Living in the islands for a very long time I enjoyed the most delicious bread pudding from the bakeries. Now that i live in the Northwest I have not been able to find a good bread puccing recipe that compares to the islands. It is moist with raisins along with all the bread and eggs that is firm to slice and is very delicious and is not served with any sauce. I have searched on the web and find the recipes are either dry or they come with a slurpy sauce. Can anyone help me here?

I am not sure what bread pudding you mean but we have a bread and butter pudding over here, the UK, I wonder if that is similar to the one you have tried?  We make it in a pie dish, it is buttered bread layered with raisins or sultanas and spices and then an eggy custard is poured over it and it is baked in the oven.  When it is ready you can spoon it out and eat it as is or pour over some cream.  It is good!

The bread and butter bread pudding is quite similar. I tried a bread and butter pudding recipe and it did not match what i am looking for; it was too soft for my taste buds. What i am looking for it is sliced, not too firm and will not fall apart.

Hello again, Ginger. Traditional bread pudding is just a simple custard mixed with buttered bread and flavourings to your taste. The next step, one of the most important, is allowing the bread sufficient time to absorb some of the custard mixture. At least one hour. The texture will be all wrong without this step. Then brush your dish(es) with softened butter, ladle the mixture in filling them 3/4s full. Bake in a water bath at 350F until just set. Remove from bath and wipe outside of dish(es). Refrigerate until fully chilled.

Any type of bread may be used. A light toasting is a good idea before cutting into cubes. Enriched breads such as brioche or challah give a wonderful flavour. As for other flavourings and whether you serve with sauce or not, it’s your choice. Most traditional, I believe, is to throw in a few plumped raisins with some vanilla and ground cinnamon. The variations are limited only by your imagination. I believe Rose has a chocolate bread pudding in one of her books. You can whisk a little pumpkin puree in with the hot custard after straining. Or substitute dried cherries for the raisins and throw in some orange zest. You get the picture.

Now would you mind satisfying my curiosity! You’re from “the islands.” Which ones, in which part of the world? Olympia, Greece or Olympia, Washington? I’m being nosy, of course, but it helps sometimes to know which culinary tradition a forum member’s questions spring from.

I would like to know which islands too!  Also, I would add that if you follow Carol’s suggestion with the bread and butter pudding of adding dried fruits to your pudding to make sure you don’t scatter them on the top of the pudding as they can then get burned and taste very hard and bitter.  Just a little tip from one who’s made that mistake in the past!  I would second all the other suggestions made by our friend Carol, especially regarding using brioche or other enriched breads which give a lovely flavour.  Sometimes a little spirit adds to the flavour too, gilding the lily!!!

Umm, toasting the bread is what i didn’t think of doing. Just yesterday i brought home some portugese sweet bread and half and half to put into the bread pudding. Since the only sweet bread they had were in buns that was my only choice, anyway it is sweet bread. 

Sure, that is not a problem. As i mentioned earlier I had to teach myself how to make bread since i was brought up eating rice 24/7. As i was saying i am from the Pacific Northwest but i lived most of my life on the main island of Oahu there I cannot recall my parents purchasing bread, it was always rice. After language school my friends and I were always famished so we stopped at the local bakery and endulged ourselves in the best bread pudding we could imagine. A few year’s ago i visited my home town and the bread pudding was just as delicious as they were back then.

Gingerr since you are in the NW, I recommend Grand Central Como as the source for your bread pudding bread. That is if you choose not to bake the bread yourself. I like to soak it overnight in the custard mixture.

There is a bread pudding in the new book—bottom center photo: http://www.realbakingwithrose.com/2009/04/preview_of_the_new_book_1.html

It sounds like the bread pudding you remember was fairly firm in texture. I’d recommend you try one or both of the following modifications to your recipe: 1) use less of the custard mixture—only enough to moisten and bind the bread together, and 2) add more egg or egg yolk to the custard mixture for a firmer custard. Or, look for a recipe that has these features.

Matthew,

I checked the site and didn’t realize Rose did a recipe on bread pudding. I definitely need to get her book. Thanks for sharing.

The main problem i was having is that there was about 1/2 inch bottom layer of custard which i didn’t like and I tried it just putting it in the oven or placing a pan of water and at both cases there would be a separate custard layer. This time I took carolita’s advice by buttering the bread before toasting and placing the dish in a pan of water as a water bath and baking it at 350 for one hour. It can out nice no custard separation. I made a 2 quart dish and there is only one piece left.

Thank you all for your help. I wouldn’t have made it without your assistance.

So nice to hear you enjoyed your pudding!  It’s one of my favourites when it is made how I like it.  It is one of those recipes that can be messed up if not made properly though.

As i knew i didn’t want to pay $400 plus just for the perfect Bread pudding to travel to the islands I decided to settle for the recipe I thought was pretty good. Well, I took the bull by the horns and made another batch only this time I made some Blueberry Bread Pudding using the same recipe. Well, the results were favorable and we really liked it better than the raisins but with this one i need to remember to cut back 1/2 cup of the milk; but it was still so very good!

Another little trick you might try, if you haven’t already, is to let the completed mixture stand for about half and hour before putting it in the oven.  This will give the bread time to throughly soak up the custard mixture.

Thank you, Jeannette. I’ve already tried soaking. I am now looking into different variations. Tried banana, raisins, and blueberry each separately.

After several tries I have managed to come up with the perfect bread pudding to my satisfaction. That is using the right amount of liquid as well as baking it in a water bath. It came out not too firm and not too soft; as you are able to hold it in your hand without it falling apart; just like the bakery in Honolulu.

My next question is what flavors can without the use of sauce?