Bing's Easy Bread Pudding

Jump to Recipe

Bing's Easy Bread Pudding is one of those desserts that’s as soothing as it is satisfying. Made by soaking cubed or sliced day-old bread in a lightly sweetened custard base and then baking it, bread pudding is, it's simple
comfort food at its best, and one of my father's, Bing, specialities.

But bread pudding can also be sophisticated, as when topped with a sauce like the rum-raisin (see below), or flavored with any number of additions (see below). Think of it as a blank canvas when it comes to dessert.

Jump to:

Essential Ingredients
How to make
Recipe Tips
Switch up the flavor
Recipe FAQs
More recipes to try
Comments and ratings
Bing's Easy Bread Pudding
Sign-up for The Flavor Journal Newsletter and Get a Free e-book!
Let's connect!

Essential Ingredients

Bread - White bread works well. My go-to is a soft, thin-crusted Italian-style loaf that’s porous enough to soak up just the right amount of custard for a creamy, smooth pudding consistency. Breads with a firmer texture, such as challah or brioche, will be, well, firmer but are also good candidates. You can experiment with croissants or even doughnuts in place of the bread, too.

Dairy or Nondairy - I use a combination of heavy cream and whole milk, I find milk alone is too thin to make a creamy custard while just cream is too thick and cloying. You can also use nondairy milks, such as soy or oat, and non-dairy heavy cream, to make the dish lactose-free.

Vanilla extract - Adding a healthy dose of vanilla gives the pudding a lovely aroma while a little salt elevates all of the flavors; without it, the pudding would
taste flat.

How to make

1. Butter a 2-quart baking dish and pile in the bread cubes; the dish should
be almost completely filled (A).

2. In a medium saucepan, combine the milk, cream, sugar, butter, vanilla, and salt. Bring to a simmer, stirring until sugar is dissolved and butter is melted. Remove from the heat (B).

3. Whisk the eggs and yolk together in a small bowl and slowly whisk in 1 cup of the warm milk mixture until blended. Return this mixture to the pan with the warm milk and whisk to blend (C). (You can whisk all of the eggs directly into the milk mixture if you let the milk mixture cool to room temperature first.)

4. Pour the egg mixture evenly over the bread. (D) Cover with plastic wrap directly on the surface, and let sit at room temperature, pressing down on it occasionally to submerge the bread in the custard, for at least 45 minutes and up to 24 hours. (Refrigerate if soaking for more than 2 hours; let sit at room temperature while the oven heats.)

5. Bake at 350°F until the center of the pudding springs back when gently pressed with a finger and a knife inserted in the center comes out almost clean, 30 to 35 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature with a dusting of confectioners’ sugar.

Recipe Tips

Older is better. Fresh bread is fine, but drier bread will absorb the custard better. If your bread isn’t at least a day old, let the cubes sit out for a few hours, or very lightly toast them in the oven.
Crusts can be on or off. The choice is yours. The crust will give the pudding a little more chew and color. One caveat: The crust of an artisan loaf or even the bottom of a soft Italian bread may be too hard and dense. In such cases, it’s best to cut the crust away.
Soak the bread for at least 45 minutes to give it enough time to absorb the custard, which softens and flavors the bread. The bread can soak for up to 24 hours; the longer it soaks, the softer it sits.
It’s also a dessert that’s easy to whip up at a moment’s notice since bread pudding’s core ingredients—eggs, milk, cream, sugar, and, of course, bread—are often on hand.
Serve with a sauce, if you like. Though delicious on its own, bread pudding also benefits from a sauce, such as the Rum-Raisin Sauce below.

Switch up the flavor

Coconut-Citrus - Use two well-shaken 13.4-oz. cans coconut milk in place of the milk and cream. Increase the vanilla to 2 ½ tsp. and add 1 1 /4 tsp.
finely grated fresh lemon or orange zest to the custard. After baking, sprinkle
toasted shredded coconut over the pudding.

Cherry-Almond - Soak ½ cup dried cherries in very hot tap water until plumped, about 20 minutes. Drain well. Scatter the cherries over the bread cubes. Add ½ tsp. pure almond extract to the custard. After baking, sprinkle toasted sliced almonds over the pudding.

Chocolate - Scatter 2 oz. finely chopped bittersweet chocolate over the bread cubes. Increase the granulated sugar to ¾ cup, and whisk 1 oz. (⅓ cup) unsweetened Dutch process cocoa powder into the custard.

Rum-Raisin Sauce (Makes about 2 cups) - In a medium saucepan, combine 1 ½ cups heavy cream, ½ cup raisins, and ⅔ cup packed dark brown sugar. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, reduce the heat to low, and cook, stirring frequently, until the mixture thickly coats a silicone spatula and holds a line drawn through it, 6 to 8 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in 3 to 4 Tbs. dark rum. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Recipe FAQs

Can I make bread pudding ahead?

I think the best way to make bread pudding ahead is the let the bread cubes soak in the custard overnight in the refrigerator, then bake it when ready to serve.

Can I make individual bread puddings?

Yes, you can make individual bread pudding in large ramekins, and bake them 15 to 20 minutes at 350°F.