Bread Pudding with Rum Sauce
Bread Pudding with Rum Sauce
Isn’t bread pudding with rum sauce a tasty thing? I always think of it as cubed french toast with a dessert sauce. The cubing of the bread seems to be what sets french toast apart from bread pudding. The fact that you eat french toast for breakfast and bread pudding with rum sauce for a dinner’s dessert also sets them apart. Of course, I have never had a rum sauce with my french toast either, but I would be willing to try it. There are so many baked french toast recipes out there that pan frying and baking don’t really set them apart anymore.
The foundation of bread pudding with rum sauce is the bread. A good raisin bread will go a long way to making a nice bread pudding, but to make the best bread pudding, a good brioche is needed. The buttery goodness of a brioche is one part of it, but its crumb helps the most. A brioche’s crumb seems adept at soaking up the custard mixture without becoming a goopy mess. It holds the custard mix well and when baked, the bread and custard become moist and creamy with just enough chew.
A rich custard mix is easy to make for a bread pudding. A simple egg and milk mixture does the job. It can be made very rich with the use of cream, but whole milk does a fine job. If I am feeling squeamish about calories, skim milk does a fine job.
Spicing up your bread pudding with rum sauce is very important. It is a perfect vehicle for cinnamon, but I like to use something a little out of the ordinary in my bread pudding – a good hit of Chinese 5 spice. The anise, clove, fennel and sichuan pepper give both sweet and warm flavors to a bread pudding. The fifth spice, cinnamon, also comes in the 5 spice. I like to add extra so it has nice cinnamon impact. These spices do very well in a custardy bread pudding and also complement the rum sauce.
To make the best sauce, use a spiced and oaked rum. The spices and the rum play off each other nicely and round out the dish. The rum sauce is very simple to make: egg, sugar, butter, vanilla and rum are all that you need. There are no double boilers or any fancy equipment needed either. You do need a strong arm and some care, though. The sauce should be whisked constantly and when heating the mixture, be careful not to over heat it. The mixture should become smooth and thick. I whisk the mixture over heat until all the sugar is dissolved, but don’t let it boil. Using an instant read thermometer, bring the temperature to between 165F and 175F and that should do the trick. It will be thick and creamy. The rum is added after the cooking so it will still be smooth, but just a bit thinner. Add the rum to taste.
If you would rather a booze free sauce, make a simple vanilla custard sauce. A bread pudding with a vanilla custard sauce is equally nice. The recipe for the custard sauce is below.
The video below walks you through all the steps for making a very tasty bread pudding with rum sauce. The recipe follows.
- 1.5 lb of purchased or homemade brioche bread
- 1 cup of raisins
- 2 cups of milk
- 1 cup of sugar
- 3 eggs
- 4 tbsp melted butter
- 2 tsp vanilla
- 1 tsp rum extract
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp Chinese 5 spice
- 1 cup of sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 stick of butter
- 1/4 cup of spiced rum (if you can, use the rum that is spiced and oaked)
- Preheat the oven to 350F.
- Butter a 9x12 inch baking pan.
- Cube the brioche into 1 inch cubes.
- Mix the brioche and raisins in a large bowl.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the milk, sugar, eggs, butter, vanilla, rum extract and spices.
- Pour the milk mixture over the bread and raisins. Give the mixture a gentle toss. Lets sit 5-10 minutes to allow the bread to soak up the milk mixture.
- Pour the mixture into the prepared baking pan and bake 35-45 minutes until a knife inserted comes out clean and the top gets golden brown.
- While the bread pudding is baking make the rum sauce.
- Whisk together the egg, sugar and vanilla until the ingredients are well mixed.
- In a small pan, melt the butter over medium heat.
- Add the egg/sugar mixture to the melted butter and whisk constantly. Heat the mixture while whisking until it thickens, becomes creamy and all the sugar is completely dissolved, about 5-10 minutes. An instant read thermometer will read between and 165F and 175F. Don't boil the sauce. If the egg does curdle, whip it with a stick blender off the heat to make it smooth.
- Remove the sauce from the heat and put it in a small bowl. Slowly drizzle in the rum to taste.
- Serve the bread pudding hot or cold with a good drizzle of the rum sauce.
- If an alcohol free sauce is preferred, use a vanilla custard sauce.
- 1 cup of cream
- 1 cup of milk
- 2 tsp of vanilla
- 4 eggs
- 1/2 cup of sugar
- In a small pot, bring the milk, cream and vanilla to a simmer heating just until tiny bubbles are breaking at the rim of the liquid.
- Separate the eggs reserving the egg whites for another purpose.
- Using a heat proof bowl or pot that is suitable for use as the top of a double boiler, whisk the egg yolks and sugar until pale in color.
- In a pan that can be used as the bottom of a double boiler, bring 2 inches of water (the water should not touch the bottom of the pan or bowl used as the top part of the double boiler) to a simmer.
- Place the egg yolk and sugar over the simmering water. Slowly drizzle the hot milk mixture into the egg yolks and sugar whisking constantly.
- Continue whisking the mixture until it is thick and coats the back of a spoon or reads between 175F and 180F on an instant read thermometer - about 10-12 minutes.
- Strain the custard through a fine sieve into a bowl that has been placed over an ice bath. Let cool completely.
I am going to make this on the weekend. Will let you know how good it is. Thanks for recipe demo. Here’s to good eating.
Hi Valencia – Please let us know how it goes! It is our pleasure! Thanks for stopping by and commenting! Yes, here is to god eating!