Banana and Bourbon Bread Pudding with a Brown Butter Crumble

The inspiration for this bread pudding came from a ruined loaf of sourdough sandwich bread. It was left too long in the pan after coming out of the oven (because I was putting my toddler to bed lol) and it sort of steamed on the inside. Anyway, the bread was too crumbly for sandwiches, but perfect for drying out and making a bread pudding! This comes out tasting soooo amazing. Lots of banana and almost a toffee like flavor from the brown butter crumble, and brown sugar. A splash of bourbon gives it a little kick, and vanilla rounds everything out. Please enjoy!

*I recommend using kosher salt for all my recipes, it has a more subtle salty-ness. That being said, if you have Morton’s kosher salt use half the amount called for. Morton’s is saltier than Diamond brand salt.

*if your bread isn’t stale yet, cut it into 1 inch cubes and set it out to dry on a sheet pan uncovered overnight, when it’s stale it will absorb more liquid.

Recipe by Tierney Larson

Ingredients:

For the crumble:

1/2 cup of unsalted butter

1 cup of dark brown sugar

1/4 tsp vanilla extract

3/4 cup of All Purpose Flour

1/2 tsp kosher salt

For the Bread Pudding:

1 loaf of stale Sourdough Sandwich bread, or stale Challah or Brioche, sliced into 1 inch cubes

6 (around 300g) large eggs

3/4 cup of dark brown sugar

1 1/2 cups (347g) of whole milk

1 tbl bourbon

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp kosher salt

a pinch of cinnamon

2 bananas, peeled and sliced into 1/4 inch slices

Start with the crumble: In a medium pot, melt the butter over medium heat and let it bubble and foam until you start seeing brown flecks appear on the surface and sides. It will take about 3-4 min. You want to have a heat proof spatula and stir now and then, watching it so it doesn’t burn. When you start to see flecks of brown appear it’s done. Turn off the heat and pour the butter into a heat proof bowl. Whisk in the brown sugar and vanilla extract (it won’t fully incorporate, that’s ok). Place the butter mixture into the freezer for 20 minutes while you prepare the rest. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour and salt and set aside.

For the Bread Pudding: Grease a 3 quart baking dish (12x9) with butter. Place your bread cubes in a large bowl. In a medium sized bowl, whisk all the eggs together. Then whisk in the sugar, then the milk. Then add the bourbon, vanilla extract, salt and the pinch of cinnamon. Make sure everything is well combined, then pour the mixture all over the bread cubes and gently press them down into the mixture. Let them sit while you preheat the oven to 350F.

When the butter and sugar crumble mix has solidified (it should be room temp or a little colder, but not frozen). Using a fork, start to chip away chunks of the butter sugar mix, and add it to your flour and salt mix from earlier. Using your fingers, start to make a crumble as you usually would, if the mix is too wet, add a bit more flour, but it should be okay. Work the butter into the flour and stop when you have some pea sized and some slightly bigger crumbles.

Pour the bread mixture into the greased baking dish. Tuck the banana slices all around the bread pudding and then sprinkle with the crumble. Bake for 35-45 minutes, checking after 20 to make sure the top isn’t browning too quickly. If at any point the top is browning before it’s done, just tent with tin foil. The bread pudding is done when you peek inside the pudding with a fork and there’s no liquid left. Let cool slightly before serving. Enjoy!!!