Food & Wine (May 2008)
What better way to wrap up our Southern Dinner than with a bread pudding?
Packed with fresh berries, made with wonderful brioche, and topped with whipped cream, this dessert is decadent and heavenly. Though we followed the recipe to the letter, we wonder if we might have overcooked it. Here's why.
Photography has been one of the most fun aspects of starting our blog. We're very much amateurs, though we're learning some tricks, only having purchased a digital SLR a few years ago. After selecting, cooking, and then photographing each recipe, it's fun to see how our dishes stack up to the magazine.
With some of the photos, we're very pleased with how they turn out.
Others, not so much.
Berry-Brioche Bread Pudding is one of those recipes that makes us question if we did something wrong or if the recipe has a typo. It's not that the result wasn't delicious (it was fantastic!) but our finished product looks absolutely nothing like the Food & Wine photo (below).
There are a few obvious differences here.
F&W has done a nice job of sprinkling their pudding with fresh berries after post-baking, which really helps their photo.
Also, our whipped cream is obviously runny -- the result of coming up short on whipping cream and our attempt to make it stretch by adding and attempting to whip some whole milk.
But after 65 minutes of baking and 1 minute under the broiler, our pudding was very dark and on the verge of being overcooked.
The taste still excellent, but we question if it would have been even better if we had baked it for less time. Next time . . .
Berry-Brioche Bread Pudding
Food & Wine (May 2008)
(This photo: Food & Wine)
ACTIVE TIME: 20 MIN
TOTAL TIME: 1 HR 40 MIN PLUS COOLING
SERVES: 8
To help balance the irresistibly crispy top, sprinkle the baking dish with turbinado sugar to give the bottom of the pudding a delightful crunch, too.
Ingredients
* Unsalted butter, for greasing the 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 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
* 2 cups blueberries and raspberries, plus more for serving
* One 1-pound loaf of brioche, cut into 1/2-inch dice
* Whipped cream, for serving
Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 350°. Butter an 8-by-11-inch baking dish and coat the dish with the turbinado sugar.
2. In a large saucepan, bring the cream, milk, 2/3 cup of the granulated sugar and the salt to a simmer over moderately high heat, then remove from the heat.
3. In a bowl, whisk the whole eggs, egg yolks and vanilla. Gradually whisk in the hot cream until blended. Strain the custard through a fine strainer into a large bowl.
4. In a small bowl, toss the blueberries and raspberries with 2 tablespoons of the granulated sugar. Using a fork, coarsely mash the berries. Let stand until juicy, about 5 minutes.
5. Mix the brioche into the custard. Fold in the mashed berries. Transfer the pudding to the prepared baking dish and sprinkle the top with the remaining 2 tablespoons of granulated sugar. Cover with foil and bake for 45 minutes, until set in the center. Remove the foil and bake in the top third of the oven for 20 minutes longer, until lightly golden.
6. Preheat the broiler. Broil the pudding for 1 minute, until golden brown. Transfer to a rack and let stand for 30 minutes, until cooled slightly. Cut the bread pudding into squares and serve with blueberries, raspberries and whipped cream.
