New Orleans Bread Pudding & Rum Sauce
I learned this recipe many years ago in a professional kitchen
I learned this recipe many years ago in a professional kitchen
- 1 quart milk
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 4 large eggs
- 1 tablespoon cinnamon
- 1 tablespoon vanilla
- bread pudding
- 1 loaf dry/stale french bread (may cube and toast in oven to dry out)
- 2 large cans sliced peaches (do not drain)
- 2/3 cup white chocolate chunks (optional - use chunks not chips)
- 1/2 stick butter (melted and cooled)
- 1/2 cup light brown sugar (optional, if not using sauce)
- rum sauce
- 2 sticks unsalted butter (softened)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla (genuine vanilla, not extract)
- 1/3 cup rum unflavored or peach
- Carbohydrate 52.967524474111 g
- Cholesterol 830.354583333333 mg
- Fat 42.550380222249 g
- Fiber 2.43079631453203 g
- Protein 29.8197780556396 g
- Saturated Fat 20.6413207055629 g
- Serving Size 1 1 Serving (345g)
- Sodium 553.35636111147 mg
- Sugar 50.536728159579 g
- Trans Fat 4.89627198334602 g
- Calories 721 calories
Step-by-step
- Preheat oven to 350F.
- Whisk eggs in a bowl and combine with 4 cups of the milk. Add remaining ingredients. NOTE: The brown sugar is optional and really only useful if you're not making the Rum Sauce - otherwise it is too sweet!
- Gently and slowly pour half the milk into the mixture, stirring until all bread is moistened. Add remaining milk as needed to reach a soft batter texture. (You will use most if not all of the quart.)
- Lightly grease a 13x9 pan and pour mixture into pan.
- Bake for 60-75 minutes (depending on pan). Dish is done when knife inserted in center comes out clean.
- Soften butter, add sugar and cream together well on medium speed, be sure the sugar is well creamed and nearly smooth or the sauce will come out "grainy" tasting.
- Add eggs at low speed, gradually increasing speed to high.
- Add vanilla and beat on high for 20-25 minutes, stirring and scraping sides of bowl every few minutes. Do not skip this step or your texture will come out wrong. Mixture will become light and foamy, add rum and mix on medium until well blended.
- Pour into container to be refrigerated until served.
How can anyone tell when a dense casserole of custard-soaked bread is actually baked through the center? Without piercing every square inch with a digital probe, bakers rely on visual and physical feedback from the oven. Baking a 13x9 pan at 350F for 60 to 75 minutes requires watching the structural transformation of the eggs and milk. Inserting a thin-bladed knife into the exact center of the dish provides the definitive answer: if the blade withdraws free of wet batter, the internal proteins have fully coagulated. Overbaking turns the custard watery and spongy, so checking right at the 60-minute mark prevents a rubbery texture.
Achieving the right texture in the accompanying sauce demands mechanical patience. Creaming the softened butter and sugar requires a full medium-speed mixing phase to dissolve the granules completely. Skipping this emulsification step leaves a distinctly gritty mouthfeel on the tongue. Beating the mixture for 20 to 25 minutes incorporates enough air to yield a light, foamy finish before the rum is introduced.
Stale French bread works best because its porous crumb absorbs the quart of dairy without disintegrating into mush. Tossing cubed fresh bread in a hot oven for 10 minutes achieves the identical dryness level when stale loaves are unavailable. Canned sliced peaches add moisture and pockets of fruit tartness directly into the batter. White chocolate chunks remain stable better than standard chips, melting into pockets of cocoa butter rather than vanishing completely into the crumb.
