Recipe: Maple Bread Pudding

MAPLE BREAD PUDDING

"Use good white bread for this, and don't bother to remove the crusts: the different textures make it more interesting."

4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
1/2 pound white bread, cut or torn into chunks no smaller than 1 inch in diameter
1 cup milk plus 1 cup cream or a total of 2 cups half-and-half
4 eggs
3/4 cup maple syrup or granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Small grating of nutmeg
Pinch of salt
Whipped cream (optional, for serving)

Butter a 10- or 12-inch souffle or baking dish and put the bread in it.

Cut the remaining butter into bits and combine it with all the other ingredients; pour over the bread.

Submerge the bread with a weighted plate and turn the oven to 350 degrees F.

When the oven is hot, remove the plate (scrape any butter back onto the bread) and bake until the pudding is just set but not dry, 45 to 60 minutes. The top will be crusty and brown.

Serve hot, warm, or at room temperature, with our without whipped cream.

Makes 4 servings
Excerpted from Mark Bittman's Quick and Easy Recipes from the New York Times by Mark Bittman
Copyright 2007 by Mark Bittman. Excerpted by permission of Broadway, a division of Random House, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.