Maple Bread Pudding

Once again, I had lots of leftover breads and cookies that had gone stale, so I decided to go ahead and make a bread pudding but I was not too happy with the one I had made last time, especially with the amount of liquid in it. So I looked around the internet and, although I didn’t find a recipe I wanted to use as is, I did find some ideas to try to create my own.
So, was I ready to throw myself into recipe creation? Well, even though the result is good, I’m not sure I’m ready for this kind of creativity yet. Although, as they say, “never say never”.

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So, the result of this experiment was a bread pudding with a definite bread pudding texture. I really liked the texture. It makes it hard to evaluate the doneness of the cake, but it is smooth and nice in the mouth. I was not a fan of the crust, but it grows on you. I think what surprised me the most was the taste. As much as I love real maple syrup on my French toast, crepes or pancakes, I had never tasted a maple-flavored cake. So it took me a few bites to truly enjoy it. You really get that nutty smell and flavor. However, something was missing. We (my husband, a friend and I) finally came up with some ideas that would enhance the taste. I put these into the recipe below.

OH, and do not use a mold for angel food cakes for this. Bread pudding is a heavy cake, which makes it very hard, if not impossible, to remove from the mold without breaking the cake. I’m speaking from experience. Maybe a bundt cake mold would be better (I really need to get one) if you want a fancy shape, but a basic round cake mold is good. Anything that allows you to unmold by turning it over on cooling racks.

Ingredients:

• 3 cups milk
• 5 cups of bread crumbs
• 100g butter
• 1 cup dark brown sugar
• 4 eggs
• ¾ cup walnuts or dried cranberries
• 70ml maple syrup

Preparation:

1. Soak the bread in the milk for about 10 minutes.
   
2. On medium heat, add the butter, sugar, maple syrup and walnuts to the bread.
   
3. Stir until well blended.
   
4. Off the heat, add the egg yolks, one at a time.
   
5. Beat the egg whites with a pinch of salt to soft peaks.
   
6. Fold the egg whites into the mixture.
   
7. Bake at 400º for one hour.
   
8. Let it cool. Serve with crème anglaise.