Caramel Bread Pudding

Leftover bread reborn

• CuisineWestern
• CategoryDessert
• CourseDessert

Ingredients

• 3 cupsCaster sugar
• 2 cupsCream
• 2 cupsMilk
• 2 tspVanilla essence
• 4Buns
• 8Eggs
• 1 cupSultanas
• 1 tbspButter

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 180°C
2. Grease a large cake tin with butter
3. Place half the sugar in a pan and add half a cup of water and heat
4. Stir till sugar is dissolved and it comes to a boil
5. As soon as sugar starts darkening slightly, take it off the heat
6. Add a small amount of hot water carefully so that the resulting mixture does not harden when cooled
7. Pour it into the greased tin
8. Add milk and cream to the same pan and dissolve any leftover caramel
9. Bring it to just below boil and then remove from heat and add the vanilla essence
10. Crumb bread into medium pieces and put in a large bowl
11. Pour hot milk and cream over it and let sit for a couple of minutes
12. In a separate bowl, beat eggs and the remaining sugar
13. Stir in the sultanas
14. Mix it with the bread and milk and pour it into the cake tin
15. Place the cake tin in a larger tin and pour hot water into the outer tin
16. Place in oven for 40 minutes or till pudding is firm
17. Remove inner tin from water bath and let cool for 30 minutes
18. Turn over on to a serving dish

After the saga of the pulled pork, I was left with a large amount of bread.

Some of it will go on to become bread salad. Some of it became a large batch of caramel bread pudding.

For me, the hard part in this dish has always been the caramel. Sometimes I burn it but still hesitate to leave it out - after all, the caramel is optional. Other times, it turns to toffee, sticking to the bottom of the pan and refusing to come out when turned over.

The technique I now use is to heat and stir it and take it off the heat at the slightest hint of golden. Then I keep stirring and wait for the colour to darken. If it does not, I return it to heat for a short time and continue till I get a light brown colour. At this point I add some hot water - a few tablespoons. Do this with care, it will spatter violently. This may harden the caramel so it may need some more heat. Then I put a small amount on a metal plate and chill it. If it turns hard, I need to add more water and test again. If it is more like very thick honey, it is just right. I often have to add water a few times and return it briefly to heat to get both the colour and the consistency right. If all goes well, I will have a darkish coloured liquid that thickens but does not harden once poured into the pan and cooled. Once turned over, the caramel layer should just colour the pudding but not form a hard layer nor stick to the bottom of the pan.

A caramel pudding is a lot like many other dishes - the uglier it looks, the better it tastes.