Bread Pudding

This Bread Pudding is soft, spiced brioche baked into a custard that sets around it, then drizzled with a caramel sauce that takes 5 minutes. It’s a dessert built on stale bread and that’s what I love about it. 15 minutes of work, most of which is whisking.

Bread pudding started as a way to avoid throwing bread out, which is the best possible origin for a dessert.

Stale bread is genuinely better here, and not just as a virtue. Fresh bread is already full of moisture, so it can only take on so much custard before it starts collapsing into mush. Day old bread has dried out and it drinks the custard, right through to the middle, and still holds its shape in the oven.

The custard itself is milk, cream, eggs, sugar, and warm spice. Nothing complicated happening. You whisk it, pour it over the bread, and let it sit for 15 minutes while everything soaks in. Then it bakes into something soft and set and faintly wobbly.

And then there’s the sauce, which is butter, brown sugar, and cream in a small pan. Five minutes, no thermometer, no candy stage to hit. It’s the easiest caramel there is.

Raisins are technically optional and I put them in every time. Half a cup, scattered over the bread before the custard goes on, and they plump up in the oven into little pockets of sweetness.

Fresh bread is already holding a lot of water. Pour custard over it and there’s nowhere for that custard to go, so it sits on the surface, and the bread turns to paste where it does soak in. You end up with a wet, heavy texture rather than distinct cubes.

Day old bread has dried out. All those spaces that held moisture are now empty and ready to take on custard, which means it absorbs deeply and evenly and still holds its shape through baking.

Two days old is even better than one. You want it dry to the touch and firm when you press it, not rock hard.

No stale bread? Cube it and spread it on a baking sheet, then into a 300°F oven for 10 to 15 minutes until it’s dried out but not browned. Let it cool before the custard goes anywhere near it.

Which bread: brioche is my first choice because it’s rich and buttery and it soaks beautifully. Challah does the same job. French bread works and gives you a slightly less rich result. And raisin bread is an excellent shortcut, since the raisins are already distributed through every cube.

• Brioche bread (8 cups, cut into 1 inch cubes): Rich and buttery, and it soaks up custard without falling apart. Challah works, so does French bread, so does any soft egg based bread. Use raisin bread and you’ve solved the raisin question before you’ve started.
• Whole milk (2 cups) and heavy cream (1 cup): Two thirds milk to one third cream gives you a custard that’s rich without being heavy. All cream would be too much. Half and half works in place of both if that’s what you have.
• Granulated sugar (¾ cup) and brown sugar (½ cup): The pair together is better than either alone. Brown brings molasses and a caramel note, granulated keeps it from getting too dark and heavy.
• Eggs (5 large): These are what set the custard. Five sounds like a lot for one dish and it’s what turns milk into pudding rather than soggy bread.
• Vanilla extract (2 teaspoons): Pure if you have it. Bourbon is a lovely swap, and there’s a variation below.
• Ground cinnamon (1 teaspoon) and ground nutmeg (½ teaspoon): Freshly grated nutmeg is noticeably better than the pre ground jar, and you only need a little.
• Salt (¼ teaspoon): Small and important. Without it the whole thing tastes flatly sweet.
• Raisins (½ cup, optional): Optional in theory. I’ve never made it without them. They plump in the oven and give you sweet little pockets throughout. Dried cranberries or chopped apricots work too.
• Pecans (½ cup, chopped, optional): Crunch against all that softness. Toast them first if you’ve got 5 minutes. Walnuts work just as well.

• Butter (¼ cup, unsalted): The base. Unsalted so you control the salt.
• Brown sugar (½ cup, packed): This is where the caramel flavor comes from.
• Heavy cream (¼ cup): Whisked in slowly so the sauce stays smooth.
• Vanilla extract (1 teaspoon) and a pinch of salt: In at the end, off the heat. The salt is what stops it being one note sweet.

Oven to 350°F, and grease a 9 by 13 inch baking dish properly, right into the corners.

Bread in, raisins over. Spread the cubes evenly in the dish and scatter the raisins over the top so they end up distributed rather than clumped in one corner.

Whisk the custard. Milk, cream, both sugars, eggs, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt in a large bowl, whisked until smooth and the sugar has dissolved. Give it a proper whisk rather than a stir, because you want the eggs fully broken up.

Pour and soak. Custard evenly over the bread, then the pecans scattered on top if you’re using them. Now leave it 15 minutes, pressing the bread down gently every few minutes so the top cubes get submerged. Don’t skip this. It’s the difference between custard right through and custard only at the bottom.

Bake 45 to 55 minutes. It’s done when the top is golden and the center is set with just a slight wobble when you nudge the dish. If you want to be certain, the middle should read around 160°F on an instant read thermometer. A toothpick isn’t reliable here, because you’ll hit a bread cube and learn nothing about whether the custard has set.

Rest 15 minutes before cutting. This is a baked custard and it keeps setting as it cools. Cut it straight out of the oven and it’ll be looser than it should be.

Make the sauce while it rests. Butter melted in a small pan over medium heat, brown sugar stirred in until it dissolves, then the cream whisked in slowly. Two to 3 minutes until it thickens slightly. Off the heat, then vanilla and salt.

Cut into squares and drizzle the warm sauce over. Powdered sugar if you’re feeling fancy.

• Use day old bread. Fresh bread has nowhere to put the custard and goes to paste.
• Give it the full 15 minutes to soak. Press the top cubes down as it sits.
• Don’t trust the toothpick. Look for a golden top and a center that barely wobbles, or 160°F in the middle.
• Rest it 15 minutes before cutting. It’s still setting.
• Whisk the custard properly, not just a stir. The eggs need to be fully broken up.
• Toast the pecans if you’re using them. Five minutes and the difference is real.
• Make the sauce while it rests. It’s better warm and it takes exactly as long as the resting does.

• With bourbon. Two tablespoons whisked into the custard with the vanilla. It doesn’t taste boozy, it just puts a warm caramel note underneath the cinnamon. Dark rum does the same.
• With raisin bread. Use it in place of the brioche and skip the loose raisins. The raisins are already through every cube, which some people prefer, and you get a slightly denser pudding since raisin bread is usually less enriched.
• Different dried fruit. Cranberries, chopped apricots, or chopped dates instead of raisins.
• Chocolate. A cup of chocolate chips scattered with the raisins. Completely different dessert, very good.
• Crunchy top. Mix 2 tablespoons of brown sugar with the chopped pecans and scatter over before baking. It caramelizes into a proper crust.
• Soak the raisins. Ten minutes in warm water or a splash of bourbon before they go in. They plump more and stay softer.
• More spice. A pinch of cardamom or allspice alongside the cinnamon.

Warm, on its own, with the sauce. That’s the whole thing and it doesn’t need helping.

If you’re going further, vanilla ice cream melting into a warm square is very hard to beat. Lightly whipped cream is the lighter option and it lets the pudding stay the focus.

Coffee alongside, and it’s genuinely good cold the next morning with coffee too.

Make ahead: assemble the whole thing, cover, and refrigerate up to 24 hours before baking. The bread soaks properly overnight and the result is arguably better. Let it sit out for 30 minutes before it goes in the oven.

Fridge: 5 days, covered tightly. The sauce keeps separately for a week.

Freezer: 3 months. Cool completely, then wrap tightly or portion into containers. Thaw overnight in the fridge.

Reheating: 300°F oven for 15 to 20 minutes covered with foil, which brings the texture back properly. The microwave works for a single square in about 30 seconds. Warm the sauce separately and pour it over after.