Bread pudding Ina-Tay style

Two of my favorite TV chefs are Ina Garten and Giada de Laurentiis. I like their relaxed approach to cooking even if you are preparing a full course meal for guests. For those who are scared of the kitchen, their recipes are fairly easy to follow. Nothing fancy, just good homestyle cooking.

I noticed the other day that we had a lot of bread from the previous weekend. When you're eating the same old fare every morning you tend to tire of it after say two days. So I decided to turn the dry ensaymada (brioche if you want to be fancy about it) to bread pudding using Giada's recipe for Panettone Bread Pudding. No worries if you don't have Panettone (a type of Italian bread). I just tweaked it a little bit and it turned out yummmmmyyyy!!! It was not too "egg-y" since I used only six eggs so there was still some texture to it. Meaning, you can still chew on the pudding. This will now be my official "gift" to friends for Christmas! I'm sharing the recipe with all of you before your stale bread becomes moldy. I promise this is very easy and you don't have to slave for like a whole day in the kitchen. You can use any bread you have as long as it doesn't have a filling. From experience, I noticed that the drier or staler the bread, the better the result. Please take note, I said stale, not moldy. If you see dark green or black spots in your bread throw it away!

INGREDIENTS

2 1/2 cups day-old bread, cut into 1-inch cubes (I simply tear the bread using my hands)

6 large eggs (if you want a custard-like texture you can increase it to 8 eggs)

1 1/2 cup cream

2 1/2 cups whole milk (if you are using evap, use 1 1/2 cup and 1 cup water to dilute)

1 1/2 cups brown sugar

1/2 cup raisins or nuts (optional)

PROCEDURE:

1. Lightly butter a 13x9x2 baking dish or baking pan. Arrange the bread cubes in prepared dish.

  

2. In a large bowl, mix eggs, cream, milk, and sugar until well blended. Pour the mixture over the bread cubes, and press the bread cubes gently to submerge. Let stand for 30 minutes, occasionally pressing (and massaging, no kidding!) the bread cubes into the custard mixture. (Please make sure your hands are clean and you have removed your jewelry!)

(This is how the mixture will look like after 30 minutes of soaking into the custard)

3.If you like, you can add raisins and nuts to your bread pudding before you bake it.

4. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F or 178 degrees C.

5. Bake until the pudding "puffs" and is set in the center, about 45-50 minutes. Cool slightly.

6. Slice and serve warm.

Since the dessert is already sinful in my standards that is, I didn't bother making a caramel sauce to drizzle over the pudding. You can find a lot of recipes online for caramel sauce and its many variations. But if you are a hedonist, you can top it with whipped cream or to make it more sinful - a scoop of vanilla ice cream! Bon appetit!