Neither man nor woman lives by bread alone. Sometimes we need bread pudding too.
It’s a funny thing: Stale bread, yuck. Bread pudding, yum. But the only difference between the two is eggs, milk and sugar and a spell in the oven. Beyond that, cooks can add any extras they like. And it’s often these extras, in fact, that make the dessert. Bread pudding offers the perfect blank canvas for the baker to embellish–and possibly come up with a signature dish.
Nearly everyone likes the basic bread pudding. But dessert lovers go gaga over what’s tucked between the chunks of bread, which could be bananas, blueberries, apples, pumpkin, chocolate, cherries or nuts. On top or under the pudding might be whipped cream and an inventive sauce.
If that weren’t enough, the sauce is what, for many of us, makes our willpower fail. Though bread pudding still has the feel of the nursery about it, adults often are drawn to those puddings with a sauce that has an alcoholic kick, even if most of the alcohol has been burned off in cooking. Sometimes a bread pudding is deliberately bland, a pillowy foil for that sauce (like orange bourbon or praline).
Whether alcoholic and sophisticated or spicy and plain, bread pudding is the very model of comfort food. In her book “Puddings A to Z” (Houghton Mifflin Co., 1999), Marie Simmons writes that at its simplest, bread pudding is bread soaked in custard and baked. The same formula becomes elegant when ladyfingers or spongecake replace the bread, and liqueur is added.
There’s not much technique involved in producing bread pudding, but what there is, is important. Soaking the bread in the custard mixture before baking is probably the most important one, so that the custard permeates the bread and bakes into it. The right proportion of eggs to milk and bread also is important. Too many eggs and the custard will be too rich. Too few and it won’t set well.
In “The Yellow Farmhouse Cookbook,” Christopher Kimball offers advice on soaking the custard. He even experimented with using all milk, all cream and a mixture of the two.
All milk made a thin custard, he discovered; all cream made it too rich. In true Cook’s Illustrated style (Kimball is the founder, publisher and editor of the instructional magazine), he tinkered with the proportions until, like Baby Bear’s porridge, it was just right.
After that, most of the ingredients are to taste. You can experiment with different kinds of bread: Sourdough makes a surprisingly good, sweet pudding; eggy brioche makes it richer; cinnamon-raisin bread brings its own extra flavor with it. Kimball likes to leave the crusts on the bread; other cooks like to trim them.
So choose your bread, add the extras and there you have it: a signature dessert of your own.
CHRISTOPHER KIMBALL’S BREAD PUDDING
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Soaking time: 15 minutes
Standing time: 35 minutes
Cooking time: 45 minutes
Yield: 6 servings
Adapted from “The Yellow Farmhouse Cookbook,” by Christopher Kimball.
4 large, 3/8-inch thick slices country bread
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
2 cups milk
1 cup whipping cream
4 large eggs
2/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon brandy, rum or Bourbon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1. Heat oven to 325 degrees. Remove crusts from bread if desired. Coat bread slices with 2 tablespoons of the butter. Cut into 3/4-inch cubes; reserve.
2. Whisk together remaining ingredients; add bread cubes. Combine with rubber spatula; let stand 15 minutes.
3. Pour into buttered 1 1/2- to 2-quart baking dish; bake 45 minutes or until sides are firm and a knife inserted in center comes out clean. Let stand at least 20 minutes before serving.
Nutrition information per serving:
Calories ………… 465 Fat ………… 27 g Saturated fat .. 15 g
% calories from fat .. 50 Cholesterol .. 215 mg Sodium ……. 425 mg
Carbohydrates …… 47 g Protein …….. 11 g Fiber ……… 1.2 g
KAHLUA CHOCOLATE BREAD PUDDING
Preparation time: 30 minutes
Standing time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 2 hours, 10 minutes
Yield: 8 servings
From “Cantina: The Best of Casual Mexican Cooking,” by Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger.
Pecan streusel:
1 cup pecans
1/4 cup each: firmly packed brown sugar, flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons chilled unsalted butter
Pudding
4 ounces unsweetened chocolate
3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 1/2 cups whipping cream
Custard:
6 whole eggs, plus 2 egg yolks
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 loaf day-old French bread, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
Kahlua sauce:
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 cup Kahlua or other coffee liqueur
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
Unsweetened whipped cream
1. For streusel, heat oven to 325 degrees. Spread pecans on baking sheet; toast until lightly browned and fragrant, about 10 minutes. Remove from oven, let cool; chop coarsely. Leave oven set at 325 degrees.
2. Combine nuts, brown sugar, flour, cinnamon, salt and butter in bowl. Using your fingertips, mix until crumbly. Set aside in cool place.
3. For pudding, butter 8 1/2- by 4 1/2-inch glass loaf pan; dust with granulated sugar. Place chocolate in heatproof bowl; set over (not touching) simmering water in pan. Heat, stirring constantly, until chocolate melts. Add brown sugar and cream; whisk until smooth. Remove from heat; set aside.
4. For custard, combine whole eggs. egg yolks, sugar and vanilla in large bowl. Whisk until well mixed. Add about 1/2 cup of the custard to chocolate mixture to temper it, whisking vigorously. Then add chocolate mixture to remaining custard; whisk until blended. Add bread cubes, stir to coat evenly; let stand until bread has absorbed liquid, about 15 minutes. Pour mixture into prepared loaf pan. Top evenly with pecan streusel; set in roasting pan. Place in oven; add boiling water to reach halfway up sides of loaf pan. Bake until center feels slightly firm to the touch, about 2 hours.
5. For sauce, place butter in heat-proof bowl over (not touching) simmering water in a pan. When butter has melted, add Kahlua and sugar; whisk until sugar has dissolved. Whisk in egg; cook over simmering water until slightly thickened, about 10 minutes. Strain through fine-mesh sieve into serving pitcher.
6. Remove pudding from oven; let cool slightly. Cut into 6-8 pieces; place on dessert plates. Pour sauce along one side of each piece of pudding; place spoonful of whipped cream on other side.
Nutrition information per serving:
Calories ………… 980 Fat ………… 54 g Saturated fat .. 26 g
% calories from fat .. 48 Cholesterol .. 335 mg Sodium ……. 420 mg
Carbohydrates ….. 104 g Protein …….. 14 g Fiber ……… 4.9 g
