Bread Pudding

I guess you can say that I've been in a baking mood lately, especially with the holidays upon us.  A friend at work was selling Portuguese sweetbread (pao doce) as a fundraiser for her daughter's school, so I gladly bought a loaf.  I now wish that I had bought another.

I ate the first third of this sweetbread loaf (not all in one sitting mind you) for breakfast, topped with butter, along with my morning coffee.  With the remainder of the loaf, I made bread pudding.

Bread Pudding

2/3 of a 1 lb. loaf of Portuguese sweetbread (pao doce)
4 whole eggs
6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 cups evaporated milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
cinnamon and nutmeg (optional)
raisins (optional)

- Preheat oven to 350º F.

- Cut sweetbread into one inch cubes and arrange in a 9" x 5" loaf pan.  Set aside.
- Cream butter and sugar until smooth. 
- Mix in eggs one at a time until well combined.
- Add in evaporated milk and vanilla, mixing well.
- Carefully pour mixture over cubed bread.  Bread should be completely covered.
- Let sit for approximately 30 minutes prior to baking.
- Bake covered for 40 minutes or until firm.
- Remove from oven and let your bread pudding rest uncovered for about 30 minutes before serving.

**NOTE**

If adding raisins, sprinkle 1/2 cup liberally between cubes of bread.  If using cinnamon or nutmeg, add a teaspoon of each to your milk/egg mixture.  Sprinkle an additional 1/2 teaspoon of each on top of the bread pudding prior to baking.

Other options are to use regular white bread, raisin bread, or brioche.

Here's my bread pudding, at rest.

What I really like about this recipe is that the it almost seems like you're eating custard because of the amount of eggs and milk in this.  It's not too sweet or too rich either.  You can make it "richer" by substituting heavy cream for the evaporated milk called for in this recipe and by using a whole stick of butter.  You can make it sweeter, by adding 1/4 - 1/2 cup more granulated sugar.

As you can see by the picture above, this ends up quite "custard-y".  If you don't want as much custard in this bread pudding, reduce the recipe by 1/3 or use the entire loaf in an 8" square baking pan.

The way I prefer to eat this is topped with crème anglaise, topped with dark chocolate sauce, or served warm with vanilla ice cream.

Enjoy!

Comments

[claudine]

oh reid, YUMMMMMMM!!! i am *SO* making this this weekend... now what if one can't get one's hands on freshly baked portuguese pao doce? what's a good substitute? will hawaiian sweet bread work?
http://www.kingshawaiian.com/products/original.html
(perhaps this is sacriligious... i'm not sure what your thoughts are on hawaiian sweet bread??)

in any case... doing a search for "sweet bread" on your site i found the Sopa de Feijao... another "must try..."

(i have a good friend who recently married a portuguese boy... perhaps i should consult with them...)

cheers from San Francisco,

[Reid]

Hi Claudine,

I love King's Bakery Sweetbread, so yes, it would be OK for you to use that if you can get it! =) Sadly, the bakery is now closed and in it's place we have a Makino Chaya restaurant. You could really use any type of bread that you choose. I just used pao doce because that's what I had at home.

If you do make this, please let me know how it turns out for you. I'm anxious to hear how you like this...most people that I know like more bread. I like more custard myself! =P

The Portuguese bean soup that I make, may or may not be anything like what some Portuguese people eat. Here in Hawaii, it seems to be a local-style dish made with linguica and ham hocks. Please ask your friend's husband and let me know what he thinks. *curious*

[fish fish]

Mmmm~ fish fish would love to try Reid's pudding with choco topping.

[FatMan Seoul]

"My heart .... *gasp for air* .... can't take this." *drops to the ground grasping his heart*

Man .... you're one mean baker. I was never any good at baking cakes, pastries and stuff.

p/s : just noticed you changed the blog's masthead - whatever happened to that green polka thingy?

[santos]

hey reid

this is the exact recipe (give or take a couple tbsp of butter, that is) my auntie in pearl city taught me a zillion years ago in high school. she always adds golden raisins but lately i've been adding currants for a slight difference. i like this recipe the best because it *is* very custardy.

[stef]

any bread pudding that can stand up :) on a plate on its own, is my kind of bread pudding. yummmm!

[Creen]

Wow! Drool... drool... I've been looking for a bread pudding recipe made with Hawaiian sweet bread. I made one for Thanksgiving but didn't come out so great--not enough custard! This is perfect. Can't wait to make it. Thanks Reid!

[Allen Wong]

No Hawaiian sweet breat here. Heck, I'd be lucky enough to find some decent brioche. Maybe I should get off my chair and bake some. Too bad I have too much bread in the house already. Your bread pudding must be delicious. Oh, how my sweet tooth craves to be fulfilled.

Allen

[pinkcocoa]

hi Reid
Your bread pudding looks so rich! I would like mine with vanilla ice-cream topped with chocolate sauce, please!

I made bread pudding the other day too cos I wanted to use up the remaining loaf of bread. :p I made up my recipes. It didnt turn out quite as nice as yours!

