I’ve mentioned before that Utah is a weird place of amazing food. One of my favorite Utah-based restaurants is Kneaders. Their french toast is bonkers delicious. And their sandwiches are divine. But my favorite thing they make is their amazing raspberry bread pudding.
Bread pudding is a food that on paper, I really shouldn’t like. I HATE soggy bread. Like, if my son puts his lunch dishes in the sink with sandwich crusts still on the plate and they get wet, I want to throw away the whole sink before I deal with that. Full body shudder just thinking about it. When I pack a lunch with a sandwich, I have to pack the pickles or any other wet toppings separately, because just the thought of soggy pickle-juicey bread makes me dry heave. UGH.
The point of that disgusting paragraph is that my initial reaction to the idea of bread pudding is a resounding NOPE. But I set aside my fears of soggy bread and gave it a try and fell deep in love. The only hard part about going to Kneaders now is trying to decide if I can eat french toast AND bread pudding without going into a diabetic coma.
One day last week, my thoughts turned to food, as they are wont to do. And suddenly I was dying for this bread pudding. I decided to scour the internet for a copycat recipe, and this one absolutely nails it.
It’s perfect. I kept picking off the crusty and sugary tops right out of the pan. I ate one bowl to taste test, then made another to photograph. But then I couldn’t just go ahead and throw that one away, so I ate that one too. And then I died so now I am writing this from heaven.
Due to my extreme aversion to sogginess, I wanted to choose a really hearty bread for this bread pudding. I went with a loaf of brioche bread, and half of a loaf of challah bread. These were both in the bakery section of my grocery store. Look for something dense, with a sturdy crust. Rip or tear the bread into chunks and then allow to dry out overnight.
Assemble the bread pudding, bake, prepare the sauce, eat, and join me in heaven. There’s more bread pudding here.
Ingredients
Method
- Preheat oven to 375.
- In a large bowl, combine cream, sugar, egg and vanilla and beat until well combined.
- Stir bread into bread and mix until coated.
- Let bread sit in cream mixture for 30 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes to allow cream to absorb.
- Mix the raspberries, sugar and apple juice. Stir until sugar is dissolved.
- Layer a 9x13 inch baking pan ¾ full with the bread mix and pour fruit filling over the bread mix, spreading evenly.
- Top with the remaining bread.
- Bake 40 minutes, until top is browned and liquid is absorbed.
- 8 . Serve warm topped with vanilla cream sauce.
- Melt butter in medium saucepan and add flour. Stir 10 minutes until it has a nutty aroma, but make sure not to brown. Add salt, cream and sugar and stir until mixture becomes thick. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla. Serve warm over pudding.
Recipe source: Chef In Training
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