Simple Brioche Bread Pudding Recipe

While fancy, elaborate recipes are all well and good, sometimes they can result in food waste. After all, you might need to purchase ingredients you only need in small amounts and only use them once. Recipes that make use of what you already have on hand, however, can easily turn into classics that stand the test of time. 

One such dish is bread pudding, a thrifty dessert or brunch dish that allows you to re-purpose day-old (or older) bread. While recipe developer Christina Musgrave uses brioche in this recipe, she says "You can use any bread you like or change it up with croissants." In fact, you could even use stale doughnuts.

"This easy bread pudding is great for entertaining," Musgrave shares and adds, "It only takes a few minutes to put together and is delicious." While you may be a bit surprised by the lack of sugar or sweetener of any kind in this dessert dish, Musgrave feels that "The brioche and milk are surprisingly the perfect amount of sweetness, so the spices in this recipe are just what you need for extra flavor." She comments that you could add sugar if you prefer. You might also wish to stir in some chocolate chips or drizzle the pudding with honey or maple syrup.

The main ingredient in bread pudding is bread, of course, be it brioche or another type. In order to turn it into pudding, however, you'll need some butter, milk, and eggs. To add flavor, Musgrave opts for cinnamon, cloves, and vanilla.

Preheat the oven to 350 F, then grease a baking pan. Next, chop the bread into chunks. There's no set size they need to be since the bread will soften when it bakes, but roughly bite-sized would be ideal. Once the bread is chopped, put it into the pan. Then, melt the butter and pour it over the bread.

Whisk together the eggs and milk, then add in the cinnamon, cloves, and vanilla, as well. Once you have a nice homogeneous mixture, pour it over the bread chunks. As you do so, try to make sure that all of the bread is coated with the liquid.

Once the oven has reached the desired temperature, place the pan of bread pudding onto a rack and bake it for about 45 minutes. When the pudding is done, it will appear golden brown in color.

Musgrave says this bread pudding is "definitely best right out of the oven," but adds that unfortunately, this means it does not make good leftovers. Rather than reheating it, she suggests "If you need a smaller serving, I'd just cut down the ingredients to make it smaller."