Bread Pudding – A Beautiful Mess

Believe it or not but bread pudding was one of the very first recipes I taught myself to make when I first got interested in cooking just after college. I LOVE bread pudding. The flavors are simple and remind me of french toast. The texture is dense and spongy, almost creamy. It’s a simple dessert that manages to feel both special and rustic. Also, it’s a delicious way to use up old bread!

While bread pudding has it’s roots from England (and that’s where I first had it) to me it feels like a dish that could have easily been created in the southern US. It feels like country cooking and reminds me of it’s savory cousin, Stuffing, a Thanksgiving staple.

Related: If you love this next try our French Toast Casserole.

Ingredients

• Bread – stale bread is best, see notes
• Unsalted butter
• Eggs
• Milk
• Granulated white sugar
• Vanilla extract
• Cinnamon

How to make Bread Pudding

Tear up the bread into small pieces. Butter or lightly grease your baking dish and add the bread pieces to it.

Melt the butter. Drizzle half the melted butter over the bread pieces.

In a medium sized mixing bowl add the eggs, milk, sugar, vanilla and cinnamon. Whisk until well combined, you really want to break up the eggs so the yolks and whites are well combined. Then stir in the butter (hopefully slightly cooled by now).

Pour the egg batter over the bread pieces. Lightly press the bread down so all the pieces get soaked, it will spring back some and that’s fine.

Bake at 350°F for 40-45 minutes. The bread pudding will puff up toward the end of baking. Once removed from the oven it will settle back down. Cool for 10-12 minutes before slicing into it.

Notes

• You can use any type of bread for this but I love sourdough. Sandwich bread, hot dog buns, dinner rolls, etc. will all work though.
• You do want the bread stale, this allows it to soak up the egg batter well and that’s what makes the final dish so spongy and delicious. If your bread is not stale then toast in your toaster, air fryer or oven for a few minutes.
• Use part brown sugar (up to half) to add more flavor.
• Add raisins for classic old fashioned bread pudding.
• Add a bread pudding glaze – not really necessary but traditional and easy. Whisk together powdered sugar with a little vanilla extract and just enough milk to make a pourable glaze. Alternative idea- sprinkle the bake with powdered sugar.

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