I recently made my first bread pudding, using a basic recipe from AllRecipes.com (http://www.madhuknitsandcooks.com/madhu_knits_and_cooks/2009/04/chocolate-chip-bread-pudding.html). A few nights ago, I decided to use up the other half of my Trader Joe's challah bread and the rest of my carton of low-fat milk to make another bread pudding. However, after the bread was broken into pieces and placed into the pan, and two eggs (instead of the four I used last time) had been beaten, I realized I only had a little over 1 cup of milk to use instead of the 2 called for in the original recipe. Instead of giving up on the effort, I decided to forge ahead and finish the bread pudding with just the cup of the milk and 2 eggs (basically halving the liquid ingredients in the recipe), adding in the rest of the original recipe ingredients staying as is.
The rest: a wonderful, bouncy, light and delicious chocolate chip bread pudding!
Using less liquid really helped bring out more textures in the bread pudding, specifically a nicely browned top and a rich, pudding-like bottom. Using fewer eggs also helped eliminate the problem I experienced with the original recipe — a cooked, very eggy bottom layer. So moving forward, I would definitely recommend including only the necessary liquid needed to lightly soak the bread and absolutely no more. I would also recommend using no more than 2 eggs for a bread pudding baked in an 8-by-8 inch pan.
Now, time to make more!
Leave a Reply