Change of Plans--Bread Pudding Instead!

I did not get to do any of what I had planned yesterday. Oh, well...

DH had asked for bread pudding several days ago, so I decided to surprise him.

Here is how I made it: First cut or tear an old loaf of Italian Bread, soak it in 7 cups of milk.

Add the peel of one orange, grated, and a little cinnamon. (it takes at least 2 hours for the soaking process)

When the bread is soft and mooshie add 10 eggs beaten with 1 c of milk, then add

2 c of sugar. Let this preparation sit aside. (By the way: I love this beater/mixer thing. It is great for this kind of batter, and bisquit dough, pie dough, and all those kinds of things that are too thick for a regular whisk)

Place 2 cups of sugar in a heavy bundt pan (this one is a Norsk) and melt the sugar over a fire until it becomes caramel color. You need to turn it continually so that the sugar melts evenly and doesn't burn. This process takes a long time...maybe 20 minutes, sorry I did not time it.
It is beginning to caramelize nicely. You can see that I use tongs for holding the pan, it gets very, very hot.

Almost ready.

Turn the fire off, when it's ready and twirl the pan to coat it with the caramel. For the whole process I use the tongs you see and a pair of needle nose pliers.

These work great. No burns, thank you Lord!

There was too much of the pudding batter for the bundt pan, so I used a reclaimed restaurant warmer thing [one and a half times the size of a bread pan]


Place the pudding in a 'bain-mari' pan with water.

Bake it for about 2 hours in a 350F oven.

This is how it looks when it comes out. [upside down] It flattens to half the height.

Most of the caramel becomes liquid during the baking process, but there is always some stuck to the botttom. I add some water, maybe 1/2 cup and put it back on the fire to disolve more quickly.

Notice that I'm not showing you the one in the 'bread' pan. When I turned it upside down on to the platter, one fourth of it remained in the pan. So it looks sort of, like chicken stuffing. Nevertheless, it tastes great. I did not caramelize the 'bread' pan and used Pam instead. Bad choice. Next time I will line the 'bread' pan with parchment paper, then, it will all come out.

This desert is very labor intensive. It took me from 10am until 2:30pm from the time that I started slicing the bread until I turned the finished desert on to the platter.

Well worth it. DH loves it. [I only make it every 8 to 12 months]

I will search the net to find another recipe that doesn't take almost all day to make. Of course, I could have done the bread last night, and the carameling today, but NO!

Today's plans will travel to tomorrow. So, Milling and bread making, ironing and dusting furniture, Lord willing, tomorrow.

I'll leave you with this:

"Blessed be the LORD God, the God of Israel, who only doeth wondrous things.
And blessed be his glorious name for ever: and let the whole earth be filled with his glory; Amen, and Amen." Psa 72:18-19

I am singing this one!

In His hands, ^__^