degrees F.

Remove the crusts from the day-old bread, tear the bread into cubes, and place into a large mixing bowl. Strain the spice tea through a fine mesh sieve to remove the spices. Add to the bread along with the evaporated milk. Stir to evenly moisten, and set aside for 10 minutes. Whisk the eggs in a large mixing bowl along with 1 1/2 cups of sugar, the vanilla extract, salt, and melted butter. Stir in the moistened bread mixture until evenly mixed. Pour into the loaf pan over the caramel.

Place your loaf pan inside a roasting pan with boiling water to reach halfway up the sides of the loaf pan.

Bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 1 hour and 15 minutes. Cool in the pan for about an hour, then refrigerate until cold, 2 hours more. When ready, invert the Budin onto a serving plate. The caramel will have turned to a syrup and will cover the Budin like a sauce.

Well I have given you some daily bread ideas.  Think it is time to move on to a new subject tomorrow. Be happy and may God bless you and yours.