Why it works: Bread and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,466 recipes. Both carry 2-undecenal, which smells sweet. The science ↓
Bread Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Cut the bread into very thin slices and layer it in a pie dish until three-quarters full.
Make the custard
In a bowl, beat the egg and mix in the flour and brown sugar.
Gradually add the milk and salt to the egg mixture, stirring well.
Pour the mixture over the layered bread.
Bake and serve
Bake for about 30 minutes until set and golden.
Serve warm.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
Explore the science
The flavor team
The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.
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Bread + milktop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together11,466 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
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Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together22,662 recipes
Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
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Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour and milk barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 78,219 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Bread
- Forms the body of the pudding, soaking up the custard as it bakes.
- Egg
- Sets the custard into a soft, sliceable structure as it bakes.
- Milk
- Provides the liquid that the egg sets, giving the pudding its moist texture.
- Brown sugar
- Adds sweetness and a caramel-like flavour, and helps the top brown.
- Flour
- Thickens the custard slightly so it holds together rather than running off the bread.
The step that matters
Pour the mixture over the layered bread. The custard must reach the bread evenly and the bread should be pressed down so it soaks through; dry patches stay unset and eggy. Baking until set, not just warm, ensures the egg has fully coagulated.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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