old to new.

I'm a bread junkie. I love me some bread. In fact, when I was young, my snack wouldn't be chips and dips, it would be pandesal and a huuge dollop of Cheez Whiz or a honkin' chunk of Ques-O. Mmmm... bread and cheese. Best combo ever.

Nowadays, I tend to eat my bread with "fancier" accoutrements like fruits, cured sausages, and primo smoked gouda. Or make copy-cat sandwiches inspired from my previous job at Boudin Bakery. Sourdough, seemingly, goes on my top favorite list of carby snacks I have in the house.

This time around, the loaf I had bought to just snack on was taking longer than usual to disappear. It's probably because grocery day is coming up and all the stuff I usually eat with it needs to get replenished. So my little loaf was getting sadder (and staler) by each passing day. I needed to do something... fast.

Solution? Why not a bread pudding? I was kind of wary about it at first. I wasn't sure if the sourness of the bread was going to go with the usual sweetness that I associated with bread pudding. But I had all the ingredients on hand and the rum cream was calling my name.

It didn't turn out too bad, actually. The sauce pretty much covered up any weirdness that the sourdough might have imparted. I added cinnamon to the pudding and used regular raisins since that was what I had on hand. Also, instead of heavy cream, subbed coconut cream instead. Not a bad experiment, but I think I'd stick with a sweeter bread next time...

Sourdough Bread Pudding with Rum Cream
(from ICSCBooks.com)

For Bread Pudding:
8 cups cubed day old sourdough bread
1 cup golden raisins
4 cups milk or half and half
3 large eggs
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 tbsp vanilla extract
3 tbsp melted butter

For Rum Cream:
6 tbsp butter
2/3 cup heavy cream
3 tbsp dark rum
1 cup brown sugar

 
Preheat oven to 325°F.

In a large bowl, combine bread, raisins and milk. Let stand 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. In a medium bowl, beat together eggs, sugar and vanilla until fluffy. Stir into bread mixture.

Pour melted butter into the bottom of a 13x9” baking pan. Spoon in bread mixture. Bake about 55 minutes or until pudding is set and lightly browned. Let stand 15 minutes.

While pudding bakes, start cream. Combine butter, cream, rum and sugar in a small saucepan on medium heat. Heat to a boil, stirring until sugar dissolves. Reduce heat to medium low and simmer sauce a couple minutes until thickened. Remove from heat and cool slightly.

Serve pudding drizzled with sauce.