I made this savory bread pudding as a side for the Thanksgiving dinner. Notably, it stands in for the traditional stuffing along with the roasted turkey. In addition to the savory bread pudding, other sides include the twice-baked sweet potatoes, roasted Brussel sprouts with garlic and the pecan cranberry loaf. There is nothing complicated about this Thanksgiving menu since I’ve made these tasty, but easy, sides a few times. All I have to focus my attention on is the savory bread pudding that’s new in the holiday-cooking selections.
There is no shortcut in making the savory bread pudding because it takes quite a while to caramelize two pounds of onions. Say about 45 minutes for the onions to turn the color of maple syrup. I start with two large skillets to speed up the process due to the voluminous pile of onions to cook down. The caramelized onions, seasoned with salt and pepper, are the distinct flavor element in the savory pudding.
So take the time and you’d be rewarded with the deep flavor akin to the French onion strata. However, baking this dish under a time constraint on a Thanksgiving day may be the biggest deterrence. It’s doable though if you cook the onions ahead of time.
For the stale bread called for in the recipe, I use a combination of day-old sourdough bread and baguettes. If you don’t have stale bread, you can always “stale” it in the oven. (See the recipe below for details.) What binds the bread together is the egg custard and the cheese (cheddar and parmesan). Let the bread soak in the custard mixture for an hour for the flavor to meld.
Baking the cheese custard mixture requires a water bath setup. The procedure involves setting the baking pan in a larger roaster pan with water filled halfway up the sides of the baking pan. This “Bain Marie” setup ensures the custard bake gently and evenly, and also creates moisture in the oven for a smooth finish. I turn on the convection-steam setting in my oven for the same effect.
Then it’s a matter of the tasters’ choice. The consensus suggests that the savory bread pudding doesn’t compete well with the other sides. It gets less votes of support than the vegetable or sweet potatoes sides on the Thanksgiving table.
Savory Bread Pudding | Dorie Greenspan
Ingredients
- 4 tablespoon (2 oz/ 57 grams) unsalted butter
- 2 pounds (980 grams) onions (about 3 large), coarsely chopped, rinsed and patted dry
- 2 garlic cloves, germ removed and minced
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- Leaves from 3 sprigs fresh thyme
- 1 to 2 tablespoons Calvados, cognac or bourbon (optional)
- 1/4 cup (40 grams) diced pancetta or smoked ham (optional)
- Fine sea salt
- Freshly ground pepper
- 1/2 pound (227 grams) baguette or egg-rich bread, preferably stale, cut into 1- to 2-inch cubes
- 1 1/2 (360 ml) whole milk
- 1 1/2 (360 ml) heavy cream
- 4 large eggs
- 2 large egg yolks
- 2 tablespoons snipped fresh chives (optional)
- 1/3 cup (37 grams) coarsely grated cheese, such as cheddar, Swiss or either of these mixed with Parmesan
Instructions
If you need to dry the bread, center a rack in the oven and preheat it to 350°F.
CARAMELIZE THE ONIONS: Melt the butter in a large skillet, preferably nonstick, over medium heat. Add the onions and garlic, stirring to coat with butter, and cook, stirring, for 5 to 10 minutes, until they soften. Mix in the sugar and thyme, then pour in the alcohol, if using. Cook until it's almost evaporated, then turn the heat to low. Stir in the pancetta, if using, and cook until the onion caramelize and turn the color of maple syrup. This could take about 40 minutes. Season the onions with 1 teaspoon salt and some pepper. Remove from heat.
DRY THE BREAD: If the bread needs drying, spread the cubes on a baking sheet and stale them for about 10 minutes in the oven. Stir them after 5 minutes. Toss the bread into a large bowl.
HEAT THE MILK AND CREAM: Heat milk and cream in the microwave or a saucepan until they come to a boil.
MAKE THE CUSTARD AND BREAD MIXTURE: Whisk the eggs and egg yolks together and season with salt and pepper. Slowly whisk in the warm milk and cream. Pour the custard over the bread cubes and stir. When the onion are ready, add them to the bread mixture, stir until well blended. Cover the bowl and leave the bread to soak and absorb the custard for about 1 hour, poking the bread down now and then.
PREPARE FOR THE BAKE: Preheat the oven to 350°F. Bake the pudding in a 9-inch round or square pan. It will cook in a water bath, so line a roasting pan that will hold it with a double thickness of paper towel, which keeps the baking pan from jiggling.
BAKE THE PUDDING: Stir the chives, if using, and all but a tablespoon or so of the cheese into the bread mixture, then scrape it into the baking pan. Smooth the top and sprinkle over the remaining cheese. Set the pan in the roaster and fill it with enough hot water to come halfway up the sides of the baking pan. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes, until the pudding is golden brown. If it's browning too quickly, cover it loosely with a tent foil. A knife poked into the pudding should come out clean. Carefully transfer the pudding to a rack and let cool until warm or at room temperature before serving.
Notes
Adapted from Baking with Dorie by Dorie Greenspan
5 Comments
Diane Zwang
November 24, 2023 at 11:42 amWhat a beautiful Thanksgiving meal. Great idea on using two pans to caramelize the onions, that was such a long process. I forgot about the Bain Marie process, that made the dish very eggy and soft. I like your cast iron skillet version. We enjoyed this one but no one asked for repeats. Happy Thanksgiving!
Mardi (eat. live. travel. write.)
November 24, 2023 at 12:00 pmGorgeous table there! What a feast! This was fine but I don’t know I’d spend that amount of time making it again…
Kim
November 24, 2023 at 3:07 pmHappy Thanksgiving…wonderful feast set up there! I think this smelled like stuffing, but was not stuffing haha. It did take a long time and on thanksgiving that would be a big task. Good job for pulling it off!
Kim
November 26, 2023 at 3:55 pmI agree – genius idea to use two pans to caramelize the onions! I also love your Thanksgiving table – looks pretty and delicious! I never manage to get a picture of all my food because I tend to get real anxious.
Sorry this doesn’t sound like a repeat, but it is gorgeous.
steph (whisk/spoon)
November 27, 2023 at 8:29 pmnice and cheesy-i’d dive right in! looks like you had a nice dinner, even if this wasn’t the star.