The bread pudding I grew up with is not like other bread puddings you run into now, with fancy sauces or grown-up flavors. Nope, it is childhood on a spoon. It is a cinnamon sugar-laced creamy goodness, studded with raisins. In short, it is fantastic in its ultimate simplicity. It is also a bit of an outlier in that there is way too much (but it is perfect!) custard for the bread. It really becomes two distinct layers. The top floating layer of soft bread soaked in custard filling, and then a bottom layer of essentially vanilla milk custard that is just sweet and simple and homey.
I definitely appreciate all the bread puddings I have tried at restaurants or new recipes I have sampled over the years. I am a total fan. But this one. This is the one I dream about waking up to and still used to sneak greedy spoonfuls of right out of the fridge.
Childhood Bread Pudding
The recipe is endlessly adaptable. Adaptable for baking pan size, type of bread, and even the size of your recipe. You can do two round bakers, you can do a large oval or rectangle, you can easily double it or cut it in half. The key to the recipe is the right ratio of bread to custard. You want to end up with about 3 or so inches of bread once it is layered in the pan, so if it is thick cut bread that may be 2 layers. If it is thinner, maybe it is 3 layers. Once you pour in the custard, the bread will float, and you will want it to rise at least 2 inches more. It will poof a bit when you bake it, but not rise like a cake baking. The changes will have the largest effect on your cooking time, which I find really comes down to the size of your baking pans, and how deep they are. You can also omit the raisins if you are so inclined...I am not.
Ingredients
For the Bread
- 10-12 slices bread if the bread is too crusty, cut off crusts
- 4-6 Tablespoons butter, melted
- 4 Tablespoons sugar
- 2 Teaspoons cinnamon
- 1 cup raisins
For the Custard
- 8 eggs
- 1 cup sugar
- 4 cups milk
- 2 Teaspoons vanilla
Instructions
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First, preheat your oven to 325 degrees F, and then select your baking dish. I like ceramic for this--you are looking for something that is around 12 inches by 8 and around 4-5 inches deep. You have a lot of leeway in the size of your baking vessel, but you want to end up with about 2-3 layers of bread to cover the bottom of the vessel, and then have about room for 2-3 inches of custard poured over it.
You will also want to make sure you have a larger baking pan, I like a 9x13 pan for this, with about 1/2 inch or so of water in it. You will set your baking dish in this while it is baking to keep your custard from getting overcooked (water bath). You will want the water to come to about 1 inch up the side of your baking dish.
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Next, mix your 4 tablespoons of sugar and 2 teaspoons of cinnamon together. Arrange your bread in the baker, and then, brush your bread with the melted butter and sprinkle with the cinnamon sugar. Repeat with remaining bread until you have 2-3 layers, and sprinkling the raisins between the layers of bread. You don't want to end with raisins on top, as they will get overcooked.
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Stir together the eggs and sugar until well blended and slowly stir in the milk and the vanilla. Pour over the bread. The bread will float up a bit, but push it gently into place. You can let it sit for a few minutes before baking if you want, so the bread can absorb some of the custard. I do this if my bread is exceptionally dry.
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When you are ready to bake it, place the baker in the larger pan, adding water into the outer pan to have it come to about 1 inch up the side. Carefully place in the oven and cook for about 75-90 minutes, or until done. You can remove the pudding when it is puffed all the way up in the middle and it jiggles slightly in the middle when you shake the pan. Sometimes I even gently lift the center slice of bread to see if the custard underneath is cooked--you don't want it to be liquid. Please note that the baking time can vary quite a bit, depending on the size of your baking pan and how thick your bread pudding is. Please note that you can easily half this recipe (but please don't. You will be sorry!). I find the timing to be a bit tricky, but I have overcooked it (the custard almost breaks a little) and undercooked it (it never quite firms up fully, but it is spoonable custard) and it is still amazing.
Bread pudding can be eaten slightly warm, but it is best, if you are asking me, cold, straight from the fridge...into a bowl of course!