Easy Microwave Bread Pudding Recipe for One (2024)

FAQs

Why is my bread pudding so watery? ›

Temperature Is Key

Finally, to avoid overcooking it, it's important to know when it's done. To check the inside to see if all the liquid has been absorbed, insert a knife into the middle of the pudding and create a small hole by pushing the bread to the side: If liquid begins oozing into the hole, it's not yet ready.

Not allowing it to rest after baking

It is usual for bread pudding to somewhat collapse when it goes from the oven to the room temperature air, but you surely don't want to further contribute to it becoming flat. Therefore, don't dish it out too quickly.

Bread pudding can be served warm, room temperature, cold. If you'd rather have it warm or room temperature, skip the 6 hour refrigeration time. The orange custard sauce can also be served warm over warm bread pudding.

The dish is served with a fork AND a spoon so you can get every last bit of that heavenly sauce. Advice: Ditch the fork – it's completely superfluous – and dig in with the spoon!

Bake about 1 hour or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Another way to judge whether the pudding is fully baked, is to gently press down on the center of the pudding. If any custard comes up to the top, the pudding needs to be baked a little longer.

Don't cover when it's still hot. Do not cover when the pudding is still hot, but should be covered when the pudding has cooled. This is to avoid the presence of steam which makes the pudding runny.

Let's get one thing straight right from the start though: bread pudding shouldn't be soggy. The top should be golden and firm (mine has a nice slightly crunchy texture from turbinado sugar) and the remainder should be moist, soft, and slightly springy.

Masterclass recommends covering your bread pudding with aluminum foil to protect the top from burning and removing it about 15 minutes before the end of the baking time so that the top can become appropriately crispy.

After two score or more of tests, we determined that the bread budding should wobble like a Jell-O mold when removed from the oven--it will continue to cook after removal. Another tip is to remove the pudding from the oven just as it begins to inflate and rise up high in the pan.

Yes - it's basically a milk, egg, and sugar custard with bread (and possibly butter and flavorings) added. Milk and eggs spoil quickly at room temperature, so bread pudding should be refrigerated after it's done baking. Original question: Do you have to refrigerate bread pudding?

What is the best way to eat bread pudding? ›

Bread pudding makes a great brunch dish, served with fresh fruit compote. Or add a handful of chocolate chips before baking for a decidedly more decadent outcome.

' If you're wondering why it is called a pudding, it's because this dish includes a cereal base (the bread) and has a soft and spongy consistency after baking.

Bread pudding is indeed an old-fashioned dessert, a comforting way to use up stale bread. Any type of bread makes a neutral base for a flavorful custard; use day-old sliced whole-wheat, raisin or sourdough.

Many recipes for bread pudding or baked French toast ask that you use stale or day-old bread. Recipes like these were originally created as a way to use old, stale bread. It soaks up the liquid and becomes moist and fresh again after baking.

The Christmas pudding coin

Adding silver coins into plum pudding is a fun Christmas tradition. The notion being that whoever finds the coin will have good luck. The tradition may date as far back as early as the 1300s when several small items like dried peas and chicken wishbones were added to the pudding mixture.

Eggs or cornstarch will both help to thicken things up, but you do have other options. If vegan options aren't a concern for you, gelatin is a great way to fix a pudding that is a little too soupy for your liking. This also works really well if you're avoiding gluten and want to forego using flour as your thickener.

Remove from heat. The pudding will thicken more as it cools.

A key ingredient in instant pudding is gelatinized starch, a dried instant starch that readily absorbs liquids, which causes the pudding to gel when mixed with milk. Additional ingredients sometimes used as a thickener include gums that are soluble in cold water, such as carrageenans and alginates.

Measure an alternative starch-based thickener, such as arrowroot powder, tapioca powder or rice starch, and combine it with the sugar called for in your pudding recipe. These alternative starches are comparable to cornstarch in thickening power, and twice as potent as wheat flour, so measure accordingly.