by Tierney O'Hara

Created on: November 02, 2009   Last Updated: April 04, 2011

Bread pudding was invented in the middle ages as a way to use up stale bread. It was called Poor Man's Pudding because the stale bread was saturated with milk, eggs and sugar and formed a pudding like texture when cooked. Today you can find bread pudding recipes that are simple and inexpensive to make similar to Poor Man's Pudding, or recipes that create a complex company dessert with many expensive ingredients and a long list of instructions, or even bread pudding recipes that are made with doughnuts!

A simple old-standard recipe like the one that follows is very close to  the original bread puddings of the 1300s.

Poor Man's Pudding

Ingredients

2 cups whole milk or half and half

1/4 cup salted butter

2/3 cup light brown sugar

3 large eggs

1-2 teaspoons cinnamon depending on taste

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

3 cups French or Italian bread, torn into small pieces

1. In a saucepan, heat milk (or half and half) over medium heat until a skin or film forms on the top. Add in the butter and continue to cook until the butter is melted and incorporated into the hot liquid. Cool to lukewarm. (You should be able to put your hand on the bottom of the pot and only feel slight warmth. If the milk, or half and half, is too hot it will cook the eggs when you add them in.)

2. Mix sugar, eggs, cinnamon, nutmeg, and vanilla. Beat with an electric mixer at medium speed for two minutes then slowly add to the cooled milk mixture.

3. Place the bread pieces in a lightly buttered medium casserole.

4. Pour the batter on top of the bread.

5. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 to 50 minutes or until set. Check with a toothpick to ensure the middle is cooked. Serve warm with plain cream, ice cream or the sauce below.

Bread Pudding Sauce

Ingredients

1 cup milk

2 tablespoons salted butter

1/3 scant cup granulated sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 tablespoon flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

Mix the ingredients together with a whisk and bring to a low boil over medium high heat for four minutes, stirring constantly to eliminate any lumps.

Remove the pan from the heat and let it stand for five to ten minutes, then pour over the warm bread pudding, or serve it in a pitcher and let your guests drizzle the sauce over their individual servings of bread pudding.

For the sweetest, richest calorie-laden version of bread pudding, leave it to celebrity chef,TV host and butter lover, Paula Deen to find the ultimate bread pudding recipe which she calls:

Bill Nicholson's Krispy Kreme

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