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8 Comments While you can typically use just about any bread for a bread pudding, making it with sourdough gives it that extra bit of flavor and texture. It’s also the perfect way to use up stale bread. It reduces food waste as well. With this delicious sourdough bread pudding recipe you have a winner on your hands!
Bread pudding with sourdough
Did you know that I have a big weak spot for bread pudding (or as I sometimes call it a french toast pudding)? It is one of my favorite dessert dishes to make. It’s just so good. And while bread has gotten a lot of bad publicity the last couple of years I still think good bread is delicious and not so bad either. Yes sure a factory produced loaf of white bread is filled with sugar, preservatives and other stuff but I am not talking about all that right now.
Table of contents
Take sourdough : I think most people would agree that it is the best bread you can possibly eat. Even Michael Pollan agrees 😊 Ideally home made but that is a skill I have yet to master. Or may be I just don’t allow myself the time it takes to make a homemade bread.
Sourdough
Buying it from a baker – a good baker – must count too right? So the other week I had bought a whole wheat sourdoughbread but had quite a bit of leftover sourdough bread. And with good bread, it has less preservatives and therefore gets older a bit quicker than your typical
Enter the bread pudding with sourdough: historically someone must have invented the bread pudding for the exact same reason I am using it. A surplus of bread. In this particular case I had sourdough bread leftover and had never used sour dough before to use in bread pudding.
I usually have brioche for that or raisin bread. But since we had the bread we figured why not give it a go? And it was surprisingly good. Not for one minute did the type of bread diminish the taste of the bread pudding. And while it can hardly be called a healthy dessert at least it must be a little better now right? 😉
Texture
The good thing about using the sour dough for this bread pudding is the fact that it gives it much more texture. If you use brioche for instance, the bread gets much softer and almost melts in your mouth. Which is nice in a whole different way from the sourdough bread pudding. I love using it with lemon curd to give it that bit of tartness. But you can substitute any kind of jam if you like it sweet.
I tend to go for that bit of freshness from the lemon, although that’s relative as lemon curd itself is also pretty sweet. While I like to use stale bread you can definitely make this with fresh bread as well.
Making the bread pudding
In order to make the bread pudding with sourdough you start by taking an oven dish and a large bowl. In the bowl you make the egg mixture that will go on top of the bread.
First prepare your oven dish by brushing it with a little bit of melted butter. There are several ways of making this bread pudding but I opted here to slice the leftover bread into 1-inch cubes. I placed the cubed bread into the prepared baking dish.
I like to use blueberries in the butter pudding recipe but you can use any kind of fruit you like.
Egg mixture
Now is the time to make your egg mixture. First you beat eggs a little before adding to the bowl. You take eggs, brown sugar, vanilla extract and mix it until it is well combined. Add the lemon curd and mix that in. Now place the heavy cream (or double cream) in a small saucepan and heat gently. Make sure the mixture will not be boiling.
Now it is time to mix the warm heavy cream with the egg mixture. Pour it in slowly while you keep whisking. That is the best way to prevent the eggs cooking. Which is obviously not what you want.
You can make the cream mixture even richer by only using egg yolk but I like to use the whole egg. I now take the milk mixture and pour it over the bread pieces in the oven dish. Leave it for a few minutes to the bread can soak up the moisture. Sprinkle the grated coconut over the top.
You place the baking pan in the preheated oven for around 20 minutes or until the top is golden brown. You can serve your homemade sourdough bread pudding with ice cream or just eat like it is. It is delicious as a breakfast or dessert. You can serve it hot or at room temperature.
Variations
There are endless variations to make with this easy sourdough bread pudding. While I like using double cream for the liquid mixture you can also use whole milk which will decrease the fat content somewhat. Instead of using the lemon curd you can also make a delicious vanilla sauce. Check the recipe from Laura’s Bakery. (also a great resource for anything to do with baking!)
Some other things that are great to add to your bread puddings are:
- dried fruits
- caramel sauce
- chocolate chips
- other fruits like mango, raspberries or strawberries
I sometimes also use slices of sourdough and spread those with either lemon curd or a raspberry jam. I then slice them in half and place them randomly in the oven dish. You then pour in the liquid and follow the rest as below. Having the additional pieces of crust sticking out a bit from the mixture makes it extra delicious.
In addition to all the sweet variations you can also make a savory bread pudding. For which I will soon share a recipe.
How long can you keep the bread pudding once baked?
While you will have probably finished it in no time, you can keep the bread pudding in the fridge for 2-3 days. You can serve it cold or reheat a little bit to it is at room temperature.
More delicious bread pudding recipes:
Sour dough bread pudding
Ingredients
- 4-5 slices sourdough bread in cubes
- 3 large eggs
- 150 gram lemon curd 1/2 cup
- 70 gram sugar 1/3 cup
- 500 ml double cream 2 cups
- 150 gram blue berries fresh or frozen 1 cup
- 50 gram raisins 1/3 cup
- 3 tbsp coconut grated
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
Equipment
- Oven dish 20 x 30 cm
Titel
- Preheat the oven to 180˚C. Mix sugar, vanilla and the eggs and mix well. Add the lemon curd and stir until it is a smooth mixture.
- Heat the double cream in a small saucepan but do not bring to the boil! Once warm mix it with the egg mixture while constantly stirring.
- Grease an ovendish with a little butter and place your cubes of bread in the dish. Spread evenly throughout and sprinkle with the blue berries. Pour in your egg mixture and where necessary press down a little to make sure all bread is soaked through.
- Sprinkle with the grated coconut and place in the oven for about 20 minutes or until the egg is set and the bread pudding is golden brown. Eat straight away or leave to cool. It’s delicious both warm and cold!
Nutrition Information per portion:
Disclaimer:
The nutritional values above are calculated per portion. The details are based on standard nutritional tables and do not constitute a professional nutritional advice.
I’m not sure if your instructions are mistaken, but it took almost an HOUR before this was set enough to remove from the oven
Great recipe but had to substitute the fresh fruit with dried fruit & it tasted delicious 👍👍👍
Thanks! And yes dried fruit would work well too!
It’s a different taste then the Mexican recipe I use but I enjoyed it. Also I actually just buy old bread on clearance. I have to think of what sounds good today or I eat the same two things. For a dollar or less is a smart idea to just buy day old.
Hi, I live in the US and am having trouble with the conversions
He Mary,
I’ve now added the conversion in cups. I also have a special page for just that purpose.. 🙂 https://insimoneskitchen.octagorilla.com/conversions/
How long do you have to wait for the sourdough to be stale enough to use in this recipe? Thanks!
He Sara, not long at all. In fact you can use fresh sourdough if you want but you can also wait one or two days. Sour dough gets stale pretty quickly.. 🙂