Old-Fashioned (Pantry) Bread Pudding
Bread pudding is a humble-yet-rich, simple-yet-satisfying dessert, perfect for winter and making use of what’s on hand (nothing fancy), like stale or frozen (and maybe misshapen) loaves of bread. I’ve adapted my mother’s recipe for her favorite dessert by adding diced canned fruit. I think baking this pudding in a water bath is key to its moist, creamy texture.
Ingredients
- 4 cups cubed or shredded soft-textured bread 8 or so slices
- ½ cup raisins or other favorite dried fruit
- 2 cups milk
- ¼ cup butter plus additional for buttering baking dish
- 2 eggs
- ½ cup sugar
- 1 tsp. cinnamon
- ¼ tsp. salt
- 1 tsp. vanilla
- 1 cup diced canned pears or peaches drained (optional)
Instructions
- Heat oven to 350°. Butter a 1-1/2 quart baking dish. Place bread in dish, sprinkle with raisins evenly to distribute. In a medium saucepan over medium-low heat, scald (cook just to beginning to simmer) milk with ¼ cup butter to melt. Allow to cool until just warm to touch.
- Whisk eggs with sugar, cinnamon, salt and vanilla; whisk in the milk-and-butter mixture. Pour over bread. Distribute diced fruit (if using) over the bread, pushing down with a spoon to evenly distribute. Allow the bread to sit for 10 minutes or so to fully soak up the liquid. If desired, you can top the bread pudding with a sprinkling of cinnamon-sugar. Place baking dish in larger baking pan with one inch of hot water. Bake for 40 to 50 minutes or until a knife inserted one inch from edge comes out clean.
- Serve warm (also good room temp or chilled) with your favorite sauce, whipped cream or ice cream.
Notes
Makes 4 to 6 servings.
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