Bread Pudding Laced with Rum
This is a wonderful, soul serving dessert. It can be served warmed, with whipped cream, ice cream, brandy sauce or just plain. You can also use many types of day old breads, Brioche, Raisin and Challah are great choices and even sweet French if that's what you have on hand. The important thing is that the bread is slightly dry and that you let the bread set in the custard mixture before baking. This will insure a custard like texture through and through.
Ingredients
- 5 cup Day old sweet bread like Challah
- 5 Large eggs
- 1/2 cup Granulated sugar (100g)
- 1 cup Cream (237ml)
- 2 cup Whole milk (474ml)
- 1 tsp Cinnamon (2.3g)
- 3 tbsp Meyers Rum (60g)
- 1 tsp Vanilla extract (4.3g)
- 1 cup Golden raisins (145g)
Instructions
- It's best to use day old bread. Cut the bread into cubes, (about 1" to 1 1/2" cubes). Butter a gratin dish at least 12" long, 2 to 3 inches deep and 8 to 9 inches wide.Preheat your oven to 325° degrees.NOTE: If you don't have day old bread, cut fresh bread into cubes, place in a single layer on a baking and set in a 350° oven for 10 minutes.
- In a large bowl, beat the eggs, sugar, milk, cream, cinnamon, vanilla and rum until the eggs have been completely combined with the milk and sugar.
- Add the cubed bread and golden raisins to the the liquid, stir to coat the bread, and let it set for 30 minutes. This allows the bread to absorb the custard mixture which will result in a moister, lighter pudding.
- Pour the bread mixture into your buttered gratin dish. Cover with a sheet of aluminum foil. Place the gratin dish in an a larger pan, like a roasting pan, and add enough boiling water to come 1/3 of the way up the sides of the gratin dish.Place this on the middle rack of your oven and bake for 30 to 40 minutes, or until the custard has set.
- Remove the foil and lightly sprinkle the top with either granulated sugar or Turbinado sugar, switch on your broiler and leave another minute or two, or until the sugar starts to liquify and forms a crispy top. Keep an eye on it, as it can quickly turn from crispy to charcoaled..
- Best served warm with a caramel sauce, whipped cream, ice cream or just plain. It is great reheated too. If you need a substitute for the Meyers Rum, you can add a teaspoon of rum extract, or omit it entirely. Other non alcoholic substitutes would could be orange extract or 3 tablespoons of maple syrup.
- A good tip. If your gratin dish does not have handles, it can be a bit difficult to lift out of the water bath when it's still hot. What I do is set the gratin dish on a double thickness of aluminum foil several inches longer than the dish is wide. This makes a perfect handle to lift the dish from the water bath. See photo.
