Liz's bread pudding

 

About two years ago I started making bread pudding for Christmas.  My Grandfather sends me Panettone bread every year and it is perfect in making bread pudding.  Of course it isn't necessary to use Panettone bread.  Panettone can be very difficult to find and can also be very expensive.  I've used day old pastries, old muffins, or just plain french bread.  That is what I love about bread pudding because the possibilities are endless and it is a way to use up your old muffins and pastries that otherwise may taste stale but are born again in a simple dish.  

Liz's bread pudding

1 Panetonne

3 extra large eggs

8 egg yolks

5 cups half and half

2 tsp vanilla extract

2 tsp Frangelico

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1/4 tsp cloves

1 can of dolce de leite

A couple notes on two of the ingredients.  Frangelico is a hazelnut liquor produced in Italy.  It is very common and you can find it at any liquor store.  I used Frangelico in this recipe because the panettone I use is a hazelnut panettone.  If you don't like the taste of hazelnut you can substitute it for just about anything like almond, or orange extract.  Dolce de leite is basically boiled sweet and condensed milk.  You can find it in the grocery store next to the condensed and evaporated milk in the baking section.  

Anyways, back to the baking....preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. 

Take your panettone and trim the dark outer layer off.  I usually eat this while I'm waiting for the bread pudding to bake.  Cut the bread into about 1 inch cubes and lay out evenly on a baking sheet.

  Toast the panettone in the oven for about ten minutes or until lightly browned.  This will prevent you from getting a soggy mess when you add the liquid part.

In a large glass bowl whisk together the eggs, egg yolks, half and half, vanilla, Frangelico, sugar, and spices.  I actually used 2 1/2 cup milk and 2 1/2 cup heavy whipped cream instead of half and half because that is essentially what half and half is.  I already had heavy whipped cream in my refrigerator because of other dishes I was making for Christmas dinner so I figured why waste all that extra heavy whipping cream that I wasn't going to use?

Spray or butter your bundt pan to make an easy removal of the bread pudding.  place all of the panettone pieces in the pan,  make sure you have at least an inch of space between the panettone pieces and the top of your bundt pan.  Slowly pour the liquid mixture over the pieces, the pieces don't have to be completely covered, but make sure the top pieces are at least half of the way in the mixture.  I also push the top pieces into the mixture just to make sure they got covered.

Place your bundt pan into another deep square pan and fill that with water so that the water comes up the sides of the bundt pan about half way.  Cover everything with aluminum foil and tent it so that it doesn't touch the top of the bundt pan.  poke a couple of holes at the top for venting.

Bake the bread pudding for about 45 minutes, uncover and then bake for another 40 minutes.  Bake until the custard is set and the top of the bread pudding is browned.  If the top of your bread pudding starts to brown and the custard is not set you can put the foil back over the bread pudding to stop it from burning on the top.  Allow the bread pudding to cool for about an hour.  I like to wait until the bundt pan has cooled so much I can touch the bottem and it is barely warm.  This way it ensures my bread pudding will not fall apart when I remove it.  Using a plastic spatula loosen the bread pudding from the sides of the pan.  Place a large plate over the top of the pan and then flip it quickly so that the pudding lands on the plate.  If you don't feel the pudding release from your pan it the top with your hands until it does, or turn it back over and loosen it again with a spatula.

Take your dolce de leite out of the can and put it in a microwave safe mug.  Heat it up for about two minutes, or until it is liquid enough to drizzle.  Using a spoon, drizzle your bread pudding with the dolce de leite.  When you are ready to serve the bread pudding, place it in the oven or microwave for a bit to warm it up.  Sprinkle with cinnamon, and place the rest of the dolce de leite on the table so people can put more on their piece if they want.

-Panettone means 'large bread' in Italian