Bread Pudding

I love when you have homemade bread - and too much of it! Bread pudding is one of those great recipes that turns leftovers into a fantastic dessert!

Choose your own baking adventure:

Individual Bread Puddings: bake in buttered ramekins [25-30 minutes - depending on size]

Bread Pudding Bread: Use a little less bread and pack the mixture into a buttered bread loaf tin after letting the bread soak in the liquid for at least 30 minutes. You can then slice the loaf and serve with brunch. [bake 30-45 minutes, until set. Let cool completely before slicing.]

One Dish Wonder: use any casserole dish, cake pan, or even a lasagna pan for big crowds [bake 35-45 minutes until set]

Breakfast Treats for a Crowd

I felt like I won the lottery when H. asked for home baked goods for a morning meeting with his non-profit board. It's been a few weeks of no work place - meaning no team of office workers ready to eat my baking. I can't eat it all myself!

I decided to make two different items that could then be paired with fruit and coffee as desired.

Blueberry Ginger Bundt Cake
Banana Bread (and muffins) covered with bittersweet chocolate frosting

Amish Friendship Chain Bread and Knitting Party: fun times!

Remember chain letters? You got it from one person - but suddenly had to pass it along to 5 of your friends to avoid imminent danger and gloom.

Well - this bread was made from a sort of chain dough. I've heard of bread starters as it relates to sourdough bread - but have never had this cinnamon coffee cake until someone at work brought it in about 12 days ago. Along with the finished product, he brought in a few gallon ziplock bags with about 1/2 cup of milk/flour mixture. this was the start of a BREAD CHAIN.

Amish Friendship Bread - it's moist with more than a hint of cinnamon. Topped with a sugar cinnamon crunch and very moist. Overall, tasty and welcome for a morning treat at work. I brought home a bag of starter and the instructions - and watched it grow on my counter.

It took 10 days to fully proof. About 7 days in - I had to add milk, flour, and sugar. Then - just let it grow and develop for a few more days. On the 10th day, I was able to mix up the final dough - and portion off a few new ziplock bags to hand on to someone new. I made a bundt cake and a batch in my ridged long pan (no idea what it's call - something Scandinavian).

The bundt pan is heavier and darker - and put out a better looking product. This was pretty - and perfect for the knitting party that I hosted 2 days later. The recipe included a box of vanilla pudding - which seemed odd to me. Why wait so long for a starter to develop flavor to just overwhelm it with a box of instant pudding? For that - and the fact that you need a starter to make this exact recipe - I'm not including the recipe. I would suggest finding a different coffee cake to make if you are looking for something similar.

As far as my luck is concerned - I should be worried. I threw away the starters that I set aside. No one at my knitting party wanted to take one home. Not wanting to impose - I thought it was best to just throw it away. I'm sure bad luck will befall me in someway after angering the Amish Friendship Bread gods - it's a risk that I took willingly.

Girls and Boys

Dear H. knows how to do things extremely well.  So when this weekend was deemed girl's night for me - so naturally, H. had a boys night with some friends and he would make it spectacular. He is usually the cook - and I dabble in baking, so this was also a weekend of role reversals.  

Boys' Menu: Hand-ground chuck hamburgers, homemade white bread buns and homemade brioch buns (needed to compare) brought to a friend's hou

se for other sides and plenty of drinks i'm sure.

For the bread: H. wanted to see the difference between a hamburger bun made with white bread and brioch bread. The brioch was made with 88% butter - meaning it had a ratio of butter to flour of .88/1. The disc of

 dough spent some time in the fridge and

 became hard like a pie

 dough. He rolled it into

 perfect little baseball sized buns and let them sit before baking. Both doughs were used to make 6 buns and 1 loaf. The leftover brioch loaf was used on Sunday to make the best french toast i have ever tasted.

Girls' Menu: Bucatini All'Amartrice, mixed green salad, muscato d'asti - before going to a movie (Slumdog Millionair) 

When bringing my visiting mother to a favorite italian spot -Al Vento - she ordered a bucatini dish. 

This "hollow" speghetti will make any carb-lover dance with joy. It's tasty and thick. I wanted to make an authentic dish that would help myself and girlfriends forget that we ever thought carbs were bad. So - I did some internet searching only to find a tip: "use the Silver Spoon recipe - it's the most authentic." Funny to be led back to one of my many cookbooks - and a most simple recipe. 

I hate to admit that my share of the wine made me forget about taking a photo of the final product. However - this sauce was tasty with the pork fat. The leftovers have grown in spice as the pepper releases more heat. It's the best carb-loading dinner I've had in awhile.

