Budin de pan, or Bread Pudding is a traditional Puerto Rican and Latin American dessert. It is a decadent and delicious dessert made with simple ingredients like bread, milk, eggs, sugar, and spices.
The bread is typically soaked in the milk and egg mixture, sugar, cinnamon, and other spices and baked until golden and firm. The result is a dense and custardy confection perfect for any occasion, like Mother’s Day, Father’s Day or any festive occasion. Serve alongside traditional holiday dishes like Arroz con Gandules or Roasted Pork.
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Why this recipe works
This is one of those ”I feel at home” recipes. I remember as a child how much I enjoyed eating bread pudding. A love that has continued all my life. I dedicate this recipe to my mom, who passed her love for bread pudding to me.
- Texture: This bread pudding has a silky texture, almost reminiscent of a flan. Some bread puddings, maintain the texture of the bread used to make the pudding. In this recipe, the bread is soaked so that it breaks down and becomes homogenous with the rest of the ingredients.
- Ease of preparation: This dessert is easy to prepare and can be made in advance, making it an excellent choice for holiday feasting. Mix the ingredients, let it sit for a while or over night, and then bake it in the oven when ready to serve.
- Crowd pleaser: As a comfort food that is rich and satisfying. It is also a versatile dessert that can be made with different types of bread and flavorings, including blondies, brownies, danishes, or pastries, making it appealing to a wide range of tastes.
- Economical: Extremely economical if you eat bread regularly. My mom would freeze leftover, stale bread to save it to make a bread pudding.
Ingredients
- Bread: In Puerto Rico we use Pan de Agua. Our version of what many know as Cuban bread is similar to an Italian loaf or French baguette. Some differences are the crust is relatively thin. French and Italian loaves have a hardier crust. Very soft but will harden or stale relatively quickly.
- Milk: You might think the amount needed is an exaggeration, but you will need to double the milk to the weight of the bread.
- Eggs: Bread pudding base is a custard, and you need plenty of eggs to make a good custard.
- Other ingredients: Vanilla, Cinnamon Sticks, Cloves, Ginger, Lemon Zest, Salt, and Butter.
For a complete list of ingredients, please see the recipe card.
Variations/Substitutions
- Raisins: I must not have to have raisins in my pudding. I'm not fond of raisins much, so I do not make them with raisins. On the other hand, my mother LOVED raisins in her pudding, which will cause a fun debate among us.
- Other Dried Fruits: If we put raisins on it, you can play with other of your favorite dried fruits instead of raisins. I would experiment with cherries or apricots.
- Spices: Anise seed has appeared in many bread puddings I have tried. I plumped my raisins before incorporating them with water and anise seed liqueur into the batter. Cardamon is another delicious spice from India that will give your bread pudding a more exotic flavor.
- Nuts: One of the oldest recipes for bread pudding I found had toasted sliced almonds, along with raisins to be added to the bread pudding. I have made one pudding with the almonds to see how it comes out.
Step-by-Step Instructions
If you are planning of making this recipe and bake it the same day, preheat the oven to 325F. If making it the next day, prepare the bread mixture and bake the next day.
- Begin by preparing the milk with Sugar, Cinnamon, Clove, Salt, and Vanilla. Place on the stove and warm through. Mix the sugar until dissolved. Bring the milk to a boil. Careful not to boil over.
- While the milk warms, remove the crust of the bread...
2. b ...and crumble the bread into pieces
- Once the milk boils, remove the cinnamon and the cloves.
- Add the milk mixture to the bread crumbles. Mix to moisten all the bread. Let soak for 30 minutes.
- Add lemon zest and grated ginger . . .
5.b . . . and butter. Mix to incorporate. The mixture should still be warm.
7. a. Place pudding batter in buttered baking dishes. Add caramel at the bottom of the pan, then pour the batter. If using caramel, create a Bain-Marie by placing the baking dish inside a larger pan and adding enough water to reach halfway up the side of the baking dish.
- Bake for 30 to 40 minutes. Allow the bread pudding to rest for 30 minutes to an hour if served the same day, and warm or chill and serve the next day.
Expert Tips
- Buy your bread at least three days in advance. Allow the bread to sit out and become stale. Once the bread becomes stale, the flavor changes into a tart taste and the bread's texture will be crumbly and hard. This helps tremendously in the making of this dish.
