Simple recipe

Bread Pudding is home cooking at its best! Chances are, you already have on hand almost all the ingredients you will need to make bread pudding: sugar, milk, bread, butter, and eggs.

Add four more ingredients – cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla, and raisins – and you’ve got the fixings for a wonderful dessert that everyone is going to love!

It takes just a few simple steps to make bread pudding:

1. Cube 4 slices of hearty bread and put it in a baking dish
2. Combine eggs, milk, sugar and spices in a bowl
3. Pour the egg mixture over the bread
4. Make a bread, butter, sugar and cinnamon topping
5. Bake for 50-55 minutes

Let’s startcooking!

Step 1 – Prepare the Bread

Spray a 1-and-1/2-quart baking (or casserole) dish with non-stick cooking spray. I’m using an 8x8x2 inch square baking dish.

The recipe calls for 6 ounces, in total, of hearty white bread – 4 ounces for the base and 2 ounces for the topping. (That’s about 6-to-8 slices of bread.)

With a knife, cut four ounces of the bread into cubes and put the cubed bread into the prepared dish.

Sprinkle on 1/3 cup of raisins. Set this dish aside for the moment.

Step 2 – Make the Egg Custard

Put in to a large mixing bowl:

• 2 eggs, plus one egg yolk*
• 2 1/4 cups of whole milk
• 6 Tablespoons of sugar (that’s 1/3 cup plus 2 teaspoons)
• 1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg
• 1 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract
• 3 Tablespoons of butter, melted in the microwave

*(For a quick review on How to Crack and Separate Eggs – click here.)

Mix everything together.

Step 3 – Combine the Bread and the Egg Custard

Pour the egg custard over the cubed bread.

With the back of a spoon, gently press the bread into the egg custard.

Let the bread pudding rest at room temperature on the counter-top, for 30 minutes. It will look like the picture below after 30 minutes.

Step 4 – Make the Bread Topping

While the pudding is resting, make the bread topping:

There are two ways to prepare the bread topping. One way is with cubed bread…..

…and the other way is with slices of bread.

I will demonstrate both ways, but I personally prefer the topping made with the slices of bread. They both taste the same but I like the crispier texture of the sliced topping. Try both approaches, and then you can decide which you prefer!

For the sliced topping, combine (in a small bowl) 1 Tablespoon of sugar with 1 teaspoon of cinnamon.

Spread soft butter on the bread and sprinkle on the cinnamon sugar. Cut the bread into four pieces and….

…place it on top of the pudding.

As it cooks, it develops a nice crispy, toasted top.

*****

If you prefer a cubed topping, cube the remaining 2 ounces of bread and put it in a bowl. Sprinkle on the cinnamon sugar…

…and 1 Tablespoon of the butter, which needs to get melted first!

Toss these ingredients together with a fork.

Add the cubes to the pudding.

As it bakes, the topping develops a lovely golden color.

Step 5 – Bake the Bread Pudding

Bake the Bread Pudding in a preheated 325º F degree oven for 50-to-55 minutes.

(325º F = 165º C = gas mark 3-very moderate)

The custard should be puffed and jiggle when you wiggle the dish.

If you want an even crispier cubed or sliced topping, you could put the cooked bread pudding under the broiler for just a few minutes. (As long as the baking dish you are using is safe to put under the broiler. Pyrex dishes are not broiler safe and could possibly explode from the intense heat of the broiler!)

Let the pudding sit for 20 minutes before serving it. It will not be quite as puffed as when you took it out of the oven, but it won’t burn your mouth either!

Bread pudding should be eaten while still warm. If there are any leftovers, store it in the refrigerator. By the next day the, it will have deflated quite a bit and have developed a much heavier texture – quite different from when you first baked it.

Bread Pudding is perfect plain, but you can add all sorts of toppings – including whipped cream, butterscotch, caramel, chocolate, or bourbon sauce.

Enjoy!

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