Got a favorite or unusual Bread Pudding recipe? I always love it at restaurants, but the few times I made it at home I didn’t much like the way it turned out, though whiskey sauce made it better. It’s such a basic formula that I never really thought to bother with it, and I seldom have leftover bread anyways what with bread crumbs, croutons and French toast. The best one I had, at a potluck, used French bread and half & half. How do you make it? Do you use brown sugar, white sugar, or both? What’s your particular favorite recipe?
Tried a sweet/savory bread pudding recently. Bread, parsnips, some kinda potato, etc. I will not be making it again. I do *love * regular old bread pudding, though.
I got a recipe off FoodNetwork.com - the recipe calls for a dozen discount Krispy Kream doughnuts. I’ve made it a dozen times with things found on the manager’s special rack - doughnuts, muffins, cakes, etc. It’s super-sweet, but always fun, since when you mix it that way, you have a dozen flavors in there (chocolate chip next to blueberry), and as long as they’re all “desert-type” (I don’t know if I’d do, like, multi-grain low-fat muffins), it turns out ok in the end. The recipie’s really easy, too - cube everything up, soak it in custard for awhile, bake until the custard is set - and ends up looking pretty fancy, esspecially if you use several different colored things and bake it in a glass pan.
Just don’t do the cream-filled doughnuts. Just doesn’t work out.
Soaked in custard? Is that a recipe for bread pudding, or bread and butter pudding?
I have nothing to add, except that my mother makes the best bread pudding in the world. It’s both stodgy and light, with a smooth texture counterpointed by the crunchy granulated sugar she puts on top in a thick layer. Mmm, must go home soon…
- 1 loaf French bread, at least a day old, cut into 1-inch squares (about 6-7 cups)
- 1 qt milk
- 3 eggs, lightly beaten
- 2 cups sugar
- 2 Tbsp vanilla
- 1 cup raisins (soaked overnight in 1/4 cup bourbon)
- 1/4 teaspoon allspice
- 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 3 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted
Alternatives:
Kings Hawaiian Bread, Pepperidge Farms Cinnamon Swirl Bread, a nice eggy brioche instead of the stale french bread
Soak raisins in rum instead of bourbon, also add candied ginger soaked in the same liquour.
Add a dash of cloves or chinese 5 spice powder
1 Preheat oven to 350°F.
2 Soak the bread in milk in a large mixing bowl. Press with hands until well mixed and all the milk is absorbed. In a separate bowl, beat eggs, sugar, vanilla, and spices together. Gently stir into the bread mixture. Gently stir the raisins into the mixture.
3 Pour butter into the bottom of a 9x13 inch baking pan. Coat the bottom and the sides of the pan well with the butter. Pour in the bread mix and bake at 350°F for 35-45 minutes, until set. The pudding is done when the edges start getting a bit brown and pull away from the edge of the pan. Can also make in individual ramekins.
Mom made a lemon sauce when she made bread pudding. I don’t know if she made the sauce from scratch or if she used lemon pudding mix. It was awesome. Her bread pudding was really dense – you could hold a piece in your hand, like a cookie. The recipes I’ve tried are more pudding-y. I love it, either way.
There was a restaurant in Seattle years back that had bread pudding. It was south of Pioneer Square and the decor was Depression-era. The salad bar was a wagon bed and water glasses were Mason jars. Great bread pudding.
Sliced banana between the layers of bread
I got a recipe for pumpkin bread pudding (made with challah) from someone on here. Made it last year and it was excellent, but I don’t remember which recipe it was now!
This reminds me of the Fruitcake Bread Pudding that was described in the I Love Fruitcake thread!
I love it made with challah.
Bread pudding with blueberries is heaven 
This is the only bread pudding recipe you will ever need again for the rest of your life. Trust me, make it, and thank me later.
The secret is to use sourdough bread- it’s the best texture for the structure of it. I will often add blueberries to the bread pudding, and change whiskey sauce to lemon sauce- that’s always a big hit.
I will sometimes whip up a second-rate bread pudding just to get rid of some old non-sourdough bread instead of throwing it out, but that’s just barely sustenance, I don’t consider those real bread puddings anymore. The recipe above is my god now.
No, no, no. This is bread pudding. Note the pudding’s texture and the lack of recognisable bread. It should be solid, you can pick it up in your hand and eat it, with crunchy sugar on top. This, or any variation of pieces of bread soaked in custard and baked, is bread and butter pudding. So which one do you want, because they’re not the same damn thing.
I never ate bread pudding until I was well into middle-age. I had a secret fear of it born of watching an Abbott and Costello film in my childhood. The bad guys were torturing Costello upstairs and brought him down to talk to Abbott and to prove that he was in good hands. When they were ready to take him back upstairs they said, “Ok. Back upstairs. It’s time for your bread pudding.” And he started to panic.
Mission accomplished. Whatever bread pudding was I didn’t want any part of it.
The last bread pudding I had in a restaurant was exceptionally good. It had been made of torn up pecan cinnamon buns.
Anything “torn up” is **not **bread pudding!
So, you must be a bread pudding purist, Teacake.
Gee, there’s something so brutal about taking a knife to one’s daily bread.
I wouldn’t say that exactly! Just that there are two different things, and I’d be as bemused to receive bread pudding when I’d ordered bread and butter pudding (or vice versa) as I would to receive lasagne when I’d ordered moussaka, or beef when I’d ordered lamb. Similar in some ways, certainly; but not the same!
Over here in the U.S.A., we call all of it Bread Pudding. Actually, I’ve never had it where you can pick it up and eat it. You’re right that what we call bread pudding is probably your bread and butter pudding.
Now you’re going to have to supply a proper recipe for the handheld sugar-topped one.
The Pioneer Woman also has a savory bread and butter pudding, but I’ve never made it. If it’s as good as her dessert bread pudding, then I am remiss in that.