Bread Pudding

Posted by Lori, via my brother-in-law, Ken.....who also happens to be a GREAT COOK!!!

Ken made this last week and said it was, in his words, "incredible".  I can't wait to try it myself!  I don't recall that I've ever made bread pudding.

Bread Pudding
Servings: 8

3 1/2 cups whole milk
1 cup sugar
2 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
7 large eggs
5 large egg yolks
2 1/2 cups heavy cream
6 cups bread, cut into 1 inch cubes

Note: Bread can be any non-savory firm textured bread. Avoid soft supermarket bread as it makes pudding mushy and avoid rustic crusty loaves with open crumb as it doesn't absorb and yields too firm a pudding. Ken used a stale apple fritter bread that had been frozen.  Whole wheat cinnamon raisin works well, but a brioche or challah (Note from Lori:  I don't even know what those two are!!) work the best.

Prep Time: 20 mins       Total Time: 1 1/2 hrs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 13x9 baking dish. Whisk milk and sugar in a saucepan over medium heat. Meanwhile scrape vanilla bean into milk mixture and throw in pods. Heat to steaming, but not boiling. Discard vanilla pods. Whisk eggs and yolks in a large bowl, gradually add 2 cups of hot milk mixture, then pour egg mixture into the saucepan with the hot milk. Strain and whisk in cream. Spread bread cubes in prepared dish. Slowly pour custard over bread being sure to saturate all of the bread. Bake in the center of the oven for about 1 hour or until a small knife inserted in the center of the pudding comes out clean. Serve warm or chilled with whipped cream or caramel sauce.

Note: you can add raisins, currents, dried cranberries, sour cherries or any other dried fruit you like. (Ken did not because the bread he used had fruit in it. Note from Lori:  I won't use raisins, because it's a sin! (Just kidding....read my devotional post about raisins and the Nazarite vow here.)

Glaze:

1 stick of butter
1 egg
1 cup of sugar
1 teaspoon of vanilla
1/4 cup of water
1/8 teaspoon rum extract

Combine all ingredients In a sauce pan and heat until sugar dissolves and almost boils. Drizzle over each serving.

And finally, Ken says, "YUM!"  That's it, folks!