David Rubel's

What's For Dinner?

11/09/05 

Apple Bread Pudding

Because this dish is filling, one recipe makes enough for a typical dinner party dessert. For a large Thanksgiving meal, however, you’ll want to double the recipe and bake the pudding in a 10-by-15-inch pan.

• 6 medium cooking apples
• 3/4 c sugar
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 loaf sturdy white bread
• 1 1/4 c milk
• 1 1/4 c heavy cream
• 2 eggs
• 5 egg yolks
• a pinch of kosher salt
• a pinch of ground nutmeg
• 1 1/2 Tbs vanilla extract
• freshly whipped cream (optional)

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Butter a roasting or jelly roll pan.

2. Peel, core, and slice the apples thickly. Toss them with 1/2 cup of the sugar and the cinnamon. Roast in the buttered pan until soft, about 15-20 minutes. Let cool.

3. Remove (and discard) the crust from the loaf of bread, then cut what remains into approximately one-inch cubes. Spread on a baking sheet to dry.

4. Put on a kettle of water to boil.

5. Arrange the bread cubes evenly in an eight-inch-square baking pan.

6.Combine the milk and cream in a saucepan, and bring the mixture just to a simmer over medium heat.

7. When the milk and cream are hot, combine the eggs and yolks in a large mixing bowl. Whisk together, then add the remaining 1/4 cup of sugar, the salt, the nutmeg, and the vanilla extract.

8. Very slowly pour the hot milk and cream into the egg mixture, whisking as you go to make a custard.

9. Pour the custard over the bread cubes. Turn the cubes to make sure that all of the bread becomes well coated with the custard. Cover evenly with the roasted apples, and then cover the baking pan with aluminum foil.

10. Place the baking pan inside a larger roasting pan, and add boiling water to the roasting pan until the level reaches halfway up the sides of the baking pan.

11. Bake until the pudding is mostly set, about 45 minutes. Then remove the aluminum foil so that the apples can brown, another 10-15 minutes. Serve with freshly whipped cream.

Back to the Top

Tips

* The best apples to use are those that hold together when baked. I feel I’m always safe with Cortlands, but any “cooking” or “all-purpose” apple will do, such as Empires or Romes.

* Even more important than the apple variety is the bread. Never use mushy supermarket sandwich bread. Instead, go to a real bakery and get a loaf of bread that has a real crust and a dense texture. Avoid sourdoughs, however. If the loaves seem small, get two. You want to end up with about 4-5 cups of bread cubes.

* You want the apple slices to be rather thick so that they don’t fall apart. I quarter the apples first, and then slice each quarter into thirds.

* One of the best things about this dessert, especially for Thanksgiving, is that you can do the hard parts a day or so ahead of time. The apples can be roasted in advance and then stored, covered, in the refrigerator, and the bread cubes actually benefit from sitting out, uncovered, overnight.

* Rather than keep ground nutmeg on hand for only occasional use, I keep whole nutmeg in my spice drawer. Then, when a recipe calls for ground nutmeg, I manufacture the amount I need with a cheese grater. Both the flat Microplane and circular Zyliss models work well.

* You need to add the hot milk and cream to the egg mixture slowly; otherwise, you will end up with milky scrambled eggs instead of custard. This process of gradually heating the eggs is called tempering.

Listener Feedback
Kim Berry of Saratoga Springs wrote in to describe a different type of bread pudding she had recently made. Using some dried-out pumpkin bread that she had made in her bread machine, she added chocolate chips and chopped walnuts before adding the custard and baking. “When it was done,” Kim reports, “I made a pouring custard [sauce] to put on top. Wow! I hit the jackpot. It was delicious.” Custard sauces are, in fact, easy to make: Heat two cups of heavy cream just to the boiling point. Meanwhile, whisk together six egg yolks, two tablespoons confectioner’s sugar, two teaspoons corn starch, and a few drops of vanilla extract. Pour the hot cream slowly into the egg mixture, stirring constantly; then return the sauce to the stove and heat it, still stirring, until the sauce thickens, about 1-2 minutes.

If you have tried one of these recipes and have an improvement or tip or variation to suggest, please e-mail David at dinner@wamc.org. Also feel free to send along your own family cuisine recipes. You can even request dishes that you'd like David to present in the future.

---

David Rubel is president of Agincourt Press, a book production company in Chatham, New York. He spends his days writing American history, then heads home after work to cook for his wife and two young children. His most recent book is The Story of America (DK, 2002).