Apple Bacon Bread Pudding

Happy Holiday Season, my friends!

We have made it past Thanksgiving, so I can officially be as annoying as possible with my over-the-top Christmas spirit! Yay! Woo! Candy Canes! Gingerbread!

As I write up this blog post, I may or may not be snuggled up on the couch with Mr. Raleigh, wearing a shirt covered in gingerbread men, listening to some Christmas tunes while drinking coffee with a candy cane swirling around in my big mug…

If you don’t recall from last holiday season, this time of year just speaks to me—it’s truly the time when everyone’s love just comes out, no questions asked, and that makes me even more warm and fuzzy than usual! And if you’re at my house for Christmas, it’s going to be gingerbread house making, Bad Santa watching, spiked eggnog and Cognac drinking, and I-spy Christmas ornament playing. Things get pretty wild up there.

ANYWAYS! Let me stop rambling about the upcoming excitement in Maine, but instead about this even bigger thrill of the recipe below! Bacon. Apples. Spices. Bread. Crumb Topping.

I think I should have had you at bacon, but had to add in the crumb topping incase you’re nuts and your mouth doesn’t water at the thought of bacon.

Alright, so I have a small confession…the idea of bread pudding hasn’t always appealed to me. I see it on a brunch menu, a dessert menu, I’m kind of like well…pancakes, waffles, chocolate cake…they’re all higher up to me. But then after the past few weeks at work of making savory bread pudding almost everyday, I decided to put aside all of my past feelings and give it another shot. See, at work, we use day old savory pastries—croissants, gougeres, ham puffs—and that’s when I realized it can’t be that bad if there’s flaky, buttery pastry in it.

What bread is in my sweet variation? Cinnamon bread and challah, thank you very much. Luckily, homemade OR store bought is just fine, and day old is even better. And then I just added almost every favorite ingredient of mine: bacon for some savory-salty action, apples for a tart crunch, cinnamon and nutmeg—I mean, it’s Christmas, brown sugar for that wonderful sweetness, and a buttery, big crumb topping for even more little flavor bursts.

After making my own bread pudding and seeing how fun it is to experiment with flavor combinations, there’s absolutely no reason why this incredible custard shouldn’t move up in your ranking, too! One of the best parts? You can make this and let it sit overnight in the fridge, and then bake it fresh in the morning—hello simple brunch!

Oh, and I heard Christmas is on a Sunday this year, the day of brunching…so here is one less thing you need to plan!

crumb ingredients

Brown Sugar—1 oz, or 2 TBL

Flour—0.75 oz, or 2 TBL

Cinnamon—¼ tsp

Nutmeg—pinch

Butter, cold+cubed—1.5 oz, or 3 TBL

process

In a bowl, combine all of the ingredients.

Either using a fork, a pastry cutter, or, my favorite, your hands (!!), work the butter into the dry ingredients.

You want to have large and small crumbs of the topping, this will give you little buttery, spicy pockets once the bread pudding is baked!

When you are ready to bake your bread pudding, sprinkle this all over the top before putting into the oven.

ingredients

Bacon, cooked—8-10 pieces

Apple, diced—1

Bread—10 oz, or 4 C (packed!)

Milk—8 oz, or 1 C

Eggs—4

Vanilla—1 tsp

Brown Sugar—2.5 oz, or 1/3 C

Salt—¾ tsp

Cinnamon—2 tsp

process

In a large bowl, combine the bacon, diced apple, and bread.

*For bread, using day old is great, really soaks up the liquid. You may also use whatever type you’d like—but a sweet challah or cinnamon raison are the perfect flavor combinations!*

In a separate bowl, whisk together the milk, eggs, vanilla, brown sugar, salt and cinnamon.

Pour your liquid mixture over the bread and mix well.

Once thoroughly mixed, pour all into a baking dish—I used a pie dish, makes it look pretty!

Cover with plastic wrap and allow to sit in the refrigerator to soak for at least 2 hours to overnight!

When you’re ready to bake, preheat your oven to 350˚F.

Sprinkle the crumb topping (recipe below) over the bread pudding.

Bake in the oven for 40-50 minutes, until you can see that the custard has set and there are no more runny eggs.

Remove from the oven, allow to cool slightly, and enjoy!

Bon Appétit!

