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Bread Pudding

Welcome back! 
Today, we have an interesting dish that is a great use for stale bread, or just normal bread if you have it. However, some people actually recommend using fresh bread because the freshness from the bread permeates into the final product. Nonetheless, it's an interesting recipe; it actually has many variations, with some being savory and sweet. The version we have here is definitely a sweet one, though it's not overly sweet, so it still makes for a healthy breakfast that you can customize to your needs.

Bread Pudding


Makes 6 4-ounce ramekins

Ingredients:

  • 4-5 slices of bread (this really depends on the size and type of bread you're using)
  • 4 eggs
  • 1 1/2 cup milk
  • 1/2 cup whipping cream*
  • 2-4 tablespoons sugar (again, this depends on your bread)
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • Dried fruit (raisins, cranberries, tart cherries; you can also soak them in rum or Grand Marnier)
  • Chocolate chips
Combined, you should have 2 cups total of milk and whipping cream. If you want it to be lighter, use more milk. If you want it to be more like creme brulee, use more whipping cream.

Another great fruit to put in here is apple. To make some good cinnamon apple to use, dice the apple, mix it with 1 tablespoon sugar and a pinch of cinnamon powder, and cook it on the stove for 5-10 minutes until soft. Then, you can add it in and it's great! Some other softer fruits like pears and peaches (though not all of them) can just be directly diced and added in. Feel free to experiment, this is a dish that you can do quite a bit with!

Directions:

  1. In a bowl, crack four eggs and beat them evenly.
  2. Add the milk, whipping cream, sugar, and vanilla extract. Mix these all thoroughly.
  3. Slice the bread up into chunks that are a little less than an inch cubed.
  4. Fill each ramekin with some bread (don't pack it in) and top with the dried fruit and chocolate. If you want to mix these around, that's good; we left them at the top.

  5. Pour the mixture of eggs/milk/other stuff from before into each ramekin. They should not be more than 90% full as the pudding will rise while baking.
  6. Press down on the bread so that each piece soaks some of the liquid mixture.

  7. Bake these in the oven at 350°F for 25 minutes. If you use a big dish (as shown in one of the pictures below), you'll need around 40 minutes to thoroughly cook it.
  8. Take them out and let them cool.

A method that is fancier and leads to a more gourmet version of this dish would be to use specifically French bread, like a baguette, and before dicing it, spreading some butter on it and baking it for a little to let the butter soak in and to harden the bread. Then, cut it up and continue with the procedure. We didn't do that, but it still tastes great! Also, using different kinds of bread can change the flavor and texture, you can really test things out to find what you like the best.
With apples, plus a big one in the back!

-Chefpo
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