When i had a restaurant, we used old hamburger buns for bread pudding. Now, when I no longer have that insane miserable hell hole I have to purchase fresh brioche buns (seems like an adequate trade off) and I stalize (Stalize: the process by which one makes bread stale) them in the oven. With that I made my regular restaurant-recipe chocolate bread pudding but this time, between layers, I added a can of caramel, dulce de leche. The caramel burbled up to the top while it baked.
Three things were at work here making it better. 1. The brioche buns are infinitely better than stale hamburger buns. 2. That caramel really ratchets up the deliciousness level. 3. No restaurant, the life sucking, soul destroying, life trap that stole years off my life.
The bread pudding was seriously amazing.
Recipe follows
Chocolate bread pudding
- 1 cup heavy cream*
2.5 cups whole milk*
8 oz semi-sweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
4 large eggs
1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 loaf day-old brioche bread, cut into 1 inch cubes but really anything
works, well, maybe not seeded rye.1 cup or so semi-sweet chocolate chips or 4 extra ounces chopped
chocolateDirections
1. Heat the heavy cream and whole milk in amedium saucepan until simmering. Remove from the heat and drop in chocolate let
it sit for 2-3 minutes to gently soften the chocolate. Whisk until
combined and chocolate has melted Add sugar, salt and vanilla and whisk again.
Let cool down so as not to cook the eggs in the next step.2. Whisk the eggs in a large bowl. Pour one
half of the chocolate cream mixture into the eggs and whisk until smooth. Add
the rest.3. Put the bread cubes into a large bowl and
pour chocolate cream egg stuff over it. 4. Grease a 9 x 12 pan or something along
those lines. Spread one half of the chocolate soaked bread evenly into the pan.
Add layer of chocolate chips, about half. Pour the remaining chocolate custard
bread evenly over the top. Toss on the rest of the chocolate chips.5. Let rest an hour and usually I give that
all a big and yet gentle stir.6. You can also chill the unbaked bread
pudding in the refrigerator for up to 1 day. 7. Preheat the oven to 350°F.8. Bake the bread pudding for 45-50 minutes*
until the edges appear set. Use a toothpick to test for doneness. It will come
out with a few moist crumbs, but won’t be overly wet. I bake it covered for the
first 20-25 minutes, then removed the aluminum foil for the remaining time so
it can slightly crisp on the top and around the edges. It stays slightly wetter
that way.9. Cover leftovers and store in the
refrigerator for up to 4-5 days. Serve leftovers warm, room temperature, or
cold. It microwaves very nicely. Bread pudding is best eaten right out of the oven with vanilla ice cream since this isn’t rich and decadent enough.