Easy Bread Pudding

I had leftover challah bread that had been chillin' in the fridge and I wasn't feeling like making anymore French Toast so I decided I was going to make Bread Pudding instead. My mom used to make Bread Pudding back home but they (my mom and the cook) used to steam it and I don't have those huge Asian-style steamers here so I knew I was going to have to bake it. I found a simple recipe shared by Ellenmarie on the allrecipes site and took it from there.




The original recipe called for 6 slices of bread but I was using challah so I basically crammed all the bread that I could into an 8 x 8 Pyrex dish for this recipe, about 2/3 of the loaf, which was all I had left.

There are two things that you need to glue together in this recipe. Your bread with the rest of the dry ingredients and the egg mixture with all the wet ingredients. The main thing that you have to achieve is some well-soaked bread. However you get there is up to you.

You'll want the bread cut up into cubes, some golden raisins and an equal amount of chopped walnuts. These are the dry ingredients. Melt about 3 tablespoons of butter and pour it all over the bread and then make the egg mixture.

In a bowl, whisk 4 eggs together with just over half a cup of Turbinado sugar (Sugar In The Raw). I'm sure it will be fine with plain white sugar but I like baking with this one as much as I like it with coffee. Add a dash of cinnamon powder and a teaspoon of vanilla extract. While whisking lightly, pour in 2 cups of half n half. I actually ran out of half n half at 1 and 3/4 cup so the last 1/4 cup was just regular milk. I'm sure using regular milk, like the original recipe said, would be just fine. But half n half makes everything thicker and richer and I like that.

Now get the egg mixture and the bread with all the raisins and walnuts together and get that bread to absorb as much of the egg mixture as possible. I tend to go in there and mix everything by hand and then put it all in a greased baking dish. Baking dish goes into a 350 degree oven for approximately 45 minutes and you've got yourself some bread pudding!




When you get it out, let the bread pudding rest for a little bit before serving. Now, I like warm bread pudding and this recipe lends itself well to being served even after cooling for just 15 or so minutes. That's just enough time to whip up some sauce and get serving dishes ready. Three things come to mind as far as sauce goes. Chocolate is one. I used Nutella because I had this giant jar that was staring me in the face as I made the pudding. Some kind of white sauce, vanilla, I think would be great too. Or you could pour a little caramel and serve it with vanilla ice cream. Oh the possibilities! If you actually have leftovers, make sure the pudding has cooled completely, put a lid on it and keep it in the fridge. Then you can have it for breakfast the next day.



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Easy Bread Pudding
by

Ingredients:
  • 2/3 to one whole loaf challah bread
  • 3T butter, melted
  • 2/3 cup golden raisins
  • 2/3 cup chopped walnuts
  • 4 eggs
  • 2 cups half n half
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • a dash of cinnamon powder
  • 1t vanilla extract

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease one 8 x 8 Pyrex baking dish.
2. Prepare egg mixture: beat 4 eggs in a medium bowl and add sugar, cinnamon powder and vanilla extract. Whisk together and then add half n half.
3. Slice challah bread into cubes. Pour melted butter over it and add to egg mixture. 
4. Add raisins and walnuts and mix together very well so that bread absorbs as much of the egg mixture as possible. Transfer to baking dish.
5. Bake in 350 degree oven for 45 minutes. Cool slightly before serving with your favorite sauce or top with ice cream.

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