Bread Pudding help

Mack Tripper

Mack Tripper

500+ Posts
I'm usually pretty good with desserts and baking, but the only time I've ever attempted bread pudding, it came out way to dry. Anyone have any tips on making a good bread pudding? Any particular breads to use or avoid? Any good recipes for bread pudding or sauces? Thanks.
 
* 6 cups bite-sized pieces of day-old French bread
* 3 cups milk
* 3 large eggs
* 2/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar
* 2 large very ripe bananas
* 3/4 tablespoon vanilla extract
* 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
* 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
* 1/2 cup seedless raisins
* 1/2 cup roasted pecans
* 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
* 3/4 cup heavy whipping cream

Preheat the oven to 300F. Put the French bread pieces into a 9x12x2 inch baking pan. In a blender or food processor, blend the eggs, milk, 2/3 cup of sugar, bananas, cinnamon, nutmeg and 1/2 teaspoon of the vanilla until smooth. Pour this mixture over the French bread pieces. Fold in the raisins and the pecans and let the mixture set for 20 minutes. Top with small pieces of the butter.

Cover the pudding with aluminum foil and place the pan into a larger pan. Add warm water to a depth of 1 inch in the larger pan. Bake for 1 hour. Remove the foil and bake uncovered for 15 minutes until set.

In a deep, medium bowl, whisk the cream just until it begins to thicken. Add the remaining 1 tablespoon of sugar and 1/4 teaspoon vanilla. Continue whisking unti soft peaks form. Cover and chill.

Banana Rum Sauce

* 2/3 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
* 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
* 6 large ripe bananas, quartered
* 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
* 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
* 3 tablespoons dark rum
* 2 tablespoons banana liqueur
* 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Heat a large saute pan or skillet over low heat. Add the butter, sugar, bananas, cinnamon and nutmeg. Moving the skillet back and forth, cook until the butter and sugar become creamy and the bananas begin to soften, about one minute. Remove the skillet from heat and add the rum and the liqueur. Return the pan to the heat. Tilt the pan, avert your face and and light the liquid with a long match. Shake the skillet until the flames subside. Add the vanilla, remove from heat and keep warm.

To serve, place a large scoop of bread pudding in the middle of each serving plate or bowl. Place 2 slices of banana on each plate and top with about 3 tablespoons of sauce. Spoon the whipped cream over the bread pudding and serve immediately.

Serves 12
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* 4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted (1/4 cup)
* 4 large eggs, lightly beaten
* 1 cup light brown sugar
* 3 cups heavy cream
* 1 cup milk
* 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
* 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
* 2 ripe bananas, mashed
* 1/2 cup pecan pieces
* 6 cups day-old bread cubes (1/2-inch)
* 6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped into chunks
* 2-1/2 cups Mint Crème Anglaise
* 1 cup heavy cream, whipped with 1/2 teaspoon vanilla and 2 teaspoons granulated sugar
* Confectioners' sugar

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Brush a baking dish (about 10 x 14 inches) with 2 tablespoons of the butter. In a large bowl whisk together the eggs, brown sugar, cream, and milk. Add the vanilla, cinnamon, bananas, pecans, bread, and chocolate and stir to blend thoroughly. Stir in the remaining 2 tablespoons butter into the pudding mixture and pour into the baking dish. Bake until firm, for about 1 hour. Remove from the oven and allow the pudding to cool on a rack until just warm before cutting into squares.

Yield: 15 servings
==========

This is the classic New Orleans bread pudding, as prepared at the Bon Ton Cafe on Magazine Street. I consider it a quintessential version, but there are many possible variations: you can enrich it by using half-and-half instead of milk, and an extra egg; you can add different fruits, nuts, etc.

