If you had told me when I was about 12 years old that I’d be baking fresh bread at least once per month as an adult, I wouldn’t have believed you. That’s around the age, give or take a little, when I first tried my hand at baking. The result were inedible biscuits (apparently, the baking powder in our pantry was long expired, so I still claim it wasn’t my fault they turned out so awful). I didn’t bake anything from scratch again until my very late 20’s. Or maybe I was 30.
But now I bake all the time. My home doesn’t feel as cozy if I haven’t baked bread or some dessert one week. The last couple of weeks, I’ve been baking Cuban bread. My stepmom asked me to make an egg-free rum raisin bread pudding for a Cuban themed family dinner. So, after a little research, I decided to make the bread for the bread pudding as well.
I used this recipe I found online with great success (note: I used butter flavored shortening in place of the lard in the recipe). The bread turned out so delicious that I made a second batch the very next week, but this time subbing 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour into the 4 cups of flour it calls for, using unbleached all-purpose flour for the other 2 1/2 cups. It still turned out amazing. I’m pretty sure I ate half a loaf of it myself the afternoon it came out of the oven. I then took 1 1/2 loaves to my mother-in-law’s to contribute for dinner and we all enjoyed it smeared with butter. I am very excited that I still have a loaf in the freezer, waiting to be thawed and warmed to enjoy with beef stew this coming weekend.
I won’t transcribe the recipe on my blog since you can find it here, but I encourage you to give it a try. It’s a very easy bread to make, and makes the softest bread dough. I’m hooked on this bread. I will include some of my pictures of the bread making process since the website with the recipe doesn’t have any.
After the dough has risen the first time
I made the starter for the Cuban bread on a Thursday morning, then made the bread the next day on Friday. I let the bread sit out until Sunday morning, when I used it to make the bread pudding for the dinner party that night. I took ideas from a million different rum raisin bread pudding recipes and edited them to make one that would work for me. Primarily, one that would be egg-free, using rum extract instead of dark rum, and large enough to feed a crowd. Below is the recipe I came up with. You can make it vegan by using soy milk. I have given up drinking soy milk, and used what I now keep stocked in my fridge, which is Smart Balance brand fat free milk. Both the bread pudding recipe and the cinnamon rum sauce are adapted from here and here.
RUM RAISIN BREAD PUDDING
Downloadable PDF of Rum Raisin Bread Pudding
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees
- Cube 6 – 8 cups of Cuban bread, or other stale bread (French bread works well too)
- Of the batch I made of 4 Cuban loaves of bread, I used 3 of the loaves for the bread pudding
- Place cubed bread in a 9×13-inch baking dish
- In a large pot, stir together over low heat:
- 6 cups milk
- 2 cups sugar
- 1 1/2 Tablespoons vanilla extract (I used vanilla paste)
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 4 teaspoons rum extract
- Zest from 1 lemon
- 1 cup raisins
- Stir everything together over low heat just until sugar is dissolved into the milk
- Line a large roasting pan with foil and place the 9×13 inch baking dish inside the roasting pan
- I do this so if the bread pudding splashes, it splashes into the lined pan instead of my oven
- Pour the milk mixture over the cubed bread, mixing the raisins throughout
- Make sure the top layer of bread has some liquid at least partially submerging it
- Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes
- Gently place a sheet of foil over the top of the bread pudding and bake an additional 30 minutes
- Remove bread pudding from oven
- Sprinkle 1/4 cup or so of brown sugar over the top
- Bake an additional 15 minutes
- Remove from oven and let cool a bit before serving
- It is better if it is served warm with cinnamon rum sauce poured over each serving
CINNAMON RUM SAUCE
- In a medium saucepan, stir together:
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 Tablespoon cornstarch
- Turn on heat to medium and slowly whisk in:
- 1 cup boiling water
- Whisk until mixture starts to thicken
- Reduce heat to low
- Add:
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon rum extract
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- 2 Tablespoons butter
- Stir until butter is melted
- Let cool slightly before pouring over bread pudding
- To reheat, simply heat for a few seconds at a time in the microwave, then stir to redistribute the ingredients
This is a very rich, but oh-so-delicious dessert.
Downloadable PDF of Rum Raisin Bread Pudding
Do you like bread pudding? I’ve found that people either really love it or really hate it. I’ve only had it twice – both times I made it at home, so I’ve never had anyone else’s but my own.
~Ingredients to nourish the body put together in ways to nourish the soul to share with family and friends to nourish the heart~
Brilliant, just what I needed to know, thank you!
Cachaca