I’ve recently discovered that bread pudding is an excellent way to use bread that has gone stale. I found a half a loaf of bread that was beyond stale - it was just a step below “hard as a rock”. I felt saddened by this - it’s upsetting when food goes to waste. So, I consulted my favorite cookbook, How to Cook Everything, and found a nice recipe for bread pudding.
In painstakingly measuring the ingredients I realized something. Bread pudding doesn’t need to be a painstaking process. So I thought I’d share with you my notes and impressions, and offer you a way to make it without measuring.
Ingredients:
Bread - torn or cut into small pieces
Milk - roughly the same amount as you have with bread. So, if you have three cups of bread, you’ll want three cups of milk. You can also use soy milk, rice milk, almond milk, etc
Some sugar - a little goes in the milk, and some gets sprinkled on the top - If you want to go low sugar, you don’t actually need to put the sugar in the milk. You can just sprinkle it on the top and save calories.
Cinnamon- You put a little in the milk and sprinkle some on top.
Vanilla - not in the original recipe, but I ended up putting some in the milk. If you use the beans, put it in from the beginning. If you use the extract, stir it in after you warm the milk.
Butter - all you need is just a little, or none at all. It’s up to you.
Extras - these are all optional but they’re fun. I added cut apples and raisins to the batch I made the other day but you can also add chocolate chips, caramels, white chocolate, etc.
Method:
Tear or cut bread. Measure it and set aside. Add same amount of milk as bread to the saucepan. Add butter (optional), sugar (optional), and cinnamon and heat on low until butter melts and sugar dissolves. If not using butter or sugar, just warm over low heat. Butter or spray cooking spray on a baking dish. I used a glass pie plate. Arrange bread and any extras (raisins, apples, chocolate chips, nuts, etc) into dish. Pour milk mixture over and make sure all the bread pieces are submerged. If they aren’t, poke them down or add more warmed milk. Let soak for five minutes. Sprinkle sugar and cinnamon over the top and bake at 350 degrees for 45-60 minutes. (You want the top to be browned. I actually like a nice dark brown crust.) Serve with ice cream or whipped cream if you like.
To make this extra healthy, use whole grain bread.
If you choose to make the healthy version of this recipe, it can help you go a long way to satisfy your sweet tooth in a healthy way. Add extra cinnamon and apples to make it even healthier.
