Bread pudding is widely considered comfort food here in the southern states, but it was something I had not experienced. I grew up with Bread and Butter pudding, which is sufficiently different.

However the basic premise is the same so I was willing to give it a try. Michael made me my first bread pudding, and we made a couple of variations in class (bread pudding made with croissants is delicious!).

The whole point of bread pudding is to use up stale bread. I said stale, not mouldy, so if you’re bread is growing something go throw it in the compost heap. It’s believed to have originated many centuries ago and has counterparts in Egyptian and Middle Eastern cooking. Originally it wouldn’t have used a custard (since custard didn’t appear until the Middle Ages), but maybe water or milk.

The basic bread pudding chops up stale bread into cubes and then pours a custard (or creme anglais if you’re feeling fancy) over it, preferably while it’s still hot. Then leave it to sit, the custard will soak into the bread forming mush, it doesn’t look attractive. Then once all the bread is soaked and not a trace of staleness remains put it into a baking dish and bake off at 350F until the custard is set.

Of course, you can get adventurous and add fruits and nuts, spices and pretty much anything you like. I’m a fan of raisins, doubly so when they’ve been soaked in rum. You can soak them overnight, or put them in a pan and bring it to a boil then turn it off, the rum will soak in in a couple of hours. Then I sprinkled some vanilla coarse sugar on top for flavour and a little crunch.

Then, just to finish it off, a good caramel sauce is delicious. And since we’re all adults, a little extra rum in the sauce works wonders!

Delicious!

You can even experiment with different breads. A good brioche would made a good pudding, I bet a nice cinnamon bread would too!