- You can make "stale" bread by heating the oven to 150-200℉. Cut the loaf in half, cross, and lengthwise. Place the pieces of bread on a cookie sheet and let them rest in the oven for about 20~30 minutes. Stale bread is a lot easier to remove from the crust as well. The bread will practically crumble in your hands.
Recipes FAQs
Any of your favorite bread. You can even use danishes, brownies, and blondies. I had a Cuban loaf for this recipe, but Italian, French, or Puerto Rican loaves work well. As for Puerto Rican loaves, we have Pan Sobao, which tends to be sweeter. Pan de Agua tends to be larger and has no prominent sweetness.
In a way, yes. The idea stems from this being an ideal recipe for using old bread, keeping you from wasting any product. Also, stale bread tends to be dryer and harder because it has no moisture, which means it will absorb all the liquid added to it. You can make "stale" bread by heating the oven to 150-200℉. Cut the loaf in half, cross, and lengthwise. Place the pieces of bread on a cookie sheet and let them rest in the oven for about 20~30 minutes. Stale bread is a lot easier to remove from the crust as well. The bread will practically crumble in your hands.
I have eaten bread pudding cold and warm, but warm is the best way to serve it. The warmth brings out a lot of the delicate flavors within the pudding. In the case of this pudding, when served warm, the silky texture will melt in your mouth, and the anisette bursts from the raisins.
Yes. Both words mean the same. They are different dialects of the same word. Different countries use them either interchangeably or one or the other. Budins/pudins can be as savory as a sausage (the word budin takes root in Latin to botellus, which means sausage) and as sweet as a mousse. So the next time you eat sausage for breakfast, remember you are eating pudding.
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📖 Recipe
Budín de pan (Puerto Rican Bread Pudding)
Ingredients
- 1 load Puerto Rican bread If Puerto Rican bread is not available, use Cuban, French, or Italian bread.
- 1 qrt Milk
- 2 sticks Cinnamon
- 2 Whole Cloves
- 1 cup Sugar
- ½ tsp (pinch) Salt
- 1 tablespoon Vanilla
- ½ stick Butter
- 1 teaspoon Grated Ginger
- 1 teaspoon Lemon Zest
- 2 Eggs
- ½ cup Raisins if using
- 1 shot Anisette Liqueur completely optional
Instructions
- Begin by preparing the milk with Sugar, Cinnamon, Clove, Salt, and Vanilla. Place on the stove and warm through. Mix the sugar until dissolved. Bring the milk to a boil. Careful not to boil over.1 qrt Milk, 2 sticks Cinnamon, 2 Whole Cloves, 1 cup Sugar, ½ teaspoon (pinch) Salt, 1 tablespoon Vanilla
- While the milk warms, remove the crust of the bread and crumble the bread into pieces. Soak the raisins in warm water to cover them. Optional to add a shot of anisette to the water to infuse the raisins with extra flavor. Cover and set aside.1 load Puerto Rican bread, ½ cup Raisins, 1 shot Anisette Liqueur
- Once the milk boils, remove the cinnamon and the cloves.
- Add the milk mixture to the bread crumbles. Mix to moisten all the bread. Let soak for 30 minutes.
- Add lemon zest and grated ginger, and butter. Mix to incorporate. The mixture should still be warm.1 teaspoon Grated Ginger, 1 teaspoon Lemon Zest, ½ stick Butter
- Using a tempering method. Incorporate small portions of bread batter to beat eggs to avoid creating scrambled eggs in the batter.2 Eggs
- Add desired dried fruits, in this case, raisins or non at all.½ cup Raisins
- Place pudding batter in buttered baking dishes. Add caramel at the bottom of the pan, then pour the batter. If using caramel, create a Bain-Marie by placing the baking dish inside a larger pan and adding enough water to reach halfway up the side of the baking dish.
- Bake for 30 to 40 minutes. Allow the bread pudding to rest for 30 minutes to an hour if served the same day, and warm or chill and serve the next day.
Notes
- If you do not have stale bread: You can make "stale" bread by heating the oven to 150-200℉. Cut the loaf in half, cross, and lengthwise. Place the pieces of bread on a cookie sheet and let them rest in the oven for about 20~30 minutes. Stale bread is a lot easier to remove from the crust as well. The bread will practically crumble in your hands.
- If using any dried fruits, consider soaking them in a bit of water. In my case, I used a mixture of water and anisette to incorporate the anis flavor into the dish.
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