* 1 loaf French bread
* 1 quart milk
* 3 eggs, beaten
* 2 cups sugar
* 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
* 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
* 1 cup raisins
* 3 tablespoons melted butter

Preheat oven to 350°F. Whisk the beaten eggs into the milk. Tear bread into chunks and soak in milk and egg mixture. Crush with hands to make sure milk has soaked through. Add sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, raisins and stir well. Pour melted butter into a heavy 9 x 14 baking pan to coat the bottom and sides. Add bread mixture (and I sprinkle more cinnamon and raisins on top) and bake until very firm, about 40 mins. Cool pudding, cube it and put it into individual dessert dishes. When ready to serve, add whiskey sauce and heat under broiler for a few minutes (last step optional).

Whiskey sauce
A variation that I like is to use Southern Comfort for the sauce instead of whiskey. For a nonalcoholic version, you may add a teaspoon of rum, orange or vanilla extract.

* 1 cup sugar
* 1 stick butter (or margarine if you insist)
* 1 egg, beaten
* 2 ounces Bourbon whiskey or Southern Comfort; rum also works well

Cream sugar and butter and cook in a double-boiler until very hot and well-dissolved. Add well-beaten egg very slowly and whip very fast so egg doesn't curdle. Cool and add liquor.

Serves 8
=======

Chef Paul U. CEC, CCE, ACF
 
The one time i made it, I used croissants and cut them in half (like an english muffin).

grrrr.. could not find the recipe digging through old email, but it turned out great. I made a whiskey based sauce, but also threw in some Grand Marnier to give it a little orange kick.

The recipe said to make sure that the croissants were thoroughly submersed in the liquid and had absorbed some of it before baking. Also, I think I baked it with a pan of water, but not sure on that.
 
Help? If you make a good one, I'll damned sure help you eat it.

Easily one of my two favorite desserts (dewberry cobbler with ice cream being the other).

The bread pudding soufflee at Commander's Palace = the tits. A classic bread pudding, with a creamy soufflee top. They punch through the top at your table and pour in whiskey sauce until you say "when." I never say "when."

Goddamit. I loves me some bread pudding.
 
they do a decent bread pudding souflee at eddie v's, if you have a jonesing that can not wait for NOLA.
 
When I went to a "class" at the New Orleans "School of Cooking", they recommended uses pina colada mix instead of milk. I have done that and it is always a hit.
 
I watched a show where that crazy bastard Michael Chiarello made a BP w/ some kind of brioche cake doughnuts, heavy creme, copious amounts of sugar and eggs, topped off w/ a thick as **** whiskey-cream brulee sauce.

Sorry, but that just can NOT taste good.
 
I get the impression Chiarello knows what he's doing, I bet it didn't suck.

my wife made some bread pudding last week with chocolate chips and cocoa powder in the liquid, I think it was a Paula dean recipe.

It turned out pretty good, and we didn't use a water pan and we didn't cover it wile it baked. Took about an hour (9 x 13 dish).
 
No, that's it. You HAVE to cream the butter and sugar in a mixer, this takes at least 5-8 minutes until it turns a pale, glossy yellow.

Also, make SURE you add the eggs slowly and whisk vigorously. The melted, creamed butter should be cooked at least 5-7 mins over a med heat or double boiler so sugar can cook. Butter should be warm but able to touch QUICKLY w/o burning finger

Then add, then w/ booze, drizzling in slowly and whisking. USE PLENTY, it's Christmas!!
biggrin.gif
 
I have never liked bread pudding but I have been tempted to try Paula Deen's chocolate bread pudding recipe. It looks like it would be delicious, yummy, yummo, or allsome.
 
OMG, I have seen them make the bread pudding using donuts instead of bread on one of the cooking shows. I just about went into insulin shock watching them make it and I do not have diabetes. Mercy, that would give most adults a sugar high and have them bouncing off the walls.
 
shorty, which one of hers?

i am allergic to pecans, but she has one with an irish cream sauce that looks good. also, the sauce seems much easier than the whisky sauce from the other recipe.
 
I have got a streamlining idea for dean's chocolate bread pudding.

Instead of messing with the sauce, i am going to buy some of that bailey's irish cream ice cream.

no sauce, and it will have the same flavor, with he added benefit of topping it with ice cream, which i always enjoy.

I may up the kahlua in her recipe to really get the coffee flavor going with the bailey's.
 
