Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Apple Apple Bread Pudding


For this week's Tuesdays with Dorie recipe, Liz of Cake or Death? chose Dorie's Apple Apple Bread Pudding. This is another of those recipes I never stopped on in the cookbook because there is no photo and I'm not a bread pudding fan.

Wait a minute...when we made Dorie's Four Star Chocolate Bread Pudding it was one of our all time favorite desserts. We loved, loved, loved it. And this one starts with brioche, adds caramelized apples and some apple butter. Liz, a trained pastry chef and hilarious blogger, has the imagination to know this one would be great.

Because I'm insanely busy and, well, insane, I had to make my own brioche. I hadn't made Dorie's brioche before and this was a good chance to try her technique (we flipped for Peter Reinhart's recipe when I made brioche for The Bread Baker's Apprentice challenge). I won't go into the brioche recipe here, but it was delicious buttery perfection. I gave one loaf to a neighbor and used most of the other for this recipe.

Dorie has us caramelizing apples for the bread pudding, and that's exactly how I make my candy apple pie, except I really caramelize them. After I caramelized the apples, I put them on a plate along with the puddle of goo in the bottom of the pan.

Here's where that tiny doubting voice in the back of my head kicked in. I wasn't sure if I'd cut the brioche too thick or too thin, if I was spreading too much or too little apple butter, etc. But I moved along and made the custard. While pouring it in to the dish, I poured quite a bit of it on the counter, over the edge and down the front of the cabinets and onto the floor. Sugary, sticky custard. In the drawers, all over the drawer pulls, on some of the "stuff" on the counter, the floor...it was a fun clean up for a Sunday night. Not.

Even without the spilled custard there seemed to be way too much custard for the amount of bread. Fearing the dreaded egginess that has taken over the group from time to time, I held back on about a cup of custard.


This baked for about an hour and 20 minutes. It cooled for about 5 minutes before I dug in (I couldn't help it!) It was rich, complex, buttery and loaded with apple flavor. I should have used all of the custard because the top got a little too brown, but it was delicious.

Once again, Dorie proved that her bread pudding is not your run of the mill bread pudding. I'll definitely make this one again. Many thanks to Liz for hosting this week and choosing a delicious and unusual recipe for us to try. If you'd like the recipe, Liz has it here. And while you're at it, check out what the other TWD bakers did with this one. You'll find them here.

28 comments:

Hindy said...

I wasn't a fan, but I'd love a slice of your brioche.

Paula said...

You made me laugh telling about pouring half the custard on the counter, cabinets, etc. I have made the biggest messes with all this blog stuff. I love to try some of your brioche.

Anonymous said...

It sounds great, especially with the homemade brioche! Sorry to hear about the mess though - that's the worst.

Valerie Gamine said...

Homemade brioche! That would have never made it into the bread pudding, I would have devoured it as soon as it was cool enough to devour.
Your apple bread pudding looks delicious and caramely. I love that baking dish!

spike. said...

sounds great- glad it was loved!

Ashley aka Eclectic Connoisseur said...

I'm most impressed with you making your own brioche! I took the easy way out with store bought challah. Still, very tasty.

natalia said...

Ciao cara Leslie ! I wish I was there to help you clean up and eat some of your wonderful pudding !!

Katrina said...

Oh, an bummer about the spill and kudos to you for making your own bread!

Katrina said...

Yours looks like what I envisioned is SHOULD be! Part of my problem could also have been when I halved the recipe, I think I put it in a smaller pan than I should have. I should have left out some of the custard, because mine was swimming in scrambled egg whites. Oh well, I like the final product I came out with.

Bella Baker said...

Ha, Leslie, I sympathize with custard all over your drawers and counters. I somehow always seem to drtop something and make a big mess that I dread cleaning up! The BP looks delicious!! This really was so good!

Mary said...

It looks fantastic, and that dish is beautiful! I can't believe you found the time to make your own brioche for this, and managed to save enough for the pudding too. Please explain to me the 'dreaded egginess' factor. i don't understand why so many TWDers are so against egg flavour! I put so much custard in mine that the bread was squarely in the background.

TeaLady said...

EH... the custard is supposed to go IN the pan, not beside it. But seeing as how you are recently released from insanity, we understand.

I liked the little crust on the top, Added a little crunch to a really good bread pudding.

Looks fantasic.

Tia said...

nice serving dish! great carmelization too.

The Mortensens said...

I agree with you--Dorie's bread pudding is not ordinary! Yours looks delicious and your pan is beautiful!

Judy said...

Bravo for making your own brioche! Because of time issues, I just got mine from Trader Joe's. This is just delicious no matter what kind of fruit one uses.

Flourchild said...

Yum it looks so good! Glad you loved it!

Mags @ the Other Side of 50 said...

I'm not much of a bread pudding fan either, but I'll admit that this version sounds quite delicious!

Di said...

You're the second person I've read who made brioche. You guys are killing me, because now I want to make some again. =) I love your baking dish, too.

Nancy/n.o.e said...

Smart girl, making Dorie's brioche as a base for this pudding. Your pudding looks great, and if there ever was a good recipe to spill a good deal this would be it! Great timing, haha!!

Susan said...

Looks delicious! I have been so out of things lately...miss baking, miss my friends, need to get a grip. I love what you have done with your blog. It looks great!

margot said...

Nice job on the bread pudding! I'm glad I'm not the only insane one with making my own brioche. I haven't looked at the recipe for Dorie's, but I loved that you can spread out the process for the BBA one over two days - makes it seem easier.

Unknown said...

Kudos to you for making your own brioche for the recipe Leslie! I had hoped to, but ran out of time/motivation. Your bread pudding looks wonderful - I should have left some of the custard out of mine and maybe then I would have liked it more!

Amber Marie said...

So glad you liked it! I'm an easy sell on bread pudding but this one really is good!

Unknown said...

Wow - making your own brioche and then producing something so delicious. I'm glad it worked out for you - I'm a big bread pudding fan and I'm convinced everyone else would be, too, if they just found their perfect recipe. Nice job!

Jacque said...

Bonus points for making your own brioche. If you took pictures of it, you're ahead for when that recipe gets chosen too.

Anyway, nice job on the bread pudding. I'll bet those nice caramelized apples really made it taste fantastic.

Cakelaw said...

Love your black disk - so pretty. And I am impressed that you made your own bread. Glad you liked this one - so did I.

Mary said...

Three things:
1. I have the exact same countertops :).
2. YOu made your own brioche? Wow...I bow at your culinary feet.
3. I too got caught looking at the blog with music...oops.

Magic of Spice said...

Despite the mess, this looks wonderful:)