Bread Pudding

Bread pudding is one of those "comfort food" desserts. Historically, it likely began as a convenient and tasty way to use up day-old and even stale bread. I note that as early as 1747 in The Art of Cookery, Made Plain and Easy (p. 109) Hannah Glasse advises

Cut off all the crust of a Penny white loaf and slice it thin into a quart of new milk, set it over a chafingdish of coals, till the bread has soaked up all the milk, then put in a piece of sweet butter, stir it round, let it stand till cold, or you may boil your milk, and pour over your bread, and cover it up close, does full as well; then take the Yolks of six eggs, the whites of three, and beat them up, with a little rosewater, and nutmeg, a little salt, and sugar, and if you choose it, mix all well together, and boil it half an hour."

By 1845 we have a recipe for "Rich Bread and Butter Pudding" by Eliza Acton in Modern Cookery for Private Families which uses cream, lemon rind, bitter almonds or cinnamon, eggs, stale bread pieces, and currants; the mixture is then baked in an oven.

You do need stale bread for bread pudding; it has to be dry enough to absorb the milk/cream and egg and sugar mixtures that makes the custard-like base. Where it starts getting interesting is in the flavorings, like vanilla, cinnamon, and nutmeg, and additions like butter, currants, citrus peel, nuts, and liquor-based sauces. It's not just a comfort food, either; you can make bread pudding an elegant dessert by simply choosing the right presentation, and including a sauce, for instance. That said, it's one of those reliably good, and simple-to-make desserts that more often than not can be made with staples from your refrigerator and cupboard.

One of the first considerations, and most important parts of any bread pudding, is the bread. If you don't have day-old bread, or slightly stale bread available, you can cheat by drying cubes or chunks of the bread in an oven set to about 200 F. for a couple of hours, but you want to keep an eye on the drying bread to see that it dries evenly, and that it doesn't become toast. Even more important than the bread consistency and texture, is the quality of the bread. You really truly are better off using sourdough or challah, a brioche, or other artisan bread. I've never tried making bread pudding with whole wheat bread, but I think the right whole wheat—a slightly chewy artisan whole wheat with raisins or dates (for the raisin phobic) would be lovely. Really and truly, though, the quality of bread you use in bread pudding makes a huge difference. One of the recipes I'll be linking to uses Italian Panettone holiday fruited bread, and lately, it's pretty easy to purchase Panettone pre-made. Alternatively, you could make a simple no-knead bread, and reserve part of it to use the next day or so to make your bread pudding.

My very favorite bread pudding is "Bread Pudding, For Those Who Think They Don't Like Bread Pudding. And Whiskey Cream Sauce to Boot" from Ree Drummond of The Pioneer Woman Cooks. Paula Deen has a simple bread pudding using Italian bread, pecans, and brandy with easy to follow steps. For the true hedonist, there's Bill Nicholson's Krispy Kreme bread pudding, complete with butter rum sauce. I've made, and loved Elise's Bread Pudding made with French bread, raisins, cinnamon and spices, and a butter-bourbon sauce. And, as promised, here's Robin Shreeves' Panettone Bread Pudding.