Paula Deen's chocolate bread pudding.

This is the one I have seen her make. It does not call for pecans but almonds, pistachos, or macadameas would be good added to it. Are you allergic to all nuts or just pecans because it does call for almond extract. If you are allergic to all nuts just leave them out and use a bit more vanilla instead of the almond extract.

I would try a bit of it with the Irish Creme on it. I might just use a half cup of leftover coffee instead of the coffee liqueur. The combo of two liqueurs might be too much. The coffee flavor is added to enhance the taste of the chocolate.

The Irish Creme would be good as the liquid in a sugar glaze to drizzle over the top. It is just like glaze for homemade donuts. You take a cup of confectioners sugar and add just enough water, milk, or whatever fluid to make a glaze.

There is a thought. Make your glaze for donuts with Irish Creme, Creme de Coco, Ameretto or whatever liqueur flavor you might like on your donuts.
 
no bailey's ice cream at my h.e.b.

Then I recalled the chocolate bread pudding i had at al biernat's on saturday. thus, i opted to forego sauce and serve with B&J's vanilla heath bar ice cream.

yum. not very cajun, but oh well.
 
in the midle of cooking this.

******* cinnamon fell out of my heb shopping bag. wife is bringing some now.
 
tips on deen's recipe:

cut down on the kahlua a little. I thought it would add coffee flavor, but kahlua doesn't just taste like coffee, if that makes sense. my final product which was not nearly chocolaty enough.

which brings me to the next tidbit...just dump all 12 oz. of chocolate chips in. you need them. also, I am thinking of mixing everything without chips in a bowl, then putting a small layer of soggy pread on bottom of baking pan, then adding chips, more puddine, chips, etc. I suggest this, because if you do the final mix in the baking dish, a good deal of chips will settle to the bottom, and get too done, not contributing to chocolate flavor of finished product.

Next, and most important. use a lot of time for absorption before baking. Mine seemed VERY runny, so I panicked and began adding more bread cubes. this was error on my part.

almost as important...

she says to cook until knife comes out clean. this is stupid, since the melted chocolate chips will prevent this. mine overcooked some. the top/edges got very done and tough to cut/chew. just make sure no soggy bread is sticking to knife. the melted chocolate prevents a completely clean knife, which caused me to keep it in much too long.

* I am not going to buy some more bread, cream, and choc. chips. Will post on bread pudding redux later.

I will be making my jambalaya as well.
 
Update: I ended up making the Bon Ton recipe and it was pure greatness. I halved the raisins and added dark chocolate chips, as well as a maker's mark sauce. Very nice.
 
Mack -- I too made the Bon Ton recipe, and it was a thing of beauty. However, my sauce failed (I started a new thread about it at the time). In retrospect, I think I misunderstood the instruction to "dissolve" the sugar in the butter (it won't do that, from a chemistry standpoint). What did you do to make your sauce?
 
scottsins,

that Paula Dean recipte linked above is the one my wife and I used. We used bourbon for our liquor and didn't use a full quarter of a cup. we didn't use the whole bag of chocolate chips and I thought it was plenty chocolate enough, at least for my tastes.

yeah, it looked really soupy to us, too, but we didn't add anything, which was smart because it turned out nice and moist.
 
Brisket -- Here's what I did for the sauce:
- Beat the butter and sugar together with a hand mixer for about 5 min, until the mixture was very smooth and creamy.
- Then, at that point I turned on the burner to a little bit above medium heat and cooked it for several minutes, only letting it get to a mild simmer and stirring pretty often.
- I then took it off the heat and let it cool for a couple minutes, then I vigorously whisked in the eggs very slowly.
- One the eggs were incorporated, I added the maker's mark. By this time, the sauce was off the heat for several minutes, and only a little above luke warm.
 
Alright, Mack. I'm gonna try the sauce again this weekend.

If your technique doesn't work, I'll be coming to your house to throw yet another batch of F'd up sauce on you -- oh, and I'll throw a coke on you too, just to keep it all "hornfans real" and stuff.
 
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