A bread-based delicacy called bread pudding is a global favorite. It is typically made using milk or cream, stale bread, and a type of fat like oil, butter, or suet. The best bread pudding recipe calls for soaking bread in a warm, brandy, and cranberry-infused custard that is then baked and served with a warm, decadent cream sauce. You may prepare it for Christmas, Thanksgiving, Mardi Gras, or any other festival you can imagine!
Depending on whether the pudding is sweet or savory, additional ingredients may also be included. Sweet bread puddings can be made with sugar, syrup, honey, dried fruit, nuts, and spices like vanilla, nutmeg, cinnamon, or mace. The bread is combined with the other ingredients, soaked in the liquids, and then baked.
What is Bread Pudding?
Bread pudding is nothing more than baked cubes of stale bread mixed with milk, sugar, and eggs. The end result resembles the creamy center of a stack of French toast.
The sauce is what transforms bread pudding into a genuinely delectable treat. You can top the pudding with caramel, vanilla, or a thick sauce like the one made with bourbon whisky in this recipe.
How to Make Bread Pudding?
Ingredients:
- 500 grams of white or whole-grain bread
- Mixed dried fruit weighing 500g/1lb 2oz
- 85g combined peel
- 112 tbsp of mixed spices
- 60 ml of milk
- beaten 2 large eggs, 140g light muscovado sugar, and zest 1 lemon (optional)
- 100g butter, 2 tablespoons of melted demerara sugar
Method:
- In a large mixing bowl, mash 500g of white or wholemeal bread with 500g of mixed dried fruit, 85g of mixed peel, and 1 12 tbsp of mixed spice.
- 600 ml of milk should be added, then the mixture should be thoroughly mixed and the bread totally crumbled.
- Add 140g of light muscovado sugar, two well-beaten big eggs, and, if using, lemon zest. Stir thoroughly, then leave to soak for 15 minutes.
- Oven: 180°C/160°F fan/gas 4. Butter and line the bottom of a 20 cm square nonstick cake pan (not one with a loose base).
- Pour the pudding mixture into the pan, stir in the melted butter, and top with demerara.
- Until firm and golden, bake for 112 hours, covering with foil if it begins to color too quickly. Remove from the tin and remove the paper. Warm the squares before serving.
Toppings:
- Consider how well it freezes if you like your bread pudding with a topping or sauce. You should wait to top the dessert until it’s time to serve if it doesn’t freeze well.
- If it freezes perfectly, reheating becomes a problem.
- Before adding your preferred sauce to the top of your bread pudding, think about how the dish will change after being reheated. For instance, while whipped cream can be frozen, it should never be heated in a microwave or oven.
- In general, it’s recommended to freeze bread pudding without the topping and just add it when the dessert has been reheated.
Tips for Making the Best Bread Pudding
- Here’s what to do if all you have is fresh bread: Bread should be cut into cubes and placed on a baking sheet. The bread cubes should be heated in the oven at 200°F for roughly 10 minutes, or until they are dry to the touch but still pale in color. Follow the recipe exactly as directed.
- Use a rustic French or Italian loaf: For this recipe, use an excellent quality rustic loaf of bread rather than pre-sliced bread. The bread will hold up better than ordinary sandwich bread, allowing you to cut larger chunks.
- Before beginning this dish, soak the raisins in bourbon. Give them a one to two-hour soak. Even better, soak them a day or two in advance.
- Avoid being tempted to increase the heat when cooking the sauce. The egg in the mixture may curdle as a result of this.
- If your sauce does curdle, try blending it in a blender until it’s completely smooth.
Can Bread Pudding be Frozen?
Freezing bread pudding is the answer you’re looking for if you have leftovers or are unsure if you can prepare the dessert in advance. Bread pudding is quite easy to make, and it stores wonderfully. All you need are a couple of freezer bags and possibly some aluminum foil or plastic wrap.
It doesn’t require any particular baking techniques to freeze the dessert, so homemade bread pudding freezes just as well as store-bought does. According to your demands, you can freeze it whole or cut it into pieces.
How to Freeze Bread Pudding?
Here’s how to freeze bread pudding:
- Prep. If the bread pudding is homemade, allow it to cool to room temperature. It should take no longer than an hour. The next step is to remove some of the moisture by placing the dessert on some paper towels for 30 minutes if it’s really moist (there are little drops of water on the bottom). Finally, if necessary, slice or portion the pudding.
