Cooking Baking Eating

I’m not normally the type of person to really enjoy eating puddings or a custard. Yogurt is even a stretch for me sometimes. Mouth texture is a huge thing for me with eating, crunchy I can do but soft and custard-ish or gooey really doesn’t do it for me.

So why in the world is this chick doing a bread pudding? Grandma was very generous and let us stay with her during our Christmas traveling, but her one request was that I would cook with her and make her some home made bread pudding. So I had to practice!

Well, the pudding never happened while we were visiting her due to schedules not meeting up. Lame. But it was still fun to make and now I can actually say “I’ve eaten bread pudding.”

That’s a goal I have this year, to say “I’ve eaten _______ “. I’m a crazy picky eater and I need to change my ways. I want to say that statement a lot.

I also should probably start actually paying attention to recipes. Because sometimes 2 cups just isn’t the same in my world.

Plus any recipe that lets me demolish things always makes me happy.

So many times through making this, I kept looking at it and wondering “is this right?” I’ve never made anything like this so I really didn’t know if it was right or not.

Tempering eggs always makes me nervous. I’m always afraid I’m going to end up with my dish being filled with scrambled eggs or strange chewy bits. So far I’ve been lucky in that respect but I’ve always been OVER cautious.

Plus pouring hot liquids into a bowl is generally rather wiggy, since I always tend to spill that stuff everywhere and make a huge mess. It helps that I found a great pot at a thrift store with a pouring spout!

This is the point where I started questioning myself. Was there enough bread? Too much bread? Would this thing even taste remotely good?

I sprinkled the top with some cinnamon, a dash of nutmeg and sprinkled some raw large grain sugar on top. And I have to say it actually was really good. The top was crunchy and the bottom was soft, it was sweet and slightly spicy at the same time. The second day the top softened and the whole thing was a big gooey blob in my mouth. I can handle bread pudding the first day but I guess after that it’s going to be a no-go.

Next time I think I want to use more bread, more crust, maybe a bigger pan, try to make it thinner and have more of that lovely crunchy top. I’ve been told that it is normally served with a brandy sauce, I’ve never made one but I might have to try that soon.

Simple Bread Pudding
Serves 6-8

• 3 cups cubed day old French bread
• 4 eggs, beaten
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 cups milk, scalded
• 1 pinch ground nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar or raw sugar

1. Preheat oven to 300F. Generously butter an 8×8 inch baking dish.
2. Scald 2 cups of milk and set aside to start cooling
3. Place bread cubes in the baking dish. In a medium bowl, beat together eggs, sugar, and vanilla. Very slowly whisk in the scalded milk, tempering the eggs so they do not curdle. Pour mixture over the bread.
4. Combine the nutmeg, cinnamon and brown sugar and sprinkle over the top of the bread.
5. Place baking dish in a larger oven safe dish and fill with hot water until it is half way up the pudding. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes, or until a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean. Serve hot.