Tag: bread pudding

Posted on

make some truly fab bread pudding

"....... resistance is futile!" CLICK on the picture for the recipe

I’ve resisted for as long as I could… actually months! The problem is that real bread pudding is one of my all time favorite desserts! When I first started the evolution of my own recipe, I studied all of the recipes from hundred plus year old cookbooks, restaurants and internet chefs and home chefs. The problem is that in virtually every case… there were unacceptable short cuts.

From the use of butter, eggs,  heavy cream, brandy, rum and rye whiskey to the various breads and cakes all topped with an exquisite sauce and various nuts… it is a wonderful holiday treat! Fortunately, I believe everyday is a holiday! 😉  If you really want to make something nice… it takes time, care, quality ingredients and a variety that makes it interesting. BREAD PUDDING

So I have my fruit ( dried blueberries, sultanas and 3 scraped vanilla beans) all soaking in their favorite alcoholic mixture… until I need them…. in a week or so.

One bite is way too much… and a million is not enough!

Posted on

finding a new life for stale scraps of cake, muffin, croissants and bread!

making good bread stale

My journey to find stale goodies was quite a success and oddly enough it has nothing to do with saving money, although it certainly works out that way. People often don’t see that value that is right in front of them.

For example, many years ago,  I offered to clear a friend’s undeveloped property of a variety of boulders, mostly Serpentine, Shale and a few rather large rocks of many hundred pounds full of zinc ( we used to have a lot of active zinc mines in this area ). He accepted and I know he felt a bit like Tom Sawyer conning his friends into painting his fence for ‘fun’, until he saw the boulders utilized in my yard.

I feel the same way about so many products that still have culinary viability in a new production. Incorporating prior culinary treasures into new wonders is not only fun, but it is practical and economical.  This was the key to the early chef’s success!

Fortunately for bread pudding makers, there are always bakeries that have something they can’t sell… funny how that works. Now, I have enough to make my bread pudding dessert on Sunday. In case you are wondering, those are banana muffins and I am surprised they didn’t sell. I find having many different textures adds a lot to the pudding.

Bon apetitte!

Posted on

bread pudding is marvelous

bread pudding is marvelous!

I have written about the beauty of bread pudding many times because it is certainly one of my favorite desserts! The beauty is that it is different every time you make it, or at least, it should be! The concept of the chefs of old was that you threw everything left over into a bowl which might contain: scraps of cake, muffin, croissants and bread! Personally, I think it is the unintended variety that makes all the difference.

Certainly, adding some dried fruit ( sultanas and blueberries) soaked in Armagnac or brandy for the raisins and rye whiskey for the blueberries is a treat and extracting the natural vanilla flavorings from vanilla beans takes time. By Sunday, my search for all the ingredients will be over and it will be time to bake!

You may ask why I don’t have any leftovers?… well, we are not a big kitchen any more! Now, I have to scour the day old sections of various bakeries.

So what are you making today?

Roger

(click on the picture above for my basic bread pudding recipe)