Old-Fashioned Portuguese Rustic Bread Pudding with Apples and Raisins

A bread pudding is one of those beautiful recipes that came straight out of not wanting to waste good food, and somehow ended up becoming one of the most comforting desserts you can make. It’s the kind of thing where the worse your bread situation looks, the better your pudding situation gets. In this case I had two large Alentejo loaves sitting around (from the Alentejo region of Portugal), and there’s nothing quite like that slight bittersweet edge of Alentejo bread bringing some real character and depth to a pudding.

I also threw in some apple slices and raisins, because a bread pudding like this deserves a little extra love. The apples soften beautifully as they bake, the raisins add sweet little bursts throughout, and the custard soaks deep into the bread making every bite dense and wonderfully satisfying. It’s rustic in the best possible way, and honestly that’s exactly what makes it so good. Also the apples and raisins give different flavours, if it’s just the bread every slice will taste the same ;D Let’s check the recipe!

Old-Fashioned Portuguese Rustic Bread Pudding with Apples and Raisins

Servings: 8
Time: 1hr 30mins
Difficulty: Normal
Rating: ★★★★★
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Oh nothing like a bread pudding to make use of any stale bread you have laying around, from almost discarded food you can create a deliciously simple dessert!

Ingredients

Bread – 450g (Alentejo style preferably)
Apples – 2
Milk – 1 liter
Sugar – 200g
Raisins – 2 tablespoons
Lemon – 1 peel
Cinnamon – 1 stick
Eggs – 4
Butter – For greasing
Cinnamon – For sprinkling

Directions

Start by greasing a baking dish generously with butter, then cut the bread into cubes and the apples into slices.
Place all the bread and apples in the dish, sprinkle with raisins, and set aside.
Now, in a saucepan, heat the milk with the sugar, lemon peel, and cinnamon stick until it boils slightly (about 3 minutes).

While the milk boils, whisk the eggs. Then, gradually add spoonfuls of the hot milk to the bowl of eggs, whisking constantly to increase the temperature of the eggs (this prevents them from curdling). When the whisked eggs are hot, add them to the saucepan with the milk, whisking for another 3 minutes, then remove from the heat.

Remove the lemon peel and cinnamon stick and pour the milk mixture over the bread. Let it sit for at least 1 hour so the bread is well soaked in the mixture, you can occasionally mix just to make sure every piece of bread had some time to soak the custard.
Finally, preheat the oven to about 180ºC (350ºF) and bake the pudding for about 25 to 30 minutes, until well cooked and golden brown on top. Remove from the oven and it’s ready to serve hot or cold. Enjoy!

Notes & Tips: The soaking time really matters here. One hour is the minimum, but if you can leave the bread soaking in that custard for closer to 90 minutes or even 2 hours, you’ll get an even more evenly soaked, cohesive pudding. Don’t rush this part. Or else you will get a mixture of bread pudding and toasted bread.

If you can’t find Alentejo bread, go for any thick, rustic country style loaf, something with a real crust and a dense crumb. Avoid fluffy commercial white bread unless you want a very soft, almost cake like result. The bread you choose is literally what defines the texture of your pudding, so it’s worth thinking about, you can also use different breads on the same pudding.

The technique of adding hot milk into the eggs a little at a time before combining them back into the pot is called tempering, and it’s a genuinely useful thing to know for custard based desserts in general. Don’t skip it or rush it, because scrambled egg pudding is not what you want.

Let the pudding cool for at least 10 to 15 minutes before attempting to unmold it, it will hold its shape much better. And you can always serve just straight from whatever container you cooked it in! ;D

If you want extra sweet you can add a crumble on top or just a dusting of brown sugar.

A small dusting of cinnamon right before serving adds a nice finishing touch, and a drizzle of caramel or a scoop of vanilla ice cream alongside it never hurt anyone either.

This recipe for Old-Fashioned Portuguese Rustic Bread Pudding with Apples and Raisins was originally created on BakeAfter.com. Esta receita de Pudim de Pão com Passas foi publicada em português no Iguaria.com.