Bread Pudding with Caramel Sauce

Can't believe it's been more than a month since my previous post. Time does zoom by (an easy excuse eh!!).  Bread pudding - something I've had very rarely as a child but the taste just stuck to me somewhere deep in the middle of irrelevant memories. I've had some opportunities to eat it again during my trips to Manila. As they say everything has it's own time - and it took a while for me to create one at home. It's such a fairly simple recipe that doesn't involve too many ingredients or complex steps. Caramel sauce - something that I've had as topping for ice creams - but a good topping for a pudding. This again is very simple and quick to do.

Ingredients

Pudding

1. Any type of thick bread diced up - preferably not the sliced ones - 250 gms
2. Eggs - 12  (you will need 6 whole eggs and 6 egg yolks)
3. Warm Milk - 1 cup
4. Vanilla essence - 2 tea spoons
5. Sugar - 1 cup
6. Sultanas/Raisins - 1/2 cup
7. Dried Cranberries - 1/2 cup (optional)
8. Slivered almonds - 1 cup
9. Butter for lining the tray

Caramel Sauce

1. Brown sugar - 1 cup
2. Butter - 150 gms
3. Cream - 250 ml
4. Vanilla essence - 1 tea spoon

The Method

1. Preheat the oven to 160 deg Celsius.
2. Dice up the bread in large cubes (about 2 inches).
3. Take a large baking tray either metal or glass (I used glass) and line the inner surface with a stick of butter.
4. Beat the eggs and sugar to a smooth paste (custard).
5. Add the warm milk slowly while continue whisking the custard to ensure the eggs dont cook and curdle.
6. Place the bread pieces in the tray nicely packed until the whole area is covered.
7. Sprinkle half of the sultanas / raisins, cranberries and the almonds roughly across the bread and pour half of the custard until the bread pieces are soaked.
8. Place the remaining bread, sprinkle the sultanas, cranberries and almonds and pour the remaining custard on top.
9. Squish the bread down and ensure all of the bread is well soaked in the custard. (If you felt the custard was not enough - you could cheat a bit with adding a bit more milk).
10. Place it in the oven in a water bath and let it bake for about 40 minutes (Have an eye on it after 20-30 minutes to ensure they don't burn out.)
11. While the pudding is being baked you can now start with the caramel sauce. Take a deep sauce pan and mix the sugar, butter and cream  on medium heat and continue whisking to create a smooth consistency.
12. Continue cooking the sauce and stirring occasionally for about 7-8 minutes until it thickens to your desired consistency. 
13. The pudding is ready when you can test it by inserting a knife or a tooth pick and it comes out dry.
14. Scoop it up and serve with a warm drizzle of the caramel sauce.

Note: The caramel sauce can be stored in the fridge for a week or 2. You will need to warm it up every time since it thickens up easily.

Enjoy!!

Happy Cooking !!

C