Lazy Bread Pudding
I didn’t plan on making bread pudding the other night. It just sort of happened. I’d already made the sauce for the homemade pizzas, chopped the mushrooms, had opened the wine, and on the way out the door to walk Rose, Xavier jokingly asked what was for dessert.
I wasn’t thinking about dessert, and wasn’t planning on making anything, either, but there it was, right there – a hunk of stale bread about to get so hard that I’d have no choice but to toss it in la poubelle, and I really didn’t want to do that. I hate letting good bread go to waste.
So, as I listened to the news on France 24 and sipped my glass of cheap burgundy, I cut the bread into large cubes, mixed up some milk, cream, eggs, and before I could say, “Hey, Xavier, don’t we have another episode of ‘The Tudors’ to watch tonite?” we had bread puddings.
I served the little bread puddings with fresh strawberries, because as I’ve mentioned before, I cannot get enough of strawberries during strawberry season, and besides, I wasn’t in the mood to make a sauce, whiskey or otherwise. If I’d had some of my favorite Argentinian jarred dulce de leche in the cabinet, I would have poured some of that on top, but I didn’t.
So that’s why I call it lazy. It’s really not the pudding that’s lazy; it’s me.
Lazy Bread Pudding
Makes 4 servings
3-4 thick slices stale bread, cubed
1 cup whole milk
¾ cup whipping cream
3 eggs
1 cup sugar
½ teaspoon cinnamon
vanilla bean
sea salt
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
1. Cut the bread into 1/2-inch cubes (or a bit larger if you’re lazy, which I am). Lots of people remove the crusts, but I tend to leave them on because I love the flavor.
2. In a large bowl, add the milk, cream, beaten eggs, sugar, cinnamon, and scrape the seeds out of a vanilla bean, and add to the mix. Add a pinch of sea salt, too.
3. Add bread to mixture, smoosh it all down so it soaks up as much liquid as possible. Let it rest for 15 minutes or so.
4. Divide among four ramekins, and place in a Pyrex dish. Pour water about halfway up the sides, cover with foil, and slide into the oven. Bake for 50 minutes or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.
P.S. This would be equally good — OK, better — made with croissants, pain au chocolat, or challah bread, too. What about Krispy Kreme donuts? Any other ideas?
