Bread Pudding Recipe

This bread pudding recipe, from an old Amish cookbook, is absolutely incredible.
It was copied, loaned out, scribbled on note cards and passed on by grandmothers, great-aunts, beloved neighbor ladies and those whose home cooking reaches the very soul of the family. This is the bread pudding people get dreamy-eyed over.
For a lot of us, it’s nostalgia. A yearning for a simpler time when dessert was made from a few common kitchen ingredients. It’s also the way it brings everyone into the kitchen, warm with the smell of cinnamon and vanilla fresh from the oven.
Whatever the reason this bread pudding becomes your number one comfort food; savor every bite. It is truly the soul satisfying treat that most people crave. Nothing beats warm bread pudding on a cold or rainy night.
We’ve included another version below the old fashioned bread pudding recipe; the British Bread and Butter Pudding. It is slightly different than the American version, but equally tasty. That recipe calls for sultanas, a pale golden-green grape popular in Europe. You can substitute golden raisins or dates with equally delicious results.

Bread Pudding

Ingredients:
2 cups whole milk (or 2 cups half & half)
1/4 cup butter
2/3 cup brown sugar (light or dark, depending on taste preference)
3 eggs
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 cups bread, torn into small pieces (french bread works best)
1/2 cup raisins (optional)
Directions:
1. In medium saucepan, over medium heat, heat milk (or half & half) just until film forms over top. Combine butter and milk, stirring until butter is melted. Cool to lukewarm.
2. Combine sugar, eggs, cinnamon, nutmeg, and vanilla. Beat with an electric mixer at medium speed for 1 minute. Slowly add milk mixture.
3. Place bread in a lightly greased 1 1/2 quart casserole.
4. Sprinkle with raisins if desired. Pour batter on top of bread.
5. Bake at 350 degrees F for 45 to 50 minutes or until set. Serve warm.
If you make the sauce to put on top of your bread pudding, adjust the sugar in the bread pudding recipe, change it to 1/3 cups sugar (the sauce has the other 1/3 cup in it).

Bread Pudding Sauce

Ingredients:
1 cup whole milk
2 Tablespoons butter
1/3 cup granulated white sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 Tablespoon flour
dash of salt
Directions:
Mix everything together and bring to a boil for 3 – 4 minutes, stirring constantly. Set aside for 5 minutes, then pour on warm bread pudding.

Traditional British Bread and Butter Pudding Recipe

Ingredients:
8 slices white bread
3 ounces sultanas (85g)
4 ounces brown sugar (113g)
3 cups whole milk
3 large eggs, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
¾ teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon salt
butter (for buttering the bread and greasing the baking dish)
Directions:
1. Preaheat oven to 325°F (170°C)
2. Grease an oven proof baking dish.
3. Evenly butter each of the slices of bread on both sides, then cut each slice into 4 triangles.
4. Place a layer of the buttered bread on the bottom of the dish, slightly overlapping each triangle.
5. Sprinkle sultanas and brown sugar evenly across the bread for the second layer.
6. Continue layering bread then sultanas and brown sugar until all the bread is used.
7. Sprinkle the top of the pudding with sultanas and sugar.
8. Beat together the milk, eggs, cinnamon, vanilla and salt. Pour this mixture on top of everything.Allow to stand for 30 minutes so the liquid is fully absorbed.
9. Place baking dish in the oven and bake for 30 to 40 minutes, or until top is golden brown.