Cheesy Bread Pudding

Posted: May 14, 2012 | Author: Louisa | Filed under: Baked Goods, Breakfast, Main Dish | Leave a comment »

This is one of the things I ate growing up.  It’s still a fallback meal.  Come home from a bad day?  Cheesy bread pudding.  Sick and nothing in the kitchen? Cheesy bread pudding.  Cheesy bread pudding cures all ills.  It’s delicious hot, cold or in between and all you need is a veggie or fruit to make it a meal, and can be eaten at any time of day.

I’m giving the basic recipe, but you can add whatever you want in the way of different cheeses, herbs and spices and so on and it will always turn out awesome.  A little mustard powder is great to point up the cheesiness, but not essential.  In the pudding pictured I used half cheddar and half swiss cheese, a small onion, chopped and sauteed,  a touch of mustard powder and smoked paprika and topped it with a sprinkling of sesame and poppy seeds.   Another good variation is swapping out some of the milk for tomato sauce, using parmesan cheese, basil, oregano, garlic, thyme and red pepper and topping it with a bit of shredded mozzarella.

Experimenting is encouraged!!

Recipe:

2tbsp butter

4C bread, stale or toasted, cubed(any fairly good bread works.  Just stay away from anything exceptionally airy or dense)

2C milk, warmed slightly

1 egg

1 tsp salt

a few grinds of black pepper

1 1/2 C grated cheese, any kind with a strong flavor

 

Preheat the oven to 350

Grease a pan.  I used a deep dish pie pan, but a large cast iron skillet, 8×8 square pan, or anything with a similar volume will work equally well.(it’s also great baked in muffin tins)  Layer in the bread cubes and cheese, and any other ingredients you would like to add.

In a mixing bowl, whisk the egg into the milk, and add the salt and pepper(and any other spices you choose).   Pour this over the bread and cheese and let it sit for at least 5 minutes, up to overnight.  You can add a topping, if you wish.

Bake until the custard is set and the top is nicely golden brown, 35-45 minutes.

Serves 4-6

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