When I have guests in my home, I provide them with an assortment of easy breakfast items, including bread. I don’t often eat bread, so if it becomes more than a few days old, it’s nice to be able to just toss it into an easy dessert.
I like a hearty, dense wholewheat naturally leavened sourdough bread, but go ahead and use your favorite or whatever you have on hand. Often, I will cube leftover bread and freeze it until I am ready to make either deep fried bread cubes for soup, or this bread pudding.
Traditional bread pudding recipes call for eggs and milk. Mine is super easy and completely vegan. I am not sure it’s even technically a bread pudding, but it’s delicious all the same.
If your bread is fairly soft, you may need to use up to 1/2 cup less liquid than the recipe calls for. Use your best judgement. If the bread pudding hasn’t thickened by 30 minutes of baking, leave it in the oven for a little longer until the liquids becomes thicker.
I like making this in my small 2 quart Le Creuset pot. Leave the lid on for part of the baking and off for the latter half.
Simple Vegan Bread Pudding
4 cups hearty bread, cubed
2 1/2 cups non-dairy milk (I use either Pacific Hemp Milk or Oat Milk these days, unless I have homemade milk available)
2 Tbsp grade B maple syrup
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 tsp Ceylon cinnamon (or whatever cinnamon you have)
1/2 baking apple, chopped small (I like Braeburn, Gala or Cameo)
2 Tbsp raisins, separated so they mix in well (opt)
1. Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl. Let sit for up to a few hours or until the bread is very saturated. This will take less time for light, soft breads and more time for dense, hearty breads.
2. Heat oven to 350°.
3. Pour bread mixture into medium size baking dish with lid. Press the mixture down so it’s even and the bread is mostly covered. Bake for about 30 minutes. Leave the lid on for the first 15 minutes. Then remove lid and bake until the bread pudding is thick and starting to brown a bit on top.