BREAD Pudding!
“Bread Pudding” has always sounded a little yucky to me. . . not gonna lie; however, I found myself with some left over Challah or Piquenchagne bread that needed to be used or just thrown out. They say, “Necessity is the mother of invention.” This puts “waste not and want not” to the test! Here’s a delicious Bread Pudding recipe for ya!
Ingredients:
Bread layer:
8-10 cups ofbread in 1 in. cubes (I would recommend a sweeter/egg bread like challah, but you can use any dense bread that you like. I would steer clear of just white bread. . . )
*1 apple peeled, cored and chopped (I like a more tart apple, so granny smith it is)
*1 Cup of a dried berry/grape (I like cranberries)
Custard:
4 Grade A Large Eggs, room temp (I’ve used 5 small eggs before)
1 Cup granulated Sugar
*¼ Cup Brown Sugar
1 ½ t pure vanilla extract
½ t ground cinnamon
*¼ t nutmeg
*1/8 t allspice
4 T butter melted and then cooled (I use salted butter in everything. . . )
2 C heavy whipping cream, room temp
2C milk, room temp
*optional items
Other stuff:
Large Roasting pan for water bath
9X13X2 in. pan for bread pudding
Electric/Stand mixer with beaters/paddle attachment
Extra butter or non-stick spray for pan
Instructions:
Bring all of your room temperature items up to room temperature.
Prepare your bread into 1 in. cubes, as well if including the fruit, prepare those items.
Spray your 9X13X2 pan with non-stick spray and place bread in an even layer, topping with an even layer of fruits.
Put your room temperature eggs into the mixer bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment. Turn on and break up eggs a bit, pour in sugars and beat until fluffy; this will take 4-5 minutes depending on room temp of the eggs (I got this tip from http://www.joyofbaking.com/BreadPudding.html ). Once “frothy” and leaving a ribbon, put in your vanilla and spices mixing again. (if you want to, you can put the butter in at this time, but I pour mine over top after in the dish with the bread). Mix in the heavy cream/milk mixture until thoroughly combined.
Now You’re ready to combine the custard and bread layers. Pour the custard over top of the bread in the pan. Make sure all of the bread gets coated with the custard by pushing down with a spatula or your hand. Let stand for 30 minutes to allow the bread to soak up all of the custard that it can.
Meanwhile, preheat your oven to 300degF.
Place your bread pudding filled pan inside of the roasting dish and boil some water (or use HOT tap water); fill up the roasting pan until there is about ½-1 in. of water up the side of the bread pudding pan. Carefully transport the roasting pan to the oven and bake for 1 hour.
I have to check my oven to make sure the temp remains at 300degF. The water bath tends to diminish the temperature by about 20 degrees. . . So, after 30 minutes, I increase my temp to 320degF.
Once the pudding has baked for an hour, test by pushing down on the bread, if custard is not cooked, it will rise up through the top bread layer. If the pudding isn’t done after an hour, I would recommend 10 minute increments of baking/checking. Once no more custard comes through the bread, you’re golden.
Remove from the oven and then remove from water bath to let cool completely. Once cooled, cover with aluminum foil and store in the refrigerator for up to 4-5 days (if it lasts that long☺).