OLD FASHIONED BREAD PUDDING from the AMISH

I guess I will have to eat the whole thing. I love Bread Pudding, but my husband doesn't like "soggy bread". He says he doesn't even like if his sandwich or toast gets wet from meat juices, etc on his plate. Oh well, his loss. I gave some to Janice and Leon and she told me it was the best she had ever eaten....even better than her mother's. That's quite a complement. 

I saw this recipe for Old Fashioned Bread Pudding in my cookbook called from Amish and Mennonite kitchens and decided I would make it anyway. It doesn't have a lot of sugar which is important to me in recipes. 

I don't think I will have any problems eating it. (Much of the instructions are my own.)

OLD FASHIONED BREAD PUDDING from the AMISH

5       slices bread, at least 3 days old (I used Sara Lee Whole Wheat Bread
1        cup raisins, optional (I used 1/2 cup of raisins)
3       cups milk (I used skim milk)
1/3    cup sugar
pinch of salt
3       eggs, slightly beaten
1/4    teaspoon cinnamon
2       tablespoons sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Place a 9 x 13 - inch pan with about 1/2 inch of water in it in the oven while it is preheating. Grease or spray an 8 x 8 - inch square baking pan. Make sure the smaller pan will fit in the larger pan before you start. (The recipe called for a 9 x 9 - inch baking pan, but I didn't have a larger pan it would fit in. The 8 x 8 - inch pan worked fine for the recipe.)

Lightly toast the bread. Butter it generously and then break it into small pieces (about 1/4 inch square). Arrange in the bottom of smaller pan.

Sprinkle with raisins.

*Scald the milk. (I measured the milk in a four-cup measuring cup and heated on high for about 2 minutes. Check the temperature. It needs to be 82 degrees F.) Stir in the sugar and salt. Check temperature again. Let cool if necessary to about 82 degrees F.* See note at the bottom.

Beat eggs in another mixing bowl that will hold about 4 cups of liquid. Pour just a little bit of the milk mixture into the eggs, stirring constantly. Continue doing this several times. 

Finish pouring the milk into the mixture and stir.

Pour the milk/egg mixture over the bread. Make sure all of the bread is completely wet. Press down the bread pieces if necessary.

Combine the sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle over the top.

Carefully set the smaller baking pan into the larger pan with the hot water.

Bake for 1 hour or until a knife inserted in the center of the pudding comes out clean. (1 hour was perfect in my oven.)

Carefully remove the smaller pan and set on wire rack to cool.

Can serve hot or cold, but I highly recommend waiting til it is cold. 

The next day it tasted so much better and looked more like bread pudding. 

Cover leftover and store in refrigerator.

* Since I wrote this post, I was doing some research and discovered that when I had originally checked the temperature for scalded milk, I misread the number. The temperature is 82 degrees C or 180 degrees F. Since I used the 82 degrees number as F and my recipe worked out great, I didn't change my number. But since I had said to scald the milk, I wanted to explain my findings after researching it further this morning. 

Older recipes called for scalding the milk because of health reasons. Now most milk is pasteurized which kills the bacteria. This said if you are making bread and the recipe calls for scalded milk, that is because the scalded milk can deactivate the whey protein in the milk that weakens the gluten and can prevent the dough from rising properly. 

Scalding milk helps infuse the flavors and can make desserts have more flavor. It can also cut down on cooking time. It is important to cool it down (110 degrees F) before adding other ingredients especially eggs (this always makes me nervous) because if the mixture is too hot the eggs will cook. Remember if you are heating the milk in a pot on top of the stove, you should stir it constantly while heating over medium low heat to prevent it from sticking to the bottom and burning.

Because of my error, I heated the milk in the microwave to 100 degrees F. I cooled it down to 82 degrees F before I started adding a little bit of it to the eggs stirring constantly. The bread pudding I made was very flavorful and so I think my temperatures were sufficient for the recipe. 

I hope this note has helped. I got some of my information at thekitchn.com.