An easy and delicious way to enjoy leftover or stale bread! This custardy and buttery bread pudding is essentially french toast that you can enjoy by yourself, or with a crowd! Honestly it's very good on it's own, but you can also drizzle it with syrup to really get that french toast feel :D. Although there is a bit of skill needed to temper the egg yolks in the custard, this is good way to practice an important skill and helps to avoid a dreaded scrambled egg layer on the bottom of your pudding. I hope you give this a try!
The recipe is here, and pictures of the process are below:
Ingredients:
Butter for greasing the pan
5 heaping cups of 3/4 to 1" (2 to 2.5 cm) stale bread cubes (about 340-370 g)
1 1/2 cups 3% milk (354 g) or half and half
3 Tbsp. salted butter (42 g)
1 large egg (~55 g)
2 large egg yolks (or one more whole egg) (~40 g)
1/4 cup white sugar (50 g)
2 Tbsp. packed brown sugar (20 g)
Between 1/4 and 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1 1/4 tsp. vanilla extract (4.5 g)
A pinch of salt
Optional: 1/4 cup pecans, raisins, chocolate chips, blueberries, strawberries etc.
Optional: Powdered sugar, Syrup, ice cream or other toppings for serving
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350ºF.
Grease a pyrex or ceramic 8x8" baking dish very well with butter. Double the recipe for a 9x13" pan and bake for longer.
Optional: Slice the crust off the bread and remove.
Cut the bread into cubes. Optional step: after cutting the bread into cubes lay them out to dry for a few hours.
In large bowl or stand mixer whisk the eggs, yolk(s), pinch of salt, sugar, brown sugar, vanilla, and cinnamon together until light and fluffy, 4-6 minutes.
In saucepan, heat milk and butter over medium heat until butter is melted and milk is hot to the touch (about 140ºF).
Gradually pour the milk mixture into the egg mixture while whisking constantly. This tempers the eggs so they don't scramble or become rubbery while baking. Note: To make this recipe easier, you can also just mix the liquid ingredients together without tempering it.
Add the bread cubes to the milk-egg mixture, press down to submerge, and let soak for 10 minutes.
Pour half the mixture into the greased baking pan and add half the mix-ins, if desired. Then add the rest of the mixture and more mix-ins (if desired).
Bake uncovered 25-30 minutes, or until knife inserted 1" from edge comes mostly clean (with no wet custard visible).
Let cool for 10 minutes before serving. I think it tastes best once it's cooled for about 30-60 minutes. You can serve it with fruit, ice cream, or syrup.
6-8 servings. Cover and store any leftovers in the refrigerator. Can be enjoyed warm or cold!
The ingredients I used, as well as a pinch of salt! I also decided that chocolate chips and pecans were better than raisins.
Cut the bread into cubes.
This is what I mean by a "heaped" cup of bread!
Optional: lay the bread out (preferably on a wire rack) to dry for a few hours. This can help it soak up the custard better.
Butter your baking dish.
Add the egg, egg yolks, cinnamon, sugars, vanilla, and pinch of salt to a bowl.
And whisk until light and fluffy.
Then add the milk and butter to a pot and begin heating.
After heating.
This is when you will temper the eggs. You will slowly pour the pot of milk and butter into the egg mixture while constantly whisking. It is helpful to put a potholder or damp towel under the egg bowl to stop it from moving too much.
The custard mixture is ready!
Add the bread. Now you let it soak about 10 minutes.
After soaking for ten minutes. Now time to assemble!
Add half the bread, some toppings if using.
Then add the rest of the bread and toppings. Before baking.
You'll know it's done baking if the knife poked in several places comes out mostly clean (no wet custard).
After baking! Let cool for a bit before serving.
I also added some pecans. In the future I think I'll skip chocolate chips and just do pecans!
Dust with powdered sugar (if using), and cut yourself a piece!
A sexy closeup after drizzling with syrup ;)