Sweet Bread Bake
on Apr 16, 2023, Updated May 11, 2023
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This sweet bread bake is a delicious custard-like dessert and a wonderful way to use up any leftover sweet bread or brioche. I don’t know why it’s called bread “pudding” in America but we call it a sweet bread casserole bake, which I feel is more fitting. This recipe works with any fluffy sweet bread or any stale bread that has been sitting out for a few days.
Table of Contents
Since we rarely have any sweet bread leftover in my home, my mom will usually buy a loaf from the European supermarket just to make this recipe. It’s similar to a baked French toast casserole with a custard-like filling. Except, unlike custard, there’s no thickener or starch necessary; instead we use eggs, sugar, and milk, and let them work their magic in the oven.
Sweet Bread Pudding
Ingredients
- 6 slices sweet bread, enough to cover the bottom of a baking dish (about 250 grams)
- 4 large eggs
- ½ cup sugar, plus more for sprinkling
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 2 cups milk, (500ml)
- icing (confectioner's) sugar for dusting
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350F (175C).
- Tightly line an oven-safe baking dish with slices of sweet bread, making sure there are no visible spaces. If necessary, cut smaller pieces of sweet bread to fill in any gaps.
- In a bowl, whisk the eggs, sugar, and vanilla. Add in the milk and whisk really well.
- Pour the egg mixture on top of the bread making sure all the slices are covered.
- You will notice the sweet bread will rise up from the milk mixture, so take a spoon and gently push down until the bread has absorbed the milk and the bread is no longer lifted.
- Sprinkle a little extra sugar on top and put it in the oven.
- Bake for about 45 minutes or until golden. Ours took 45 minutes but please keep an eye on it. It will puff up a lot and then deflate when you take it out of the oven.
- Let cool completely before dusting with icing sugar and enjoy!
- If you don’t want to add icing sugar you don’t have to cool the pudding before serving; the only reason we do this is so that the powdered sugar doesn’t melt right away.