Cinnamon Raisin Buns

Today I am bringing you the most ingenious idea that I have ever thought of—it has taken me way too many years, too many loaves of bread, too much cinnamon—but alas, we have made it! Cinnamon raisin buns!

Yes, I have taken probably my all-time favorite bread, shoved as much cinnamon and sugar as I can inside of it, and made it into individual buns—and all in time for Easter. A basket full of these on your brunch, lunch or dinner table next weekend will make you forget about the couple of pounds of chocolate you have been looking forward to consuming for just a few moments!

I believe that I say it with each holiday, claiming that they are my favorite to bake for, but then I realize that I am just as obsessed with the next as I was the first! I mean, Thanksgiving and Christmas, those holidays just scream for anything sweet, and then comes Valentine’s Day—load up on the chocolate, but then St. Patrick’s Day—hello booze, and now we are at Easter—where all I want to do is 1. Eat a bag of Cadbury Chocolate Eggs, 2. Bake endlessly with all things pastel, and 3. Run around the house like my childhood self and collect Easter eggs. So far, the first two have been completed…

As you all know about my great obsession with Cinnamon Swirl Bread, I have even more of a love for this one below with raisins! Oh my, raisins in bread are just something I can’t even talk about without salivating. They become so plump and moist, give a bit of extra sweetness that sometimes bread lacks, and are all about that toasting life—I mean is there a better joy than toasted cinnamon raisin bread with peanut butter?! NO!

And here we are my sweet, sweet friends…combining the best of every single world into one lovely bun!

I have taken my life-trusted Challah recipe, given it some bff’s in raisin form, shoved it full of cinnamon and made into individual sized buns! Yeah, it’s mind-blowing isn’t it?!

I don’t know about you, but ripping and tearing from the loaf of bread is just not my thing, neither is deciding how big of a slice to cut from it…I mean can’t I just take half of the loaf and we call it a day?

Fear no more my bread lovers, you now have beautiful buns in your Easter basket—you are welcome!

ingredients

Bread Flour—7.5 oz, or 1 ¼ C

AP Flour—3 oz, or ½ C

Salt—½ tsp

Sugar—0.5 oz, or 1 TBL

Yeast—1 packet

Eggs—1

Molasses—0.75 oz, or 1 TBL

Milk (110˚F)—1 oz, or 2 TBL

Water (110˚F)—2.5 oz, or ¼ C + 1 TBL

Raisins—1.75 oz, or 1/3 C

Cinnamon—1 TBL

Sugar—1.25 oz, or 2 ½ TBL

Egg—1, for eggwash

process

In the bowl of your mixer, combine the flours, salt and sugar.

Add in the yeast, making sure that it is separate from the salt—you do not want them to touch until they are combined with the liquid, as salt will slow down the rising process if they are directly in contact.

Warm up your milk and water together until they are around 110˚ F. The easiest way to do this if you do not have a thermometer is to warm them up until they feel a slight bit warmer than your body temperature.

*Note: if you heat the liquids up too much, it will kill the yeast; if you don’t heat them up enough, the yeast either (1) won’t activate, or (2) will take an extremely long time and you will think that it isn’t working!*

Attach the dough hook on your mixer and turn on low speed.

Add in the egg and molasses.

Slowly stream in the warmed milk and water.

Add in the raisins.

Mix on slow for 3-5 minutes.

Turn your mixer up to medium/high speed and mix for about 3-5 minutes.

Transfer your dough to a large, greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap and then a towel—allow to sit in the warmest part of your house to rise until double in size.

This should take about 2 hours.

Make you cinnamon-sugar filling by simply mixing them together in a bowl.

When your dough has risen, remove from the bowl and place on a floured work surface.

Knead the dough slightly.

Using a dough cutter, make 6 equal dough balls—this can be done just by eye, or if you want to be very precise, I prefer to use a scale.

Make into balls and then flatten.

Beat an egg for your eggwash and brush on your flattened dough.

Sprinkle a heaping teaspoon of the cinnamon-sugar mixture in the center of each.

Once you have finished filling them up, take the edges of your flattened dough and pinch them altogether in the center, making them in balls again.

Place seam side down in a muffin tin.

Allow them to all rise again for about another hour.

To speed up this process, preheat your oven and allow them to sit above it so the heat will warm them quicker.

