This is one of those old recipes born of necessity to use up that old bread that was no longer quite fresh enough to eat by itself. French toast is another of these and I will be posting my recipe for that classic in the near future.

Bread Pudding

• 1 (about 1 lb.) day old (not stale) loaf of French Bread
• 4 large eggs
• 2 cups whole milk
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 2 tbsp. vanilla extract
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 tsp freshly ground cinammon
• 1/2 tsp freshly ground nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• Unsalted butter (to "grease" the baking dish)

Cut the bread into cubes of whatever size you desire and place in a large mixing bowl. The smaller the pieces, the creamier and more pudding-like the dish will be. Beat the remaining ingredients except the butter together very well. Pour the liquid over the bread pieces and stir to coat. Allow the bread to soak for at least 1/2 hour before proceeding (1 hour is better), stir once in a while to ensure that the liquid is evenly absorbed. Butter a 9" x 13" baking pan. Pour the bread mixture into the pan and spread in an even layer. Bake at 350 degrees F for one hour. Remove to cool, serve warm with Hard Sauce and/or vanilla ice cream, garnish with chocolate shavings or sprinle with cinammon sugar or vanilla sugar.

Variation, White Chocolate Bread Pudding:

Use basic recipe above. Reduce milk by 1/4 cup. Melt 8 oz. of white chocolate with the cream over very low heat, stirring well to combine (using a bain marie is a good idea), cool slightly before beating into the egg mixture.

Additions:

Mix any or all of the following into the bread mixture before baking:

• 4 oz. pecan halves
• 1/2 cup raisins (I like the golden raisins for this)
• 4 oz. cup chocolate chips

Hard Sauce

1 pint heavy whipping cream (very cold) 1/2 cup sugar 1/8 tsp vanilla extract 1 oz. good Bourbon

Whip the cream, sugar and vanilla together until stiff peaks form. Slowly add the Bourbon while continuing to beat until it is incorporated. Serve immediately. This does not store well as the Bourbon separates from the cream, make only what you need.

Page Last modified: March 31 2006 09:27:42.