Brioche bread pudding is topped with rich vanilla sauce

I don’t know about you, but sometimes this dismal weather can get to you. We’ve had more than our share of dank, dreary, cool New England days this spring. A sure cure for me is a wonderful dessert such as today’s bread pudding made with chunks of rich brioche, heavy cream (don’t skimp on the good stuff, we can find our bathing suit bodies later) and the creamy European-style butter, Plugra®. I discovered this rich butter recently and I don’t know how I’ve managed to live so long without it. It's great for baking because it has a lower water content than regular butter. Use unsalted for baking and cooking, and the salted version at the table as a spread.

Top this decadent bread pudding with a vanilla butter sauce, also made with Plugra® and a whole cup of white wine, and you’re in bread pudding heaven. And thanks to my good friend Risa Golding in New Jersey for sharing this recipe.

BRIOCHE BREAD PUDDING WITH PLUGRA® VANILLA SAUCE

Brioche bread pudding:
2 cups heavy cream
2 cups half-and-half
4 ounces granulated sugar
16 ounces chopped brioche bread, 1/4-inch size (1 day old)
8 ounces Plugra® European-Style Butter, unsalted, melted

3 ounces brown sugar

Combine heavy cream, half-and-half, and granulated sugar and set aside.
Place chopped bread in buttered baking dish.
Pour prepared liquid mixture over bread and let soak for 1 hour.
Combine melted Plugra® butter and brown sugar; set aside.
Bake at 375 degrees F., covered, in a water bath (set baking dish in larger pan of very hot water) for 1 hour. After 30 minutes baking, brush top with melted butter and brown sugar sauce mixture. Continue baking for remaining 30 minutes, uncovered.

Plugra® vanilla butter sauce:
1 cup white wine
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 vanilla bean
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 pound Plugra® European-Style butter, unsalted, softened

In small saucepan, combine wine, sugar, and vanilla bean. Simmer to half; add heavy cream and reduce by half again. Immediately beat in half the Plugra® butter to form a creamy paste.
Over low heat, continue beating in a piece of butter at a time just as previous piece is almost fully incorporated. The sauce should have the consistency of a light hollandaise sauce.
To Serve: Spoon warm bread pudding into 3-ounce serving cups and top with sauce. Yield: 12 3-ounce servings.
(Recipe by Chef Dewey Losasso, Executive Chef/Co-Owner, North One 10 in Miami)

Brioche bread puddings are rich with berries of summer

Did I hear “bread pudding”? My ears are tuned to those lovely words, and even though I’m distracted by the post-breakfast cleanup chores, I detect the “sounds” of bread pudding coming from the Food Network show that I have on in the background.

Yes!! It’s Tyler Florence and he has created some beautiful bread puddings full of blueberries, blackberries, and strawberries, which he’s nestled in individual ramekins. The dishes can wait. I put aside my wash cloth and watch as Tyler whips up a topping of powdered sugar, lemon rind, and juice to top these little delicacies.

I like the Tyler Florence recipes because they’re something I’d try myself – not too fancy and with a homey touch. They’re easy to put together and good enough to impress company, or just the immediate company of your family for a comfy weeknight meal.

This particular recipe is from Tyler’s Ultimate, which on this particular episode featured a Chicken Paillard with Creamy Parmesan Salad for the main course. I watched as he took the individual puddings out of the oven, and drizzled them with the lemon fondant. Well, I’d just call it a glaze, but I guess if you’re a Food Network guy you have to come up with something that sounds more special.

BRIOCHE AND BERRY BREAD PUDDING WITH LEMON FONDANT
(Recipe courtesy Tyler Florence 2008 from the Tyler’s Ultimate show, Ultimate Chickan Paillard episode)

Brioche Bread Pudding:
Butter, room temperature
4 eggs
3/4 cup whole milk
3/4 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1/2 cup sugar, plus more for dusting and topping
4 large slices brioche bread
2 cups mixed berries (blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, blackberries), plus more for garnish

Lemon Fondant:
2 cups powdered sugar
2 tablespoons water
2 lemons, zested and juiced

Butter and sugar 6 (6-ounce) ramekins. In medium bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, cream, vanilla extract, lemon zest and sugar. Combine well with whisk, then let it settle so there are no air bubbles on the surface otherwise they will cause lumps in your anglaise.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Tear brioche up into large pieces using your hands, add to the custard mixture and toss to combine. Equally divide berries among ramekins and top with bread mixture. Gently press down so they are packed evenly. Sprinkle with more sugar, then refrigerate for 10 to 15 minutes to let soak.
Bake for 25 minutes in center of oven. The pudding is ready when it has puffed up and custard is set. The top should be a nice golden color. Remove and allow to cool slightly.
Make fondant. In mixing bowl combine sifted powdered sugar, water, lemon zest and juice.
Once pudding has cooled slightly, invert onto individual serving plate. Drizzle lemon fondant over warm bread pudding and serve with extra fresh berries.

Berry-brioche bread pudding is crunchy and creamy

We’re celebrating summer with a variety of fresh and fruity bread puddings. Recipes are cropping up everywhere – in magazines, from friends, on TV shows and Internet sites, and on the pages of our vast collection of cookbooks. “You must be onto something,” a friend pointed out to me recently as she mentioned a recipe and photo of a scrumptious Berry Brioche Bread Pudding that was featured in the “Last Bite” section in the May 2008 issue of Food & Wine.

