Nibbles of Tidbits, a Food Blog

Still hoping to earn a Foodbuzz Blogger Festival Scholarship, I prepared this Bread Pudding recipe.  It’s adapted from a recipe created about 10 years ago.  This version is dubbed Rustic Bread Pudding— Recipe entries for a Nature’s Pride sponsorship to attend the festival are due today.  Nature’s Pride’s Multi-Grain Bread was used in this recipe, since the 100% Whole Wheat and 12 Grain Bread I received as a Foodbuzz Tastemaker was gone.  Click here to learn more about that.  I subsequently purchased the Multi-Grain for this recipe, since the 12 Grain wasn’t available.  The Bread was first toasted, which brings out its flavor and ultimately adds a marbled look to the finished Pudding.

Ingredients:

8 Bread slices (Nature’s Pride Multi-Grain or 12 Grain)

4 Eggs, beaten

2 Cups of Milk

1/2 Cup of Brown Sugar

2 Tsps. of Butter (melted at room temperature)

1 Tsp. of Vanilla Extract

2 Tsps. of Cinnamon

1/8 Tsp. of Nutmeg

1 Tsp. of Orange Zest (or zest of one Orange)

Directions:

Place Bread slices on a cookie sheet and toast in a 325° oven until golden brown, turning slices once (about 10 minutes).  Remove Bread from oven and let cool — Tear slices into rustic pieces, add to a baking dish and set aside.

In a separate bowl, combine the Eggs, Milk, Butter, Sugar, Vanilla Extract, Orange Zest, Cinnamon and Nutmeg.  Mix well, then slowly pour over the toasted Bread until all are well moistened.  Set aside to allow the liquid mixture to penetrate evenly before baking — Press down gently with the back of a large spoon.  Once moistened throughout, bake in the 325° preheated oven for 30-35 minutes or until set in the center.  Remove from the oven, let cool a little and serve warm.  It’s best that way.

NOTE:  The pictured Bread Pudding was a little dry and definitely needed Powdered Sugar and/or an Orange Juice Glaze (OJ & Powdered Sugar).  The above recipe was written to improve the taste and texture of this initial test.  We regret to report this information, but believe it’s important to consider.  No time is left for re-testing, but still want to join the festival. 🙂

UPDATE 10/22/09:  Unfortunately I didn’t win this one, but you can check out the winning recipes here.  Thanks for the opportunity Foodbuzz and Nature’s Pride.

The Vegetable Moussaka Recipe in The Olive and The Caper had such promise — I’m not quite sure why it wasn’t as good as it should have been.  An assembly line of baked Eggplant, blanched Potatoes and sliced Tomatoes was prepared, as well as homemade Bechamel Sauce.  All was layered as instructed with Bechamel and Cheese poured over top.  It looked terrific going in and coming out of the oven, but unfortunately didn’t become the fluffy cloud of Bechamel with goods underneath that I’ve previously enjoyed at a few Greek restaurants.  Instead it was dry throughout and curdled in places, not a desirable combination.

I like the cookbook, but will be moving past the Vegetable Moussaka.  Until choosing the next tasty Greek recipe to make, I’m sticking with the Greek Fried Egg and heading to Papadakis Taverna for a luscious Moussaka fix.  Opa!