A kissing cousin to the souffle, bread pudding enjoys more crust, is far more forgiving, and is made in a larger batch--perfect for that impressive dessert made for company. It's also highly versatile with different flavorings that will blow. your. mind.
A chef I knew at a business cafe made the very best pudding I ever tasted. That son of a gun boasted taking his recipe to his grave, and nothing I tried could convince him to give it up! I was forced to find and tweak recipes until I finally had my go-to winner and my sons' favorite. Lucky for you, I'm sharing it for all to enjoy!
Tip: Avoid any bread pudding recipe that specifies bread by volume (e.g. cups), as there is too much variation. This one goes by weight, to consistently deliver a pudding that is neither too wet, nor too dry--and is instead just right :)
This recipe is a great treat as-is. However, it is the basic, plain one. The type of bread doesn't matter too much, though use white breads or rolls and avoid whole wheat or heavy-grainy types. Check out the Variations section below for different themes for the pudding and the sauce. Enjoy!
Pudding Ingredients
8 eggs
2 cups sugar
3 1/2 cups whole milk
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 pound bread, cut into 1-inch cubes
Butter, for buttering the dish
Pudding Directions
In a large bowl, briefly whisk the eggs, then add sugar and whisk more thoroughly so the sugar begins to dissolve. Let sit briefly and butter a 13x9x2 inch glass baking dish.
Into the egg-sugar mixture, add the milk, cream, and vanilla extract, and whisk to mix well. Add the bread to mix thoroughly.
Pour bread mixture into the glass baking dish, then cover and refrigerate for 2 hours.
With 15-20 minutes remaining, preheat oven to 350F.
Bake uncovered on the middle rack about 1hr 15min, until the pudding is puffed and golden. Be sure the center is no longer sunken, and is mostly even with the outside.
Let cool for 15-20 minutes. Note the pudding will deflate some. Then serve warm with sauce of choice.
Dark Rum Sauce Ingredients
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup unsalted butter (half of a stick)
1/4 cup whipping cream
1 Tbsp dark or spiced rum
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
Dark Rum Sauce Directions
In a small-to-medium sauce pan over medium heat, combine brown sugar, butter and cinnamon until melted and smooth.
Add rum and mix for 2-3 minutes allowing the alcohol to simmer off.
Mix in cream and continue simmering for 4-5 minutes until the sauce thickens slightly to your desired consistency.
Serve warm, drizzled over the whole pudding, or over individual servings, as preferred.
Variations
For Raisins: Add 1/2 cup raisins into the wet mix of the pudding prior to combining with the bread cubes. To raise it up a notch, soak the raisins in dark or spiced rum for 30 minutes, then strain prior to adding per above.
For Chocolate: Add 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips into the wet mix of the pudding prior to combining with bread crumbs.
For Other Alcohol Sauces: In the sauce, replace the rum with your spirit of choice, such as Whiskey, Bourbon, or Brandy. You can also try it with a liqueur such as Chambord (for berry), Frangelico (for praline), or Kahlua (for coffee)--but with these sweeter options, cut the sugar in the sauce to 1/3 cup. Really, your imagination is the limit! Note: You may want to omit the cinnamon, as your personal taste may find it clashes with the chosen alcohol.
For Banana Foster Bread Pudding: Dice a large banana or two small bananas and combine into the wet bread mix prior to pouring into the baking dish. With the sauce, replace the rum with banana liqueur.
For Suzette Bread Pudding: Mix in 1 tsp finely grated and minced orange or lemon zest into the wet ingredients before adding the bread cubes. In the sauce, omit the cinnamon, reduce the sugar to 1/3 cup, and replace the rum with Grand Marnier.
Tags: #breadpudding #rum
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