Bread Pudding: Stale and Sticky or Sweet and Tender?

The name really does say it all. Bread pudding is literally a baked custard dish with chunks of stale bread, dried fruit and spices.  It’s history is not that dissimilar to mincemeat, originating as a filling and frugal way to use left over food.  Because of this, a traditional bread pudding recipe uses incredibly dry, stale bread, soaked overnight in a milk or egg batter, squeezed dry then baked with spices and fruit. But in these days of plastic bags and refrigerators I find myself more often with moist molding bread than dry stale bread, while as a food service worker with lots of friends working in cafes bakeries and restaurants, many different types of bread to boot.  I also have a very very small refrigerator.  So, a good bread pudding recipe for me needs to be flexible and quick without creating a stale sticky mess.  This is one I’ve developed and tested with multiple types of bread (including croissants and muffins) at various stages of staleness. Sweet and tender.

Ingredients:
2 cups of milk
¼ cup (1 stick) of melted butter
3/4 cup sugar
4 large eggs
2 teaspoons of cinnamon
1 teaspoon of vanilla
4 cups of bread torn or cut into small pieces
½ cup of raisins

1.    Preheat Oven to 350 degrees F
2.    In a large bowl whisk together milk, butter, sugar, eggs cinnamon and vanilla (Fig 2).
3.    Add bread and soak until well absorbed (5-10 minutes depending on the bread) (Fig 3).
4.    Mix in raisins and add to a 9×5″ loaf pan.
5.    Bake at 350 degrees F until sizzling and golden (about 45 minutes) (Fig 4-5).
6.    Serve warm with milk or cold with a sweet syrup.

Mulled Wine: Warm and Spicy

Mulled wine is another frugal favorite of mine. Made in many countries by many different names, it is a very old tradition especially popular in winter. Invented to make bad wine drinkable (in this case, bad meaning cheap), it is the perfect inexpensive punch for any winter party, as well as an excellent after dinner drink.

Ingredients*:
1 gallon of cheap wine
2 c. orange juice
1 c. muscovado or dark brown sugar
1 thumb sized piece of ginger, sliced
6 whole cloves
4 long cinnamon sticks (about 6 inches each)
4 whole star anise
1 T. of whole black peppercorns
½ t. of cayenne pepper

1. In a large stock pot combine all ingredients and heat just below a simmer for at least 10 minutes.
2. Serve immediately from the pot, or in a Crock-pot on low as a warm party punch. Garnish with an orange slice.
* you can spike this recipe with a cup of vodka after heating if you want it a little stronger

View previous holiday recipes