Bread Puddings

Some of the best-loved of all desserts are based on bread. After languishing in the nursery for decades, bread and butter pudding (devised as a way to use stale bread) now appears on the smartest tables, enriched with chocolate, sweetened with raisins, spiced with nutmeg or cinnamon, even served with a whiskey sauce. In New Orleans, bread pudding is a traditional dessert and every chef has his own secret recipe. The bread should be quite dry and hard so that the finished pudding has a slightly chewy texture. Bread puddings may be served warm or chilled, sometimes accompanied by a sauce such as custard, or a rich ice cream. A similar dish is the American breakfast or brunch favorite, French toast, which is dry bread soaked in egg custard, then toasted or fried in butter; the French call it pain perdu or “lost bread”. It is usually topped with a sweet syrup and accompanied by fresh fruit or jam. More elaborate bread puddings include savory variations such as ham and cheese pudding, and sweet versions such as apple charlotte, made in a mold with slices of buttered bread and a tart filling of puréed apple, baked until crisp and golden. For British Summer pudding, slices of bread are molded in a deep bowl and covered with fresh or poached fruit, particularly berries in season.