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Dessert

Brown Bread Pudding

A custard-like pudding made with brown bread crumbs, butter, milk, sugar, eggs, and jam, baked until set.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Brown Bread Pudding

Why it works: Bread and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Brown Bread Pudding

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the custard base

  1. Dissolve the sugar and butter in the boiling milk.

  2. Pour the mixture over the bread crumbs.

  3. Let the mixture cool.

  4. Add the egg yolks to the cooled mixture.

Bake the pudding

  1. Spread a layer of jam at the bottom of a pie dish.

  2. Pour the mixture over the jam.

  3. Bake at 350°F (175°C) until set.

Top with meringue

  1. Whip the egg whites to stiff peaks.

  2. Add 1 tablespoon sugar and a little flavoring to the whipped egg whites.

  3. Pile the whipped egg whites on top of the pudding.

  4. Return the pudding to the oven to set.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

  1. Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  2. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  3. Bread + milktop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,466 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

  4. Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,662 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

  5. Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Brown bread crumbs
Form the bulk of the pudding and absorb the liquid custard.
Eggs
Set the custard when baked and, as whipped whites, give the topping its light structure.
Milk
Provides the liquid that softens the crumbs and forms the custard.
Butter
Adds richness and fat, giving the custard a softer, smoother texture.
Sugar
Sweetens the custard and, in the meringue, helps the whites hold their shape.
Jam
Adds sweetness and fruity flavour at the base, which becomes a layer under the custard.

The step that matters

Whipping the egg whites to stiff peaks. Egg whites need to be whipped until they hold firm peaks so the topping keeps its volume and stays light. Underwhipped whites stay runny and slump, while overwhipped whites turn grainy and can weep. Add sugar once they foam for a more stable meringue.

“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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