Why it works: Milk and bread 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 says “a slow oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare the custard
Soak the bread in the milk until soft, but do not stir.
Beat the egg yolks and mix in the sugar.
Add the soaked bread and milk to the yolk mixture, then fold in the well-beaten egg whites.
Bake
Pour the mixture into a pudding dish and place it in a shallow pan of boiling water.
Bake at 300°F (150°C) for 20 to 30 minutes, until the center is barely firm.
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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Milk + breadtop 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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Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Milk + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together77,875 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Milk and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 77,875 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
- Eggs
- Yolks enrich and set the custard, while whipped whites lighten its texture.
- Stale bread
- Absorbs the milk and egg mixture, forming the soft body of the pudding.
- Sweet milk
- Provides the liquid that soaks the bread and moistens the custard as it bakes.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps tenderize the custard.
The step that matters
Baking in a water bath. Setting the custard gently in boiling water surrounds the dish with steady heat, so the egg proteins set without curdling or becoming rubbery. Stop when the center is barely firm, since residual heat keeps cooking it.
“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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