Failed baking experiments, stale bread, leftover pastry…
Gluten-free Caramel Bread Pudding is the perfect way to use up extra baked goods and is a delicious, comforting dish perfect for brunch or dessert.
Bread pudding has been around, in one form or another, for centuries. It originated as a way to use up stale bread and prevent wasting food. It is still a brilliant solution for this problem.
Learning to bake gluten free, especially bread, often leads to a few less-than-perfect batches of baked goods. With this gluten-free Caramel Bread Pudding recipe, no one will ever know about your less-than-perfect experiments. Old bread, pastry, cake scraps and stale cookies are easily transformed into a decadent luxurious treat.
I developed this recipe when I had my first bakery, The Sturbridge Bread Company, as a way to use up day-old bread, breakfast pastries and the trimmings from decorating cakes. This recipe became a staple in all of my bakeries and restaurants and even won me a few awards along the way.
The caramel sauce can be made ahead and will keep for five days at room temperature — or for at least a month in the fridge — and is delicious in and on all sorts of things: ice cream, cakes and coffee drinks. It also makes a great snack as a dip for apples and other fresh fruit.
Ingredients
Pudding
- 900 grams day-old, gluten-free bread, croissants, pastry etc...
- 8 large eggs
- 720 grams milk (or plant based milk)
- 224 grams sugar
- ¼ teaspoon nutmeg, freshly grated
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
Cinnamon Sugar
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- 2 tablespoons cinnamon
Instructions
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Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
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Cut bread and/or pastry into 1-inch cubes.
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In a large bowl, whisk eggs, milk, sugar, nutmeg and vanilla until blended.
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Gently fold in cubed bread; let stand about 15 minutes or until bread is softened.
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Transfer half of the bread mixture to a greased 13x9-inch baking dish, and sprinkle with half of the cinnamon sugar.
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Add the remaining bread cubes, including all of the liquid in the bowl, and top with the remaining cinnamon sugar.
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Cover with foil, and place on a rimmed baking sheet on the middle rack in your oven. Pour warm water onto the rimmed baking tray coming up as high as you can.*
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Bake for 40 minutes, remove the foil and continue baking for 10-15 minutes more until puffed, golden brown and a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.
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While the bread pudding is baking, prepare your caramel sauce.
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After you remove the bread pudding from the oven, let it cool for 10 minutes, and then cover the top with caramel sauce. You will have extra caramel sauce that you can serve on the side or save to use over ice cream, coffee etc.