This recipe, created by pastry chef Karen DeMasco of New York City’s Craft restaurant, features sweet brioche soaked in custard. Her pudding also has a crunch on top and bottom, which she achieves by sprinkling the bottom of the baking dish with turbinado sugar.

Today as we passed by a farm where people were picking raspberries, we wanted to just jump out and join them. We hope they left some berries so we can fill up our baskets next week. And try this bread pudding.

BERRY BRIOCHE BREAD PUDDING
(Active: 20 min: Total: 1 hr 40 min plus cooling)
8 servings

Unsalted butter, for greasing dish
1/4 cup turbinado sugar
2 cups heavy cream
2 cups whole milk
2/3 cup plus 1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon kosher salt
4 large eggs
4 large egg yolks
1-12 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 cups blueberries and raspberries, plus more for serving
One 1-pound loaf brioche, cut into 1/2-inch dice
Whipped cream for serving

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter an 8x11-inch baking dish and coat with turbinado sugar.
In large saucepan, bring cream, milk, 2/3 cup granulated sugar, and salt to a simmer over moderately high heat, then remove from heat.
In bowl, whisk whole eggs, egg yolks and vanilla. Gradually whisk in hot cream until blended. Strain custard through a fine strainer into a large bowl.
In small bowl, toss blueberries and raspberries with 2 tablespoons granulated sugar. Using a fork, coarsely mash berries. Let stand until juicy, about 5 minutes.
Mix brioche into custard. Fold in mashed berries. Transfer pudding to prepared baking dish and sprinkle top with remaining 2 tablespoons granulated sugar. Cover with foil and bake for 45 minutes, until set in center. Remove foil and bake in top third of oven for 20 minutes longer, until golden brown.
Preheat broiler. Broil pudding for 1 minute, until golden brown. Transfer to rack and let stand for 30 minutes, until cooled slightly. Cut bread pudding into squares and serve with blueberries, raspberries, and whipped cream.
(Recipe from Food & Wine, May 2008; created by pastry chef Karen DeMasco of Craft, 43 E. 19th St., New York City. Photo by Antonis Achilleos.)

Warm brioche bread pudding is perfect weekend comfort food

Spring is hesitating to join us this weekend. Cloudy and drizzly here on the Rhode Island shoreline, not a good beach day. But there are some compensations - we can put off weeding the garden and spreading the mulch that’s waiting outside on the driveway.

And, instead, we’ll create some comfort inside – a warm bread pudding made from a tender brioche, and filled with raisins and apples that have been soaked in a simple syrup enhanced with rum. I’ve discovered an excellent, too-good-to-be-true-but-it’s-for-real site for bread pudding recipes – it’s from the California Raisin board – http://www.calraisins.org/recipes/category.cfm?id=53 . I’m in bread pudding heaven just looking at their recipes, which include such goodies as applesauce bread pudding, California raisin bread pudding with caramel sauce and bananas foster, and a lemon raisin bread soufflé, to name just a few.

The California Raisin folks describe this brioche treat as a “light and saucy rum-flavored pudding,” and they suggest serving this pudding with a raspberry sauce. I don’t have the exact size pan they call for in the recipe, so will use perhaps an 8-inch glass or ceramic baking dish. So here we go off to the market to get some eggs, egg bread, and raspberries. Cloudy days aren’t so bad after all.

Warm Brioche Bread Pudding with California Raisins, Apples and a Berry Sauce

Rum Simple Syrup:
1/4 cup rum
1/4 cup water
1/2 cup sugar

1 cup California raisins
1 cup apples, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch dice

Custard:
1 quart milk
1 cup sugar
8 large eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla
2 tablespoons melted butter
1 loaf brioche or light egg bread (14 oz. to 1-1/2 lbs.), sliced lengthwise 1/4-inch thick
Melted butter for brushing pan
1/4 cup pure crystal cane sugar, clear not colored

Berry Sauce:
1 pint raspberries
1/4 cup rum simple syrup

Sweetened whipped cream for garnish

Rum Simple Syrup: In small saucepan, bring rum, water and sugar to a boil, stirring until sugar dissolves. Continue boiling 1 minute. Cool completely. Mix raisins and apple with 1/2 cup simple syrup. Set aside. Reserve 1/4 cup simple syrup for berry sauce.

Custard: Whisk all ingredients until mixture is fully combined.

To Assemble: Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Brush 6x8x2-inch baking pan with melted butter. Line bottom of pan with one layer bread. Place 1/3 of raisins and apples on bread; pour 1/3 of custard over all. Repeat 2 more times and top with final layer of bread. There should be 4 layers of bread and 3 layers of raisin-apple and custard mixtures. Sprinkle top with crystal sugar.

Place baking pan inside a larger baking pan. Fill larger pan with hot water until it comes halfway up sides of smaller pan, or just until it seems like smaller pan is floating. Bring water to a boil on top of stove. Cover pudding with foil (if baking pan doesn’t have secure-fitted top) and place in oven; bake at 325 degrees F. about 40 minutes or until a shake of the pan produces a firm jiggle. Bake another 15 minutes, uncovered, until golden brown.

Berry Sauce: Meanwhile, puree raspberries and reserved syrup in food processor to a smooth, sauce consistency; refrigerate until ready to use.

To Serve: Cut pudding into 8 squares. Divide and ladle sauce onto each of 8 individual plates. Arrange a piece of pudding on top of sauce and top with whipped cream.
Serves 8.
Visit www.loveyourraisins.com/recipes/ for more raisin recipes.