- Wrap. Put each serving in a freezer bag or a bag after first wrapping it in plastic wrap. The longer you anticipate storing it in the freezer, the more crucial wrapping becomes. Below, I go into more depth about that. Each slice must be individually wrapped if you plan to freeze them. The dessert is really wet, so if they don’t freeze together, they will.
- Freeze. If you like, label your bags before placing everything in the freezer.
How Long can a Frozen Bread Pudding Last?
For optimal quality, use your frozen bread pudding within three months. Naturally, that time frame is merely a rough guide, and it’s best to start on the dessert first.
However, nothing harmful will occur if it is left in the freezer for 4 or 6 months. There may be a slight difference in quality, but that’s about all. Despite being a dessert, it will still taste wonderful.
The most important thing is to remember it so that it doesn’t remain in the freezer for a year or longer. For this reason, I make an effort to use the majority of the items I freeze within a month of freezing them, while I am still aware of them.
How to Defrost Bread Pudding?
In the fridge, defrost the bread pudding. It’s preferable to place the dessert in the refrigerator the night before you need it because the entire procedure takes 6 to 8 hours. Since there is a lot of liquid in the cake, bread pudding defrosts slowly, and it really needs those 6 to 8 hours or overnight.
Consider putting a few paper towels under the pudding to absorb some of the extra liquid if the bottom has a lot of frost. Here, keeping the bottom from becoming fully wet is the aim. To determine whether your bread pudding has thawed completely, try inserting a knife or skewer in the center. The dessert is ready if it is all the way to the bottom.
How is Bread Pudding Reheated?
You must reheat your frozen and defrosted bread pudding to achieve the finest results. Even if the dessert was kept in the fridge, you would probably still serve it warm as most people enjoy it that way.
The two most preferred warming methods are as follows:
- perfect for warming up larger amounts in the oven
- while warming individual slices or when you’re short on time, in the microwave
Here’s how to approach each of those approaches.
In the Oven
How to reheat bread pudding in the oven is as follows:
- Set the oven’s temperature to 350°F (180°C).
- The dessert should be wrapped in foil. This is done to prevent drying out in the oven.
- Depending on the size of the portion, heat for 12 to 15 minutes. You might need a little bit longer for a whole bread pudding, perhaps 18 minutes or so.
In the Microwave
How to reheat bread pudding in the microwave is as follows:
- Put the slice or portion on a plate that can go in the microwave.
Blast the bread pudding for 20 to 30 seconds at maximum power. After each nuclear blast, check on the dessert.
If the bread pudding you’re making isn’t very moist or you notice that it’s drying out, reduce the power to 50% and increase the cooking time. Lower wattage helps the dessert warm more uniformly and doesn’t quickly dry out the top and edges. - Alternately, locate a resealable dish that can withstand the microwave, such as an upside-down bowl or something comparable, and put the slice of bread pudding inside. Instead of allowing all of that moisture to escape, it will assist keep the majority of it inside the desert. The cake will warm more evenly as a result.
How is the Bread Pudding Sauce Prepared?
Make the sauce while the bread pudding bakes. In a small saucepan over low heat, melt butter and stir in sugar and an egg. Just before it thickens, take the sauce from the heat and whisk in the bourbon. To keep the sauce warm until you’re ready to serve, cover it and set it near the heat.
- Up to a day before baking, you can arrange the bread pudding in the casserole dish. Refrigerate it under a cover until you’re
- Ready to bake. While your oven is preheating, let it warm on the counter before continuing to bake as usual.
- Keep in mind that the interior of the bread pudding will become softer and more custard-like as it soaks longer.
Conclusion
Although bread pudding didn’t always seem so opulent, it actually dates back to the 11th century in Europe. In fact, because it was created with a basic mixture of stale bread, water, spices, and some sugar, it was first referred to as a “poor man’s pudding.”
Bread pudding gained enormous popularity in the Americas when settlers carried their recipes with them, particularly in areas like Louisiana. These days, this dish is one of the most opulent, rich, and creamy southern dessert mainstays.
The bread is simply cut into cubes, and placed in a baking dish with butter, and raisins on top to make this easy bread pudding recipe. Then, combine the eggs, milk, sugar, cinnamon, and vanilla in another bowl before adding them to the bread. Make sure the bread absorbs the egg mixture and that everything is thoroughly covered. 45 minutes are then spent baking it.
