Saturday, January 18, 2014

because it was there

Very strange to be bake something without an apple in it, I know. But here goes.

I hadn't planned to bake anything this morning, until I discovered several leftover Portuguese sweet rolls in my cupboard.
They were just slightly too dry to be used for sandwiches, and would probably make terribly sweet breadcrumbs.

So...a venture into bread pudding.



 Cut into little blocks...


...and placed in a buttered baking dish.



Not too tightly, but filling the dish.

Then doused in a mixture of 4 eggs, 2 c milk, 1.5 c sugar, 2 TBS vanilla extract, and 1 TBS cinnamon.
(The recipes I found called for 2 c sugar, but I just couldn't do it.)


Baked at 325F for an hour.
(Because I use Pyrex. In a metal pan: 350F.)

Here's what the pan looked like as I removed it from the oven...
Action shot! 
Drama!! 
Feel the heat!!!


I had a little taste while it was still hot.
And because I didn't make a sauce,
I added a little sliver of ice cream.


Not bad. Especially considering the absence of apples.

I've never made a bread pudding before and can only recall one cold, bland, raisin-studded serving, eaten in a cafeteria somewhere, sometime. 
(Now that I'm thinking about this, there may be a connection between the second part of that sentence and the first.)

This bread pudding tastes rather like French Toast, as one would expect from the ingredients. But the texture is different, with each individual chunk of bread saturated and baked through, and all the chunks forming one cohesive dish.

It would be nice for serving a group for breakfast: simple and quick to put together and pop in the oven, and - unlike French Toast - no one standing, plate in hand, waiting for the next slice to come out of the skillet.

What's your favorite way to use leftover bread?
And if you make bread pudding, what do you like for a sauce?
~~~~~

4 comments:

  1. You sure are adventurous! Especially given the first and second parts of that sentence... We've made something like that before that was even more like French Toast. We were having a huge crowd over for brunch, and it baked for an hour and then popped out ready for everyone to eat. It was pretty good!

    What will you bake tomorrow? Surely, it will have apples in it :)

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    Replies
    1. I'm actually kind of "sweeted out" by the bread pudding, but I'd love to make a big pot of stew! May have to go spelunking in the freezer in search of meat. We have new snow, and it feels like a good evening for hunkering down. Hope you're staying cozy up in the hills!

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  2. Bread pudding! Yum, yum, yum! Actually I haven't made it in a long time but now you've got me hungry for it. We never put sauce on it, was I supposed to?????

    Most of my leftover bread goes to bread crumbs and croutons.

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    Replies
    1. All the recipes I found online mentioned a sauce - quite a variety of flavors, too. I found mine to be PLENTY sweet without sauce...after another piece today, I froze the rest in small portions for drop-in company. Feel free to drop in! :)

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