Kitchen Wench

I must confess, I’ve never been a big bread pudding fan.  I guess I’m a fair weather bread pudding eater — I like it if it’s good and think it’s pretty disgusting when it’s bad.  Good bread pudding, in my mind, should be light, eggy, and fluffy.  Too often, bread pudding is so dense and sugary that it’s like eating a brick of hardened custard.  Gross.

My dad likes bread pudding, and so does my boyfriend, so I’ve tried to make it on a couple occasions.  The first time, I used this Epicurious recipe by Maya Angelou.  I don’t know why, but I just assumed that since Maya Angelou was a great poet that she would also be a great cook.  Well, I was wrong.  The bread pudding was just kind of blah, nothing special.  It wasn’t custardy enough, and now that I look at it, it’s clear that the recipe needed more fat.

I forgot all about my bread pudding failures until last week.  I had half of an enormous loaf of Italian bread from Heller’s Bakery and a potluck at 6, so I thought I’d try bread pudding again.  This time, I based my pudding on a recipe for Chocolate Chip Bread Pudding from the Little Fountain Cafe in Adams Morgan.  I didn’t have chocolate chips, so I chopped up some Ghiradelli bars and threw in some strawberries and amaretto.  It was really freaking good.  The texture is light, pleasantly eggy, and not to sweet.  Plus you really can’t go wrong with strawberries and chocolate.  This is my new bread pudding recipe and I’m sticking to it.

Chocolate Strawberry Bread Pudding

• 1 lb loaf of stale, white Italian sandwich bread (brioche or challah bread would also work), crusts removed and cut into 1″ cubes
• 6 tbsp butter, melted
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1/2 lb of strawberries, diced into 1/2″ pieces
• 3 oz  bittersweet chocolate, chopped into 1/2″ pieces
• 1 oz white chocolate, chopped into 1/2″ pieces
• 1 tbsp amaretto
• 1 1/4 cups half and half
• 3 large eggs
• 2 egg yolks
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract
• 2 tbsp brown sugar

1. Preheat oven to350.  Grease a 9″ x 13″ glass baking dish.

2.  Toss chopped strawberries with amaretto and set aside.

3.  Place bread cubes in a bowl and toss with 4 tbsp of melted butter. Spread a layer of bread into the bottom of the pan.  Sprinkle with the chocolate and strawberries.  Top with the remaining bread cubes.

4.  In a bowl or large measuring cup, whisk together eggs, egg yolks, half and half, sugar, and vanilla. Pour egg mixture over the bread.  Gently toss the mixture make sure everything is evenly coated.  Allow to sit for at least 30 minute to allow the bread to absorb the egg.    (You can make this up to 1 day ahead, just cover and refrigerate until you are ready to bake it.)

5.  Mix the brown sugar with the remaining 2 tbsp of melted butter.  Drizzle over the top of the bread pudding.  Bake until puffed, brown, and set in the center, about 45 minutes.  This would be nice served with some fresh strawberries and vanilla ice cream, but it’s also good all by itself.

Serves 12.

This is officially my new favorite pie flavor. I have a bit of a penchant for mixing fruits in my pies, in part because I think the result is a more complex flavor. Also, I must confess, I keep buying rather expensive fruit at the Penn Quarter and Mt. Pleasant farmers’ markets, and I get greedy and buy a pint here and a quart there of every berry they have. I initially planned to make a cherry pie, but I didn’t have enough cherries, so I frantically threw in some blueberries. It’s actually a great combination–when cooked, both fruits have a really bold flavor, but the blueberries help balance out the tartness of the cherries. Sour cherry season is short, so take advantage of it!

Sour cherry blueberry pie

For crust:

I actually tried using a sweet tart dough instead of my usual all butter crust recipe, with mixed success. The sweetness pairs well with the tart fruit, but the tart dough is very soft and difficult to roll. When I first put the pie in the oven, the temperature was too hot, and the crust started to melt off the pie plate. In the future, I will go back to my standby recipe and just double the sugar.

For filling:

• 1 quart sour cherries, pitted (Don’t have a cherry pitter? Use Smitten Kitchen’s needlenose pliers method. I like to insert the tip of the pliers into the top of the cherry–where the stem attaches–grab on to the pit, and pull straight up.)
• 2 quarts blueberries
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 4 tbsp corn starch
• 1 tsp almond extract

1. Make dough according to recipe. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate at least 20 minutes.

2. Toss fruit with sugar, starch, and extract.

3. Roll out one half of the dough. For dough rolling tips (aka my mess-free Saran Wrap rolling method), go here. Place dough into the bottom of a 9″ pie plate and gently press into the sides. Brush the bottom with a little bit of beaten egg.

4. Pour fruit into the crust, mounding in the center. Roll out the second half of the dough. If you want, you can get fancy with lattice or some cookie cutter shapes. Or just cut a few slits with a knife to allow the steam to vent. Lay dough over the fruit. Trim any excess from the edges (a scissors is great for this) and gently seal the edges with your fingers or with the tines of a fork.

5. Brush the top of the pie with the remaining beaten egg. Sprinkle with sugar. If you are using the traditional butter crust, bake in a 375 oven for 45 minutes to an hour. If you are using the tart dough, bake at 325 for an hour and ten minutes.