When the 5 o’clock bell rang at the end of my fourth and final King Arthur Baking class— and I’m speaking figuratively, because there actually was no bell— I felt an overwhelming sense of accomplishment at having baked the equivalent of 12 loaves of bread. “Equivalent,” because my classmates and I were taught shaping technique not only for loaves, but also for different kinds of rolls, and by the end of my deep-dive into the “principles and practice” of bread, my arms were filled with a brioche braid, a loaf of basic white, a whole wheat braid, a multi-grain boule, Nutella twist, cinnamon rolls, a whole wheat loaf with cinnamon-raisin swirl, two kinds of dinner rolls and three (count ’em, three) loaves of crusty French bread. Oh, and a ball of wet pizza dough in a plastic bag. Holy freakin’ moly.

I had produced enough baked goods to fill a Toyota Corolla, and I wasn’t sure what I’d do with all that bread.

Most of my classmates were headed home, so theirs was an easy decision. But I had packed up my rental car that morning for the third and final leg of my solo summer adventure, and that would lead me north, through the driving rain, farther from home rather than nearer. I would be a weekend visitor in the home of someone I’d never met in person before— what in the world was she going to think when I rolled up, looking like a drowned rat, in my rented Corolla with bread piled up to the windows?! Well, she wasn’t mad! 🙂

Speaking from experience, if you ever need help breaking down too many loaves of bread, you want to be spending the weekend with Dorothy from The New Vintage Kitchen! Dorothy’s blog followers know that one of her mottos in the kitchen is “waste nothing,” and she showed me how she lives by it. That first evening, we enjoyed some steamer clams and a lovely nicoise salad with freshly grilled tuna. I suppose you can guess who brought the bread?

Our Friday was spent“foraging” for ingredients at some of Dorothy’s favorite farm stands, and the experience was all that I had imagined and more! We found terrific local produce, farm-fresh eggs, beautiful handcrafted items (like the wooden spoon that practically leapt into my hand) and adventure at every turn. And yes, we broke down that bread, one item at a time. Some of the loaves and rolls were stale before I even got to her house, and those ended up as bread crumbs, which are always in demand in a kitchen as busy as Dorothy’s.

She taught me her method of making anchovy croutons, using up the rest of the French bread loaves I brought. And of course, there was the title bread pudding, which was my own contribution to Friday night dinner, where I was pleased to meet Dorothy’s daughter, son-in-law and adorable granddaughter. They received the whole wheat raisin swirl loaf as a door prize. Thank goodness!

This bread pudding was exactly the right thing, because it brought me full circle from my grandmother’s kitchen, where nothing was wasted, including all the little this-and-thats of bread that she would have tucked into the freezer until she had enough to make a batch of her perfect bread pudding. As luck would have it, I had plenty of bread options and it was a very efficient (and delicious) way to finish up the braided brioche, some of the braided whole wheat and about four of the un-iced cinnamon rolls. It was roughly six cups of crumbs.

The base recipe was Gram’s, but there were a few fun twists— first of all, we used fresh, plump blueberries rather than the usual dried fruit. Real Vermont maple syrup supplemented the sugar for a warm touch of sweetness. The vanilla was homemade (of course, because this is Dorothy’s kitchen!) and we baked it up in her incredible, radiant-heat AGA range. My Gram would have loved everything about this, and she would have genuinely appreciated Dorothy’s no-nonsense, no-waste approach to cooking and entertaining. Truly, I could not have felt more welcome! Dorothy’s husband had something to do with that as well—he was always right there, topping off my French press coffee—and their two sweet dogs treated me like a member of the family, too! I got a little misty-eyed when it was time to leave, but I know I’ll be back!

After the click-to-print recipe, check out my whirlwind recap of the fun weekend we enjoyed, despite All. That. Rain!

Vermont Maple & Blueberry Bread Pudding

• Servings: About 10
• Prep Time: 20 minutes
• Cook Time: One hour
• Difficulty: Average
• Print

When you're in Vermont, you have to sneak a little bit of maple into everything! This version of my Gram's bread pudding also uses fresh blueberries, and it worked beautifully!

Ingredients

• About 6 cups dry, stale bread pieces
• 2 1/2 cups milk
• 3 beaten eggs
• 1/4 cup melted butter
• 1/2 cup sugar (reserve a tablespoon to sprinkle over top)
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
• 1 cup fresh blueberries
• 1/4 cup Vermont maple syrup
• Whipped cream for serving

This recipe works best with bread that is stale but not bone dry. Tear up the pieces rather than cubing them, and allow them to dry out on the counter overnight (or all day, while you’re foraging for dinner’s ingredients). The bread pudding requires a water bath during baking, so put on a tea kettle to boil when you’re ready to move the pudding to the oven.

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 F, with oven rack in center position. Butter a 1 1/2 quart baking dish.
2. Add stale bread pieces to a mixing bowl that will be large enough to toss with liquid ingredients. Whisk together milk, eggs, sugar, melted butter, vanilla, cinnamon and cardamom. Pour milk mixture over bread and gently fold with a spatula or wooden spoon to evenly coat bread. The mixture will initially seem too wet, but the bread will continue to soak in the liquids. Allow the pudding to rest about 20 minutes to absorb the custardy liquid.
3. When most of the liquid has been absorbed, fold in fresh blueberries and maple syrup. Transfer mixture to buttered baking dish, and place the dish inside a larger dish with room for boiling water on all sides. Heat water to boiling in a tea kettle. Sprinkle reserved tablespoon of sugar all over the top of the pudding.
4. Carefully pour boiling water into larger dish, about halfway up the sides of the bread pudding dish. Bake approximately one hour, until pudding is set and top is golden browned and crispy.