Name the food to be made here.
This week brought the one selection that I had no desire to bake but Aubrey wanted to try it and try her hand at making it. I have an almost visceral dislike of soggy bread of any kind, even a dessert version.
My closest family and friends have heard the story more than once, but I should probably explain why I just can’t do it. My parents were divorced when I was very young and our visitations with our father were spotty. He didn’t always live where we did, and he didn’t always take us when it was his weekend to do so. There were some rare summers that he did live nearby and during those summers we lived with him for 6 weeks like every other kid who has to split time with parents. During those summers, while he was working, he engaged an in-home sitter for the 5 of us.
One summer, I think it was after I had finished first grade, our dad hired a sitter who was not a nice woman. This sitter decided that boxed cereal was too expensive (as was feeding us an actual lunch, but I digress) and figured we could just eat bread and milk for breakfast. Every morning, she forced us to put our piece of white bread into a bowl of milk and eat it. No sugar! Not toasted! I asked if I could just eat the bread and drink the milk and she proceeded to put the bread in my milk for me so I couldn’t eat them separately. I literally choked it down for 6 weeks and have never been able to eat soggy bread since that summer. Thank you, Beth Ann Perkins! (Yeah, I just threw her under the bus. I’m sure she’s been married since then, so no real harm done.)
Well, I promised Aubrey we would make it and I would actually try it! Bread pudding is believed to have started as a way to use up old, stale bread. You know, back in the day when people still ate bread on a daily basis. In its most basic form, bread pudding is bread with a custard base. Many recipes will add things like chocolate, raisins, or nuts to add to the flavor – probably because they can’t stand soggy bread either… :-). The dry bread soaks in the uncooked custard mixture and is then baked, which cooks the eggs and helps to firm up the custard. It is really a casserole version of a dessert French toast if you ask me…only soaked too long in my opinion.
We used our Cook’s Illustrated Baking cookbook again for this one. The cookbook had a few different versions, but we wanted to make a classic one for our first foray.
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons light brown sugar
- ¾ cup plus 1 tablespoon granulated sugar (5 1/4 ounces)
- 1 (14-ounce) loaf challah bread, cut into 3/4-inch cubes (about 10 cups)
- 9 large egg yolks
- 4 teaspoons vanilla extract
- ¾ teaspoon table salt
- 2 ½ cups heavy cream
- 2 ½ cups milk
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
Method
- Adjust oven racks to middle and lower-middle positions and heat oven to 325 degrees. Combine brown sugar and 1 tablespoon granulated sugar in small bowl; set aside.
- Spread bread cubes in single layer on 2 rimmed baking sheets. Bake, tossing occasionally, until just dry, about 15 minutes, switching trays from top to bottom racks halfway through. Cool bread cubes about 15 minutes; set aside 2 cups.
- Whisk yolks, remaining 3/4 cup sugar, vanilla, and salt together in large bowl. Whisk in cream and milk until combined. Add remaining 8 cups cooled bread cubes and toss to coat. Transfer mixture to 13 by 9-inch baking dish and let stand, occasionally pressing bread cubes into custard, until cubes are thoroughly saturated, about 30 minutes.
- Spread reserved bread cubes evenly over top of soaked bread mixture and gently press into custard. Using pastry brush, dab melted butter over top of unsoaked bread pieces. Sprinkle brown-sugar mixture evenly over top. Place bread pudding on rimmed baking sheet and bake on middle rack until custard has just set, and pressing center of pudding with finger reveals no runny liquid, 45 to 50 minutes. (Instant-read thermometer inserted into center of pudding should read 170 degrees.) Transfer to wire rack and cool until pudding is set and just warm, about 45 minutes. Serve.
