Thermal Secrets for Homemade Bread Pudding (2024)

There’s something very homey about bread pudding. Is it the warm cinnamon? Is it the eggy custard? Who knows! But whatever the reason, a properly made bread pudding is a treat for any time. Serve it for breakfast, have a slice for an afternoon snack, or present it as a dessert that will make people “Oooh” and “Ahh.” Just be sure it’s cooked through! Here we’ll give you the temps you need for perfect bread pudding at home.

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Bread pudding: custard in disguise

Bread pudding is nothing more than a custard that has been stretched with dry bread. Well, “nothing more” sounds negative, but it’s kind of true. Without the mixture of eggs and milk you pour over the cubed bread, there’s no pudding there—only croutons.2 It’s the creamy, rich, sweet custard that we’re really after in bread pudding. But it isn’t all we want—after all, we want the bread, too. This isn’t creme brulee, it’s bread pudding!

Making perfect bread pudding

Since this is a custard dish, we need to treat it as such, thermally. We want bread that is moist throughout, not chewy and dry. And what we don’t want from our custard is something that is either undercooked and runny (soggy milk bread anyone?) or overcooked and scrambled-eggy.

To accomplish all our bread-pudding goals, we need to be sure we get our ratios right, soak the bread enough, and cook it at the right temperature to the right temperature.

Bread pudding custard ratio

Bread pudding custard is best at a ratio of about 1 egg per 1 cup of liquid. Whatever the liquid is (see below for a note about that in the flavoring section), use one egg for every cup. This will give you a custard that is not too eggy. As for the bread ratio, that same cup of liquid (plus its egg) will be enough for about 4 ounces of bread. So if you’re making a giant bread pudding with 36 ounces of bread, that’s 9 cups of milk and 9 eggs. Of course, you may find you like your pudding more bready, more eggy, or more custardy. Play with the ratio to get your desired result, and then notate it somewhere permanent.

Soaking the bread pudding

To avoid bry bread, you need to let the bread soak in the custard for 10–30 minutes before baking it. You don’t have to do anything to it during that time, except turn it over once with a spatula, but it’s just a waiting game. During that time, you can properly preheat your oven. Richer bread, like brioche, needs a longer soak time, while lean bread like baguette needs less.

Bread pudding doneness and cooking temps

This brings us to the oven and custard temps. Have your oven preheated to 350°F (177°C)—not screaming hot, not too slow. If you think your oven might run hot or cold, you can always verify it, of course, but this is the temperature we’re looking for.

Start taking its temperature with your Thermapen ONE after about half an hour, inserting it all the way through the pudding in the center and pulling it up slowly through the mass, looking for the lowest temperature.

Getting to that temp took us about 35 minutes. But note that we used a 9×13″ pan (making 117in²). If you have a pan with a smaller surface area, it will take longer to cook because your pudding will be thicker.

Flavors and additions: dressing up your bread pudding

There are endless variations on bread pudding. We used some diced Granny Smith apples that were sauteed in butter with some cinnamon in ours, then topped it with a simple caramel sauce. But you can use nuts, raisins, other dried or fresh fruits, or other spices in yours. You can spike the custard with some liquor for flavor (bourbon is popular, but rum might be even better), or try milk or cream instead of half-and-half. Just keep the ratio of eggs to liquid and the ratio of custard to bread constant.

Sauces are optional, recommended, and varied. Custard sauces are great, caramel sauces are lovely, and even just some pure, warmed maple syrup is fantastic on it. Play around, have some fun!

Seasoned with warm spices and caramel, a homemade bread pudding is a kingly dessert for the winter. Sub out the warm spices and caramel for fresh berries and lightly sweetened whipped cream and it’s perfect for midsummer. There’s no wrong time to serve it! But no matter how you flavor it, the thermal principles are the same. Use your timer and Thermapen ONE to ensure perfect results every time.

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