Overcoming fears, and associated benefits

I have a confession to make.  I don't like cereal.

I know, that makes me one seriously weird American.  What can I say - the idea of taking something hard and dry and then pouring milk over it just makes me feel rather squeamish.  I would never dip a cookie in milk - not only are you making it soggy (ew), but you'll also probably get crumbs into the milk (ew again).  When I'm served crackers with soup at a restaurant, I eat the crackers and soup separately - if I bother with the crackers at all.

There are a few exceptions to my rule.  I admit, I do like a nice croûton, preferably smothered in rouille, with my bouillabaisse.  But then it's only dropped onto the spoon at the last minute, just before popping into my mouth to maintain the perfect crunchy texture in contrast to the velvety broth and toothsome bite of fish.  A mucky, soup-saturated croûton has no place in my mouth, or, if it were up to me, in the world.

By the same logic, for a long time I was averse to the idea of bread pudding.  Why would you want to drown your bread in milk and egg?  Won't it just get soggy and unpalatable?*  Luckily, eventually I considered that bread pudding is essentially baked French toast, and suddenly it took on whole new possibilities.  I started making bread pudding a year or two ago, and it's now one of my favorite winter desserts.

Perhaps someday I'll decide to try cereal again, but I rather doubt it.  Breakfast is such a wonderful meal, with oatmeal, pancakes, scones, muffins, bread (and toast [and french toast (and therefore, why not bread pudding?)]), and so many superb offerings - why waste it on something as pedestrian - and potentially soggy - as cereal?

*The answers are, of course, respectively, because it turns into custardy delicious goodness, and no. 

Bread pudding

Bread pudding really is best made with a bread with a light, fluffy crumb and a soft crust like challah, brioche, or a good-quality American white bread.  Save your crusty European-style loaves for scraping the bottom of a bowl of chicken soup.

I made two kinds of bread pudding this week.  The first was a standard bread pudding with dried cranberries, seen in the photograph just above the recipe.  The second, seen at the bottom of this post, was a maple pumpkin bread pudding with chocolate chips.  It's a tough call to say which I prefer - the maple pumpkin is superb, but probably better in the fall when I crave pumpkin.  It's nice and custardy, but the standard recipe feels more like bread pudding, all light and fluffy and impossibly delicious.  But really, either way you can't go wrong.

8 ounces (or about 8 cups) stale challah, brioche, or fluffy white bread, cut into 3/8-inch slices and then chopped into 1-inch cubes
4 eggs
3/4 cup sugar
2 cups milk (I use Calder Dairy skim)
2 cups heavy cream
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
handful dried cranberries (about 1/2 cup or so)

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees fahrenheit, and grease a 13x9-inch baking dish or large, deep casserole.

In a large bowl, beat the eggs with the sugar, then add in the milk, cream, vanilla, cinnamon, and salt.  Toss in the bread cubes and cranberries, then fold to combine.  Let rest 20 minutes.

Pour the bread into the greased dish and bake until lightly browned on top and the center is puffed and firm, about 40-50 minutes.  Let cool for 5 minutes, then dig in.

Maple Pumpkin Bread Pudding
Based on the recipe above, reduce the sugar to 1/4 cup, increase the cinnamon to 1 teaspoon, and eliminate the cranberries.  Add in 1/2 cup maple syrup with the sugar, and add in 1/2 cup pumpkin with the milk and cream.  Mix in 1/4 teaspoon each of ginger and nutmeg, as well as a dash of allspice if you have it on hand.  After resting 20 minutes, stir in a handful of chocolate chips.