Old fashioned bread pudding with vanilla,bourbon or caramel sauce is an easy and simple homestead recipe to use up eggs, milk and stale bread. Comfort food at its best – breakfast, dessert, or snack!
What do I do with my bread that is no longer fresh?
We are all aware of the fact that after a couple of days, your fresh baked bread is no longer fresh baked. In fact, it’s a little dry and crumbly or chewy. Sometimes even stale. And let’s face it folks, stale bread is kind of a big deal.
So, if you look around the world, you will discover that almost everyone has found some very clever ways to use up bread that has gone stale.
Panzanella, panko, stratas, pain perdu, torrijas, croutons, bread crumbs, brown Bettys or French toast.
But, in my opinion, the queen of them all is the bread pudding. Well, sometimes.
Bread Pudding Recipe
Easy and simple homestead recipe to use up eggs, milk and stale bread for a tasty end result. And when you finish it with bread pudding sauce no one will be able to resist! It’s one of those back to basics recipes that you must have and people just adore.
To start this recipe you’ll need some bread, hence the name bread pudding.
What bread can be used for bread pudding?
You DO want to use day-old bread or bread that’s dry and doesn’t have much moisture in it.
It’s available by the loaf: You want the ability to cube or slice bread to the dimensions of your preference. That means unsliced bread is the way to go.
They’re sturdy: bread pudding require a soak in an egg and milk mixture to create the custardy final product.
It should taste good! Of course, much of the flavor in either of these final dishes comes from the seasoning of the custard mixture and mix-ins, but the bread should taste good too. Enriched breads like challah and brioche are particular favorites, but you could make it with toasted white bread.
If your bread is still fresh or not dried out you can cube it into smaller pieces, place them on a baking sheet, pop it in the oven, and bake it for about 8-10 minutes. You don’t want to completely toast the bread, just dry it out.
Then you’ll whisk together some eggs, sugar, milk, vanilla extract, and spices. You’ll be using 4 whole eggs and 2 cups of milk, which may seem like a lot. As it bakes the bread will absorb the liquid, so don’t worry. As for the spices, there’s just a little bit of ground cinnamon and nutmeg mixed in. Whatever you do don’t leave them out! I feel like the spices, especially the nutmeg, really make this bread pudding.
I really love this bread pudding served with a huge scoop of ice cream and some sauce.
But honestly, it’s delicious just by itself.