Tonight's recipe sponsored by frustration, depression, and ready access to a lot of carbohydrates. It turned out pretty well.
Everything About Today Was Awful So I Baked a Bread Pudding in My Toaster Oven Bread Pudding
Preparation:
Stare miserably at the 95% remaining of the loaf of Hi-Rise Bread Company's Boston brown bread with blueberries you bought so trustingly on Friday, not realizing that any foodstuffs of a density greater than pasta were about to become your natural enemy. Wonder about soaking it in soup. Determine bread pudding is a much better idea for something that tastes that strongly of molasses and blueberries.
Accidentally confirm via conversation with![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
phi on Saturday night that baking in a toaster oven is totally a thing.
Read at least a dozen recipes for bread pudding on the internet before deciding the only complicated part is the custard. Have small breakdown on realization that measuring cups and spoons either never moved from old apartment or are still packed up in some counterintuitive box. Determine to go ahead anyway and handle everything with sole discernible measuring cup (liquid) and ordinary spoons. Synthesize recipe and appropriate amount of custard based on quantities of bread available and other ingredients in the house. Make sure to eat dinner first.
Thickly butter a 9-by-9 glass baking dish. Preheat the toaster oven to 350°F, although admittedly this takes five minutes.
(For those not suffering the ravages of orthodonture, steps 1–3 may be omitted.)
Pudding:
5 cups Boston brown bread, chopped into more or less 1-inch cubes
2 cups cream
1/2 cup milk
3 eggs, beaten
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
dash of salt
Cube the bread and fill the baking dish with it. Fortunately, the entire 95% loaf just fits.
Whisk together all remaining ingredients in a large bowl, or a 7-cup round Pyrex storage dish if that's what's handy. If the butter comes out of the refrigerator, melt it in the microwave, but allow it to cool before adding to the eggs and milk. Vanilla, cinnamon, and nutmeg are all to taste; amounts here vary from estimate to suggestion. Pour proto-custard over bread in baking dish, pressing and stirring slightly to ensure that all bread is covered. Let sit for at least 45 minutes, periodically turning, in order to allow bread to soak up liquid thoroughly. By the end of this process, bread should be squishy and mostly submerged.
Baking:
In a toaster oven at 350°F, 50 minutes seems to do it. I had expected less—all the recipes I'd consulted were dealing with larger volumes of bread pudding than I'd put up—but it's possible an actual oven would be more efficient. I started with 25 minutes, rotated the dish and then advanced by 10- and 5-minute intervals. The custard should puff out slightly and set, which can be checked by prying up one of the top pieces of bread to examine the solidity underneath. The sides of the dish may bubble ferociously. It isn't possible with brown bread to test for doneness by color, but so long as it neither brittles nor burns and the custard doesn't darken too much (flan-colored is fine, caramel-colored is overdoing it), you haven't overcooked it. When custard is done and bread is not ashes, remove from toaster oven and place on the folded dishcloth that stands in for a trivet in this house, since the pudding at this stage is punitively hot. When it has cooled the minimum necessary to avoid scalding, scoop into bowls. Put away ice cream that was previously removed from freezer on the immediate understanding that this custard is Dickensianly rich and adding further milkfat would be overkill, not to mention hazardous. The bread is soft and cream-curded, the blueberries have plumped up and partly dissolved. It all tastes very dark brown and not too heavily spiced. If other people in your household can consume this substance and you don't at least offer them some, you are probably being a terrible person. Wrap up substantial leftovers for later.
Put your braces back in and feel vindictively accomplished about the whole thing.
Everything About Today Was Awful So I Baked a Bread Pudding in My Toaster Oven Bread Pudding
Preparation:
Stare miserably at the 95% remaining of the loaf of Hi-Rise Bread Company's Boston brown bread with blueberries you bought so trustingly on Friday, not realizing that any foodstuffs of a density greater than pasta were about to become your natural enemy. Wonder about soaking it in soup. Determine bread pudding is a much better idea for something that tastes that strongly of molasses and blueberries.
Accidentally confirm via conversation with
phi on Saturday night that baking in a toaster oven is totally a thing.Read at least a dozen recipes for bread pudding on the internet before deciding the only complicated part is the custard. Have small breakdown on realization that measuring cups and spoons either never moved from old apartment or are still packed up in some counterintuitive box. Determine to go ahead anyway and handle everything with sole discernible measuring cup (liquid) and ordinary spoons. Synthesize recipe and appropriate amount of custard based on quantities of bread available and other ingredients in the house. Make sure to eat dinner first.
Thickly butter a 9-by-9 glass baking dish. Preheat the toaster oven to 350°F, although admittedly this takes five minutes.
(For those not suffering the ravages of orthodonture, steps 1–3 may be omitted.)
Pudding:
5 cups Boston brown bread, chopped into more or less 1-inch cubes
2 cups cream
1/2 cup milk
3 eggs, beaten
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
dash of salt
Cube the bread and fill the baking dish with it. Fortunately, the entire 95% loaf just fits.
Whisk together all remaining ingredients in a large bowl, or a 7-cup round Pyrex storage dish if that's what's handy. If the butter comes out of the refrigerator, melt it in the microwave, but allow it to cool before adding to the eggs and milk. Vanilla, cinnamon, and nutmeg are all to taste; amounts here vary from estimate to suggestion. Pour proto-custard over bread in baking dish, pressing and stirring slightly to ensure that all bread is covered. Let sit for at least 45 minutes, periodically turning, in order to allow bread to soak up liquid thoroughly. By the end of this process, bread should be squishy and mostly submerged.
Baking:
In a toaster oven at 350°F, 50 minutes seems to do it. I had expected less—all the recipes I'd consulted were dealing with larger volumes of bread pudding than I'd put up—but it's possible an actual oven would be more efficient. I started with 25 minutes, rotated the dish and then advanced by 10- and 5-minute intervals. The custard should puff out slightly and set, which can be checked by prying up one of the top pieces of bread to examine the solidity underneath. The sides of the dish may bubble ferociously. It isn't possible with brown bread to test for doneness by color, but so long as it neither brittles nor burns and the custard doesn't darken too much (flan-colored is fine, caramel-colored is overdoing it), you haven't overcooked it. When custard is done and bread is not ashes, remove from toaster oven and place on the folded dishcloth that stands in for a trivet in this house, since the pudding at this stage is punitively hot. When it has cooled the minimum necessary to avoid scalding, scoop into bowls. Put away ice cream that was previously removed from freezer on the immediate understanding that this custard is Dickensianly rich and adding further milkfat would be overkill, not to mention hazardous. The bread is soft and cream-curded, the blueberries have plumped up and partly dissolved. It all tastes very dark brown and not too heavily spiced. If other people in your household can consume this substance and you don't at least offer them some, you are probably being a terrible person. Wrap up substantial leftovers for later.
Put your braces back in and feel vindictively accomplished about the whole thing.
