It seems as though every restaurant I'm in these days has bread pudding as a dessert option, and it always looks soooo good that I've been itching to try making a gluten free version.
My early attempts at making bread pudding were never anything to brag about. It's as if I forgot to add enough bread. Even though it seemed as though I was following the recipe it always came out of the oven looking... ok? But when it cooled the results were less than remarkable as it turned into a 1" thick pudding that resembled nothing like bread pudding.
My Grandma made the best bread pudding, but for some reason I could just never get the hang of it, and it required me saving bread heels for months in the freezer to make it so I never tried it more than a couple of times; so you can imagine my surprise when my first attempt at making the gluten free version turned out great! It was a warm soft spicy treat, and was even more yummy topped with butter pecan ice cream. Hmmm! Wonder how it would be with pecans added into the pudding? I'll let you know when I try that.
The best thing about this recipe is that it is easy! No pre-cooking the custard or toasting the bread or even drying it in any fashion. Maybe that's because gluten free bread is naturally dry anyway. With some basic ingredients you too can have bread pudding instead of just watching others eat it.
Bread Pudding
1 cup raisins
4 eggs
2/3 cups granulated sugar
2 cups 2% milk
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp nutmeg
Directions
1 Heat oven to 350°F.
In a small baking dish tear up the bread into bite size pieces, alternating with raisins, and after the pan is full pack the bread down to continue adding bread and raisins until you simply can't add another piece. This I believe is the key to not having your pudding shrink.
In a separate bowl beat the eggs until a lemon color.
Whisk in the remaining ingredients until blended together.
Slowly pour over the bread and raisins, and if necessary stir or press the bread into the mixture until it begins to absorb the liquid. Continue adding until all liquid is added. I set this dish into a cake pan of 2 inches of water to help keep the top from drying out.
Slide the pan into the pre-heated oven, and allow to bake for half an hour.
Press the bread into the mixture, and continue baking for another half an hour.
Your bread pudding is done when a knife inserted comes out wet but clean.
Remove from oven and serve hot with ice cream, whipped cream and a splash of milk. ENJOY!