When you are ready to bake, preheat your oven to 350˚ F.

Using the eggwash, brush on the tops of each of your buns.

Bake for 15-20 minutes until the tops are nicely golden brown.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly before taking out of the pan.

Best enjoyed with a morning cup of coffee and loved ones!

Bon Appétit!

Whole Wheat Spice Bread

Happy Day After Thanksgiving!

…Or should I call it Leftover Friday? Was everyone’s Thanksgiving absolutely magical? Was it full of mashed potatoes and love, wine and gossip, five slices of this semifreddo and the parade?! I sure hope so!

Is it just me or does everyone stuff themselves even more with leftovers the day after Thanksgiving? Basically being like oh shoot! There’s 10 more pounds of stuffing and gravy and turkey and brussels sprouts and beans and I need to eat them all RIGHT NOW. Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?!

While everyone has their day of Thanksgiving traditions, I feel like the day after is just as special—yes, I am referring to fueling up with a leftover brunch and listening to Christmas music… So, rather than throwing every single food that was so beautifully displayed on the table yesterday—decorated with cute little pumpkins, candles, the nicest dishes—into one massive bowl and mixing it into just a pile of amazing, I was like oh. Man. I. Must. Make. A. Sandwich.

Game changer! A Thanksgiving sandwich?! Hey, I think Ross kind of had the idea going, even throw in a gravy-soaked piece of bread in the middle, “the moist maker” if you will.

Bring in the whole wheat bread.

Yes! Whole wheat! Spices! Molasses! This breads flavor is so full of warm cinnamon and allspice, it is just slightly sweet with natural honey, and so hearty from the whole wheat flour. Who doesn’t love freshly baked bread first of all, but the smell of it baking in the oven is better than any candle I own! It’s also great friends with turkey and gravy, or better yet, a nontraditional leftovers brunch of eggs and some fried prosciutto! Like, what?!

What doesn’t go well on this whole-wheat spice bread? I couldn’t tell you!

So whether you went out at midnight for some shopping, or decided to stay in your PJs all day and eat plate after plate of potatoes, this bread makes for the perfect brunch, lunch, or anytime leftover companion!

ingredients

Dry Active Yeast—0.25 oz, or 1½ tsp

Water—8 oz, or 1 C + 2 TBL (separated)

Honey—1.25 oz, or 2 TBL

Whole Wheat Flour—15 oz, or 2½ C

AP Flour—2.75 oz, or ½ C

Cinnamon—0.1 oz, or 1 tsp

Allspice—0.05 oz, or ½ tsp

Canola Oil—0.25 oz, or 1½ tsp

Molasses—0.5 oz, or 1½ tsp

Salt—0.25 oz, or 1¼ tsp

process

In the bowl of your stand mixer, whisk together the yeast, honey and ¼ C/1.75 oz water—making sure that the water is between 105˚-115˚ F.

Let sit for 5 minutes, so that the yeast can begin to activate; you’ll notice that it will start to foam a bit.

In a separate bowl, combine the flours, cinnamon and allspice.

Once the yeast has begun to bubble, add in the remaining water (at the correct, warm temperature), oil, molasses and half of the flour/spice mixture.

Mix.

Add the rest of the flour and salt to the mixture.

Mix at medium speed, with the dough hook, for 10-12 minutes, until the dough forms into a ball and is kneading/slapping the sides of your mixer.

If the dough isn’t coming together after a few minutes, add a couple of tablespoons of water to the mixer.

After the 10 minutes, transfer the dough to an oiled bowl.

Cover with plastic wrap and a towel.

Allow to rise for about 2 hours, until it has doubled in size.

After the first rise, put the dough on your floured work surface.

Roll the dough into a rectangle that’s about 9” x 12”, the length of your loaf pans.

Fold the dough into a business letter—taking the top third, folding it down, and then the bottom third and folding it up.

Pinch to seal the seam; pinch in the ends so that it will fit into the pan.

Cover again with plastic wrap and a towel.

Allow to rise, again, until it has doubled in size—anywhere from 1-2 hours, all depending how warm the room is.

When you are ready to bake the bread, preheat your oven to 375˚ F.

Bake the bread for 30 minutes. The bread will become slightly brown when finished.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool a bit before taking out of the loaf pan.

Slice and enjoy!

Bon Appétit!