Grandma’s Old-Fashioned Bread Pudding with Vanilla Sauce! - loversrecipes (2024)

FAQs

Why does my bread pudding fall after bringing out of the oven? ›

Not allowing it to rest after baking

It is usual for bread pudding to somewhat collapse when it goes from the oven to the room temperature air, but you surely don't want to further contribute to it becoming flat. Therefore, don't dish it out too quickly.

There are two main reasons why bread pudding bakes up mushy. One is that is has not baked long enough for the custard to . The other reason is that the bread was too fresh and did not soak up much custard, so the pudding is more liquidy than it should be.

Bread pudding's magic is how the old, dried bread can be re-invigorated with a mixture of milk, eggs, and sugar that it soaks up like a sponge, but when the eggs aren't properly beaten you have a separation of the beaten yolk from the beaten whites which gives you the scrambled egg look and flavor.

Soaking the bread pudding

To avoid dry bread, you need to let the bread soak in the custard for 10–30 minutes before baking it. You don't have to do anything to it during that time, except turn it over once with a spatula, but it's just a waiting game.

Masterclass recommends covering your bread pudding with aluminum foil to protect the top from burning and removing it about 15 minutes before the end of the baking time so that the top can become appropriately crispy.

Bake about 1 hour or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Another way to judge whether the pudding is fully baked, is to gently press down on the center of the pudding. If any custard comes up to the top, the pudding needs to be baked a little longer.

Figuring out when to take it out of the oven proved a little more difficult. After two score or more of tests, we determined that the bread budding should wobble like a Jell-O mold when removed from the oven--it will continue to cook after removal.

to make something seem larger, more important, better, or worse than it really is: We all know insurance claimants who have over-egged the pudding to increase their payouts. It would be overegging the pudding to describe the system as universally popular.

Stale bread holds its shape more easily when soaking up the custard mixture. Fresh bread tends to fall apart and turn to mush. If you don't have stale bread, you can heat cubed fresh bread in the oven to dry it out a bit.

Add the milk, sugar, melted butter, bourbon, cinnamon, vanilla, and salt and whisk until evenly combined. Mix in the challah cubes. Pour the mixture into the prepared baking dish, and let stand at least 1 hour (or refrigerate overnight).

How to revive dry bread pudding? ›

For those who find their bread pudding has dried out, an extra pour of custard mixture before reheating can help. Home chefs should remember to: Check for doneness with a skewer or toothpick—it should come out clean when the bread pudding is moist but fully cooked.

Baking temperature

Some ovens run hotter than its settings, some cooler. If the oven is too hot the loaf will be brown and crispy on the outside but doughy in the middle and may collapse as it cools. When bread is baked at too low a temperature it will not rise enough in the oven resulting in a dense and sunken loaf.

Wait until the cake has set to minimize the chance of collapsing as you rotate. Utilize your oven's light to avoid opening the door when checking on your cake. Be super careful not to slam the oven door! Slamming the door can cause the cake to collapse – as can slamming your cake pans down when removing from the oven.

Too much baking powder or baking soda can create excess gas in your cake, making it expand too quickly without the proper structure, only to deflate once you take it out of the oven. Follow your recipe exactly and level your measuring spoon with a knife or some type of flat edge.

Pudding is usually runny because it has been stored in the refrigerator for too long or in an open space. Another cause could be due to improper cooking methods.