The Best Bread To Use For Maximum Flavor In Your Bread Pudding

Bread pudding is a cozy, comforting dish tasty enough to make us look forward to colder months. Made from typically older, somewhat more stale bread reinvigorated with creamy custard and any manner of different mix-ins, this pudding can be sweet or savory but is always some mix of carby, rich, chewy, velvety, crunchy, spicy, and all-around decadent. Whether you're making sweet plantain bread pudding, a classic bread pudding with raisins, nutmeg, cinnamon, and ginger, or any other chocolatey, cheesy, or brown-sugary twist, a successful result all comes down to how well the bread absorbs the flavors of your batter and other ingredients. You want maximum intensity and a good balance of those tastes and textures in every bite. So, Tasting Table asked an expert, Jami Callao, who oversees Respect Hospitality's pastry and bread programs, about the very best kind of bread to use.

"Brioche is the best — it's tender, porous, and absorbs all the flavors beautifully," Callao says. "For the best results, let the bread soak in the batter overnight." What makes true brioche is that it's like a hybrid of bread and cake. Because of the substantial amount of butter and eggs used to craft it, its interior is both fluffy and airy yet moist and rich. So, even when it's a day or so past its prime, brioche retains a nice softness and chew, and that porous consistency means your batter can get into every nook and cranny.

The options on what bread to use for bread pudding can be pretty limitless. Stale sourdough is a great contender because it brings some tang to balance the batter's sweetness. Or, you can work with the pre-existing flavor profile of a certain sweet treat with cinnamon roll bread pudding, or make flaky bread pudding with croissants like Ina Garten. But brioche is the best bread for your buck for its porous, buttery, fluffy texture, and its crackly crust that gives your pudding crisp accents. It's also versatile, considering you don't have to stick to a cinnamon-roll theme or a breakfast flavor profile like you would with, say, French toast bread pudding.

Especially following Callao's tip to let the brioche soak in the batter overnight, the potential for bite after bite of bread exploding with the custard's flavors will really get your cooking inspiration going. Make an autumnal bread pudding with roasted sweet potatoes and brioche, working with other ingredients like pancetta and zucchini for a result worthy of the Thanksgiving table. Or try a savory bread pudding with onions and mushrooms; the creamy, umami, herby sauce will burst from every brioche piece. Bake your own chocolate brioche and transform leftovers into a bread pudding with vanilla custard, caramel, or a raspberry sauce drizzled on top, or incorporate apples into a bread pudding perfected with bourbon sauce.