Strawberry Bread Pudding - Pink Saturday

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...I know it's summer, and I know that 2010 has been declared The Year of the Pastry Chef. I'm okay with all that. It's not my intent to buck culinary trends, or the calendar for that matter. I know that sensible people don't make bread pudding in July and I suspect that most pastry chefs and food snobs feel this homely dish is not worthy of their attention. They're dead wrong. The Marquess de Queensbury Rules of the Kitchen clearly state that any dish, however homely, can be made at any time of year. The only condition attached to its execution is that the dish must be delicious. A stale loaf of bread and a glut of fresh field strawberries were my inspiration. My muse led me to a site called The Daily Loaf - The CL Cookbook where I found a recipe for strawberry bread pudding. I made a few minor changes to the recipe, put it in the oven and 40 minutes later had a wonderful dessert. The original recipe uses a caramel sauce for garnish. I thought that to be at odds with the strawberries, so I served ours with French vanilla ice cream. I really loved this and will use frozen berries to make it in the winter as well. I hope you'll try this simple dessert. It is wonderful. Here's the recipe.

Strawberry Bread Pudding...from the kitchen of One Perfect Bite, inspired by the Daily Loaf

Ingredients:
4 eggs
2 cups whole milk
1/2 cup white granulated sugar
1/4 cup golden brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon salt
12 ounces crusty stale bread, torn or cut in bite-size pieces
2 cups fresh or frozen (thawed) strawberries, sliced

Directions:
1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease an 8 x 8 x-2-inch pan. Set aside.
2) Combine eggs, milk, sugar (white and brown, vanilla extract, spices and salt in a small bowl. Whisk until blended.
3) Place bread pieces into a large bowl. Pour milk mixture over bread and toss to combine. Let sit for 15 minutes to allow milk to be absorbed into bread.
4) Fold in strawberries and pour mixture into baking dish.
5) Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, or until raised and puffy. Insert a toothpick into center and if it comes out fairly clean, it’s done. Let cool for a few minutes before serving. Yield: 8 to 10 servings.

Caramel Sauce

Ingredients:
1/2 stick of butter
1/2 cup of brown sugar

Directions:
1) Put butter in a small pan or sauce pan over medium heat and let it melt.
2) Add brown sugar and stir until it’s combined. Lower heat. Stirring constantly, let sauce slightly simmer until sugar is completely dissolved and it is slightly thickened, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat. Serve drizzled over warm bread pudding.

You might also enjoy these recipes:
Cranberry Bread Pudding - One Perfect Bite
Chocolate Bread Pudding - One Perfect Bite
Chocolate Bread Pudding - Beyond Salmon
Bread Pudding - Simply Recipes
Summer Pudding - David Lebovitz
Bread Pudding with Kahlua Sauce - Ravenous Couple
Nutella Bread Pudding - Su Good Sweets

This post is being linked to:
Pink Saturday, sponsored by Beverly at How Sweet the Sound.

Cranberry Bread Pudding with Orange Hard Sauce

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...I'm probably a member of the last generation raised in kitchens where nothing was wasted, including stale bread and leftover rice. Rice and bread puddings were fixtures of my childhood. Bread pudding, both sweet and savory, has a long history in the annals of cooking. It can be traced to peasant kitchens where frugal and often hungry cooks refused to discard stale bread. The earliest recipe for bread pudding can be traced to a book called "The Art of Cookery, Made Plain and Easy" by Hannah Glasse. It was published in 1747. Her recipe, save for instructions written in old English, is quite similar to those in use today. She adds butter, eggs and milk to stale bread and steams (boils) her pudding to completion. I prefer to bake mine.

I have a sentimental attachment to Cranberry Bread Pudding. It is, of course, delicious, but it's also one of the first recipes I entered into amateur recipe competition. It didn't embarrass me and it's stood the test of time. I make this at least once during the holiday season. The original recipe used croissants. I urge you to use these if possible. The pudding shown in today's post was made with a raisin sweet bread because that is what I had on hand. Pumpkin pie spice is used to keep the number of ingredients used in the recipe under control. That's important in competition recipes, but less so in the confines of your own kitchen. I'm inserting a list of spices within the recipe that can be used in case you don't keep pumpkin pie spice in your pantry. This pudding is packed with down-home flavor and it's a wonderful addition to the holiday dessert table. The hard sauce is to die for - really! Here's the recipe.

Cranberry Bread Pudding with Orange Hard Sauce...from the kitchen of One Perfect Bite

Ingredients:
Pudding:
14 ounces (approximately 7 large) stale croissants, cut into 1-inch cubes and lightly toasted
1 cup dried, sweetened cranberries
4 large eggs, lightly beaten
3 cups half-and-half
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/4 cup butter, melted and cooled
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice or
. 1-1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
. 3/4 teaspoons ground ginger
. 3/8 teaspoons allspice or ground cloves
. 3/8 teaspoons nutmeg
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 tablespoon freshly grated orange zest
1/3 cup freshly squeezed orange juice

Topping:
1/4 cup light brown sugar
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice or
.1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
.1/4 teaspoon ginger
.1/8 teaspoon allspice or ground cloves
.1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Orange Sauce:
1/4 cup butter
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 cup water
1 tablespoon freshly grated orange zest
1/2 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions:
1) Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Generously grease a 2 1/2-quart (9x11 x3-inch) baking dish.
2) Arrange half of croissants pieces on bottom of prepared dish; sprinkle with cranberries, then cover with remaining croissants. Set aside.
3) Combine eggs, half-and-half, 1/2 cup brown sugar, melted butter, salt, pumpkin pie spice, vanilla, orange zest and juice in a blender container; pulse until well combined. Pour mixture over cubed croissants, pressing down with back of large spoon to moisten. Allow to sit for 30 minutes.
4) To make topping, combine 1/4 cup brown sugar and pumpkin pie spice in a small bowl; sprinkle on top of croissant mixture.
5) Place dish in a large roasting pan; transfer pan to middle shelf of the oven. Pour hot water into roasting pan until it comes halfway up the sides of dish. Bake until the custard is softly set, about 55 minutes.
6) While pudding bakes, prepare Orange Sauce: Combine butter, 1 cup brown sugar, flour, salt, water, zest, juice and vanilla in a heavy 2-quart saucepan; cook over medium heat until mixture thickens and looks syrupy.
7) Allow pudding to cool about 20 minutes before serving. Pass the sauce separately in a sauce boat. Yield: 8 to 10 servings.