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.
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
A delicious custard-like dessert and a wonderful way to use up any leftover sweet bread or brioche. This recipe works with any fluffy sweet bread or any stale bread that has been sitting out for a few days.
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.
Notes
Feel free to use any sweet bread or brioche of choice. It will work with any you like or have on hand.
This recipe works with my Easter sweet bread as well.
I have not tried it with other types of milk (such as non-dairy) but it should work. If you do, please let me know in the comments.
Add as much or as little sugar as you like. My mom likes to add a whole cup which is way too sweet for me so I made her cut the sugar in HALF for this recipe.
This would be beautiful served with fresh, cut fruit on top, such as strawberries, mangoes, or raspberries.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