[Dina]

Oh man that looks absolutely scrumptious. I adore bread pudding and custard even more ;)

[Reid]

Hi fish fish,

I was going to make melt some dark chocolate to drizzle over this but I was too lazy. It actually tastes quite nice as dark chocolate isn't so sweet either!

Hi FatMan,

Thanks for the compliment. This is really easy to make. Just mix everything together, put it in a pan and stuff it in the oven. It takes care of itself.

As for the previous logo on top, it's been retired. I'm going to try a different look every six months or so. Next overhaul should be in April when the blog turns one.

Hi Santos,

You're right! This recipe is good because it's like custard. I also like it because it's not as sweet as other bread pudding recipes, but you can make it sweet and/or richer by altering the ingredients slightly. You can also make it less custard-y by adding more bread. I like it because it's so versatile.

Hi Stef,

It took a lot for this baby to stand! It's actually quite "wobbly" for lack of a better word. It was standing because I had put this in the fridge for a couple of hours before warming this and eating it. In fact, this was taken just before it went into the microwave to be warmed.

Hi Creen,

Wow lau lau...long time no see! Hope everything is OK in your neck of the woods. Hope you have a chance to make this. It's an easy recipe and tastes great too.

Hi Allen,

This is delicious only because the bread itself has a bit of sweetness and is normally so light and fluffy (when it's fresh). Maybe you can find some sweetbread in a Japanese or Chinese bakery in your area. Otherwise, this can be made with any type of bread with varying results.

Hi pinkcocoa,

This actually tastes good with dark chocolate sauce AND vanilla ice cream. To tell you the truth, the next day, I had this with durian ice cream and it was yummy!

Hi Dina,

Thanks for dropping by. Thanks for the compliment. I love bread pudding...and like you, I love custard too! In fact, this is like a cross between a custard pie and bread pudding! =)

Hope to see you again.

[Pantera]

*sight*... ok, now I am sad because you don't read portuguese... there are a lot of very good sites with typical portuguese recepies and if you love the soup and the sweet bread... oh my! You'd KILL for some of our puddings and "cozidos"!!

[pinkcocoa]

oh my gosh. you did not!! where did you get your durian ice-cream from? Is it really very "durian-y" (sorry, i made up this word >.<)?
I wont mind having some green-tea ice-cream and azuki-paste to go with your bread pudding! hehe. make it japanese style ;-)

[JMom]

Hi Reid, this looks delicious! I have been experimenting with bread pudding, but haven't had much luck. I printed out your recipe, I hope you don't mind. I'll be giving it a try. Thanks!

[Cathy]

Hi Reid - it looks and sounds absolutely delicious! I love bread pudding (not that I get to have it very often), but never though of topping it with a chocolate sauce - yum!

[Reid]

Hi pantera,

I can read a little Portuguese, but not much. I learned a bit prior to visiting Brazil many years back. I have a few Brazilian friends that would surely translate for me so that I can cook for them. =)

Hi pinkcocoa,

I got the durian ice cream from the Asian Market here. It come from Thailand via California and it tastes a bit buttery. Mmmmmm! I never had real durian before, but a friend said it tastes just like the real thing, although the fruit is much better.

Hi JMom,

Welcome to my blog! I'm sorry you haven't had much luck with making bread pudding. This was made using the trial and error method a couple of times until it had just the right amount of custard in it. No, there is no problem with you printing out the recipe to try. Please let me know how you like it.

Hi Cathy,

I love bread pudding too. I got the idea for the chocolate sauce from chocolate bread pudding. I thought if I could use melted chocolate in the bread pudding itself, why not drizzle it on top. Tastes good too...especially when it's still warm.

[MBS]

Reid:

You're portagee bread pudding looks ono! I plan on trying this recipe out after my vacation.

Are there other brands of portuguese sweet bread back home (I'm out of the loop here in California). I confess that I'm ambivalent about King's, since they packed up and moved their operations to California. To me, it's a slap in the face, especially when they market themselves as "Hawaiian".

[Reid]

Hi MBS,

Yeah, I know what you mean about King's. I was really disappointed when the bakery closed down and all of the operations moved. If you'd like, you can buy some pao doce to take back from Leonard's. Their sweetbread is really good. If you can't make it there, you can buy some from Long's. I believe they sell Ani's and/or Mary's brand of sweetbreads.

Hope you like it and thanks for the compliment!

[DNT]

Aloha, will try your recipe in the A.M. Was hoping you'd give a "weight" or cup measurement for the bread - but - I'll do my best to "completely cover" the bread! Mahalo and I'll write back re: the results! Mahalo Much!

[Reid]

Hi DNT,

Thanks for stopping by.

You would use two thirds of a one pound loaf (or about 10.5 ounces). The quantity doesn't have to be exact. In fact, you could use the entire loaf if it fills up the pan.

Good luck with making this.

[Mokie]

Hawaiian Sweet Bread is PAO DOCE(Portugese Bread).....
It's jsut that Kings called it
Hawaiian Sweet Bread because they used to make it in Hawaii. Now they make it in Gardena, CA and you can find it all over the country in Markets. A good bread to sue is Italian Christmas Bread. but any bread will do...