Panetonne Bread Pudding

6 servings

Panettone -- A 15th century legend credits the invention to a Milanese nobleman, falconer Ughetto Atellani, who fell in love with Adalgisa, the daughter of a poor baker. To win her heart, Atellani disguised himself as a baker and cooked up a extravagant bread that included butter, eggs, and bits of raisins, candied lemon and orange peel. Nice story, but just one of numerous legends that surround this wonderful bread.

Bread Pudding – Bread dates back to the Neolithic era (~ 9,500 BC). Nobody knows when bread pudding was invented. Unfortunately, no romantic legends.

If it’s not the holiday season you can substitute ordinary white bread for the panettone to produce a standard bread pudding, which is worthwhile. We occasion a café in Chicago that makes theirs from day old croissants. I’ve also heard of bread pudding made from day old glazed donuts, which sounds interesting. Experiment! Add some dried cranberries, lemon peel or orange peel for fun. Some alternatives follow the recipe.

Note about rum sauce: Many people serve bread pudding with a rum sauce, but I haven’t tried it yet. Personally, I like drinking the rum while I prepare the bread pudding.

The recipe . . .

2-1/4 cups milk
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, plus some for greasing baking dish
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, plus some for sprinkling
6 tablespoons sugar, plus some for sprinkling
Pinch of salt
2 large or extra-large eggs
½ of a large Panettone (equal to six slices of white bread)

Preheat oven to 350 deg. F.

Combine milk, butter cinnamon, six tablespoons of sugar and salt in a saucepan and cook over low heat. Grease a baking dish with butter. Cut bread into large pieces (~1-1/2” x 1-1/2”) and place into the baking dish. Pour the milk over the bread and let soak for 10 minutes. Beat eggs and pour over the bread; mix lightly. Sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar.

Place baking dish into a larger dish or pan and add water to the large pan to one inch of the top. Bake 1 hour. Test with a toothpick for doneness. The center can be fairly moist. Place under broiler to brown. Serve either warm or room temperature.

Egg Nog Bread Pudding

During the Christmas holiday substitute egg nog for the milk. Cut sugar back 1/3 to ½ or it will be quite sweet.

Chocolate Bread Pudding

Combine 2 oz. chopped bittersweet chocolate with the milk.

Apple Bread Pudding

Combine 1 cup of peeled and grated apples (drained) with the milk.