I found dried bucatini at a local italian market for $8-$10/package and at Trader Joe's for 99cents... you take your pick.

Bucatini All'Amartrice adapted from the Silver Spoon

1 pkg bucatini (or speghetti)

olive oil for brushing

generous 1/2 cup pancetta

1 onion diced

28 oz whole peeled tomatoes (coarsely chopped in can)

1 chile seeded and diced

s

alt and pepper

Brush a flameproof caserole with olive oil. Add the pancetta and cook over low heat until the fat runs (took me about 12 minutes). Add the onion and cook (stirring occasionally) for about 10 minutes until lightly browned. Add the tomatoes (with juice) and chile - season with salt and pepper. Cover and cook for about 40 minutes, adding a little warm water if neccessary. Cook the pasta in a large pot of salted water. Boil until al dente, drain and toss with sauce.

Sunday Morning: Brunch with H's parents. Turned the brioch into french toast!

Bad Bread

If you read the previous post, you might think that I would never ruin anything in baking - especially bread - since I own the tools to prevent such a thing. However, fate was not on my side last weekend when I attempted to bake Finnish Biscuit for a second time in my life while entertaining my mother who was in town, working out, visiting the local plant conservatory - and other weekend adventures.  

What went wrong?

Issue #1 The yeast was rapid rise because I tried the last of my regular yeast and it didn't activate. I thought I could just grab the 'other' yeast and substitute. I don't think so!

Issue #2 I didn't have the time to let it rise a little longer than normal, so I put it into the fridge when we wanted to leave.

Issue #3 When removing it from the fridge, I didn't let it warm up completely before baking. When I cut the dough into thirds for the loaves, it was still cool/cold in the center.

Issue #4 When I baked the loaves, I failed to adjust the time to make up for the dense loaves. I didn't use my thermometer to check the center temp (that would also mean looking in another book for the right temp - which i have somewhere, just not sure where!). 

Issue #5 One thing I did right! I let the loaves cool for several hours before slicing. However, it was not enough to save them. Two of the loaves were completely DOUGHY in the center.

What do you do with three partially doughy, practically ruined, really tasty cardamom bread? You cut all the pieces you can salvage and make BREAD PUDDING!

Bread pudding with dried apricots, dried cherries, and caramel sauce

adapted from The Bon Appetit Cookbook

4 cups sugar divided

2 1/4 cups water divided

4 oz dried apricots thinly sliced

4 oz dried tart cherries chopped

splash of kirsh

3 cups whipping cream divided

2 cups whole milk

8 large egg yolks

1 1/2 loaves bread - enough to fill your baking dish (cardamom bread is great for this!)

note: this calls for 3 medium saucepans. The fruit can deal with a small saucepan if you are going to run out and don't want to wash too many pans.  The milk and caramel sauce need the space of a medium pan to cook evenly and not boil over.

Prepare Fruit

Combine: 1 cup sugar, 2 cups water, splash of kirsh (cherry liqueur), apricots and cherries in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil, stirring until sugar dissolves. Remove from heat. Cover and let stand 20 minutes. Strain fruit over a bowl and reserve liquid and fruit seperatly.

Prepare Pudding

Preheat oven to 350. Bring 2 cups cream and milk to simmer in medium saucepan. Remove from heat. Whick remaining 2 cups

 sugar and egg yolks in a large bowl to blend. Gradually whisk in warm milk mixture. Cool custard slightly.

Lightly butter 13x9x2 inch baking dish (i like ceramic - Emile Henry). Arrange 1st layer of bread cubes/slices to cover the bottom and sides completely. Trim the bread to fit crevices.

 Spoon the fruit over the bread. Arrange the rest of the bread over the fruit. 

Pour custard over bread. Press bread to submerge. Let stand until the custard is absorbed, at least 10 minutes (depending on

 how dense your bread is - longer is better. I let mine stand for 35 minutes.) Bake until custard is set and bread is golden brown on top - about 55 minutes.

Prepare Caramel Sauce 

Combine 1 cup sugar and remaining

 1/4 cup water in heavy medium saucepan.  Stir over low 

heat until sugar dissolves. Increase heat and boil without stirring until syrup is DEEP AMBER color. This will take about 12 minutes. Remove from heat and gradually whisk in 1 cup of reserved fruit soaking liquid. (mixture will bubble vigorously). Stir over low heat until

 caramel thickens slightly - about 6 minutes. Add 1 cup of cream. Bring to a boil and simmer until caramel thickens slightly - about 3 minutes. Remove from heat. Cool sauce 30 minutes, whisking occassionally.

Caramel sauce can be made 1 day ahead and refridgerated. Reheat before serving.

Serve pudding warm with sauce.