You idiot! You left your bread in the fridge a day too long, and now it’s gone all stale! What a waste – it’s all crumbly and gross, and worse yet, you have no time to go shopping. What will you do?
Variable recipes to the rescue! Forget sandwiches or toast – stale bread is perfect for bread pudding. It’s great as a breakfast, as a dessert, and as anything else (although I don’t recommend it as an aperitif).
To make bread pudding, you need eggs, butter, milk, sugar, and some assorted tasty bits. Also, bread. Take your stale bread, and break it into pieces. Put the pieces into a glass baking pan, and sprinkle melted butter over it. You can put some of the tasty bits in now, whatever you like. Nuts and raisins are very good, or you can get creative and use some carrot chunks. (Hey, we’ve all been there. Don’t judge.)
In a mixing bowl, mix together the eggs, milk, and sugar. For every few slices of bread (5-7), use about four eggs, 2 cups of milk, and a bit less than a cup of sugar- white or brown will do. You should also put in some vanilla for sure – and don’t forget the spices. Cinnamon is the old standby, but it is not the only spice. There is mace, cloves, nutmeg, and many others… but plain is good as well, with a little syrup. Experimentation is good! (N.B. The editorial staff of the Iron Warrior denies that the supposed Curry/Ginger/Wasabi/Ammonium Chloride incident ever happened. It is also an entirely baseless rumour that this same incident, which did not happen, led indirectly to the loss of the editor-in-chief’s pinky toe.)
Pour the liquid mixture over the bread, and let it soak well. Soak before baking, or the pudding will end up both mushy and dry, somehow. Physics does not apply to bread. When the pudding is uniformly soaked, bake it at 350°F for about 45 minutes, or until it is soft, but solid.
Let your bread pudding cool, and cut it into slices or chunks. Depending on the ratios of the ingredients you used, the pudding might slice nicely like banana bread, or form a cluster of delicious chunks. No matter how it looks, there are multitudinous ways to enjoy it: with whipped cream, hot sauce, maple syrup, fried, or chocolate sauce. Enjoy!
Show this article to your roommate next time you leave food out for too long. It was your plan the whole time, wasn’t it?
Leave a Reply