Our Experience
As usual, we made a few substitutions. First, while we had the best intentions to make a loaf of challah from scratch, homework got in the way of our plans. We searched a couple local grocery stores for challah but we didn’t want to spend as much time driving around looking for a loaf of bread spending as much times as making one would have taken. Whole Foods normally has it but they were having issues with their supplier and wouldn’t have any for another week. We opted for a pre-made brioche instead. Both breads are sweeter, eggy breads so we figured the substitution would be pretty close. We purchased two loaves just in case we needed more than one. We also used a 1:1 mixture of Allulose and Splenda for sweetening the custard and Swerve brown sugar for the top. The butter seemed unnecessary, so we omitted that step. We did add a teaspoon of cinnamon because it just sounded like it would need it. Finally, we used almond milk instead of regular milk.
The first step was cutting the bread and drying it out. Trust me, you do not want to use soft, fresh bread for this. It will turn out slimy and very, very mushy. I may have never made bread pudding but I have eaten a breakfast casserole with bread (very similar process to this) and it is disgusting if you don’t use dried bread! We cut the bread into 1 inch cubes, approximately.
While the bread was cooling off a little bit, we separated the eggs. NINE yolks is a lot! Cooks Illustrated explains the reason for yolks only. The bread pudding take a lot of eggs but their first tests tasted eggy. Since the whites have the sulfur compounds, removing the whites takes care of the off putting taste. I could have had a few egg white omelets but, with Easter coming along with a houseful of people, an egg casserole sounds like a good plan (I put them in the freezer).
The eggs were added to the sugar substitute and then all the liquid ingredients were added to that once they were whisked together.
Once the custard was done, we added the bread cubes (this dessert is pretty mindless, it’s like a dump cake as far as difficulty goes). The bread was floating on the top so we could have stirred it a few times or, take the lazy way out and put a weight on it. Our “Special Day” plate served as a weight.
We checked on the bread by pinching it between our fingers and we didn’t feel any hard center so decided it was ready. Once we poured it into the 9×13 pan, we sprinkled it with the brown sugar. The recipe called for setting some dry pieces of bread on top of the soaked bread and brushing the tops with butter. This was to make sure the top was crisp. We skipped that part of the recipe thinking it would probably be crisp without those two steps.
We took it out of the oven after about 20 minutes longer than the recipe stated. It just seemed really wobbly so we wanted to make sure it got done. We also checked the inner temperature and made sure it reached 170 degrees.
What we liked.
The dessert received a conditional 5 out of 5. IF it were a little more solid (see what we would change), everybody would eat it. The flavor was delicious!! I actually really liked the edges of the piece I ate. Once I got past the edges, I started having flashbacks. I wouldn’t be able to eat the center at all, hard pass, it was pretty mushy.
As far as desserts go, this one is super easy and seems to be a favorite for a lot of people (I’m not judging you). You couldn’t go wrong making it as long as you have a good recipe and figure out the texture you prefer.
What we would change.
We loved the flavor and the texture of the edges was desired by all 5 of us. Aubrey and I think we could reduce the milk/cream by 2 cups, 1 cup of each. The flavor was exactly what we would want it to be and we wouldn’t add anything if we made it again…remember, we added cinnamon and we were dead on with that decision. IF you wanted to add something, I think some nuts on the top would be a nice complement. If raisins are your thing, you could throw in a few of those too. In my opinion, it doesn’t need a glaze or any other topping but if you like a really sweet dessert, Cook’s Illustrated has a Bourbon-Brown Sugar Sauce that could be added. They also suggest a little whipped cream on top as well. By the way, Kip ate his with ice cream and he thought that was a good pairing as well.
What we learned.
Well, I know that I learned not to judge a book by its cover!! IF we make some changes to the recipe to “solidify” it a bit, I just might be able to say I like bread pudding, or at least my bread pudding! That is kind of true about a lot of things; we always like the way we make them over others.
We also learned that we really like brioche…all by itself! Garrett ate several pieces of brioche toast. That will have to make it onto our “things to bake” list for 2022. This was another recipe that didn’t teach us any new techniques but we were both surprised how easy it was to assemble. Drying the bread was probably the one technique that we will use again…time and temp mostly.
Until next week, Happy Baking!