Baking by Hand (24 page)

Preheat the oven to 375°F/190°C. Bake the sticky buns for 45 to 50 minutes, rotating the pans after 25 minutes top to bottom. The buns in the middle will take the longest to bake and will be the mostly likely to be underbaked if you take them out too soon. If they are underbaked, they will collapse during the cooling process. The middle buns will appear paler than the outer ones no matter what, but you want to avoid their looking very doughy when you take them out.

Once you remove them from the oven, put the whole sheet pan down on the counter. Pick up the muffin tin and quickly invert it onto the parchment-lined sheet pan. (Putting down a clean piece of parchment on top of the greasy piece makes for a cleaner presentation.) If there is excess sugar in the muffin tin, tip it over and drain it onto the buns. Try to cool a bit before eating or else you will burn the heck out of your mouth!

Bread pudding is one of our favorite things to make at the bakery, and we’ve been making it since day one. Bread puddings are simple; they can be adapted to whatever fruits or flavors are in season (or whichever ones you have on hand); they taste great hot, cold or room temperature; and they use up extra croissant scraps or leftovers from the end of that inevitable slow day. There’s not a lot of science to it. You need a bread product to soak up your custard, and you need enough custard to soak into the bread. That’s pretty much it. Make sure to use stale bread (or stale it yourself by leaving it on your counter for a few hours), as fresh bread tends to fall apart when absorbing the liquid. It will still be tasty made with fresh bread, but maybe a little less pleasing texturally, and certainly harder to slice into nice wedges for a plated dessert. These recipes that we serve at the bakery should be viewed as solid offerings as well as jumping-off points. Once you get the idea of how to assemble bread pudding, you’ll be off and running with your own unique flavor combinations.

CARAMEL

10.5 oz/300 g sugar

1.5 oz/40 ml water

1.75 oz/50 ml agave nectar or corn syrup

¾ cup/180 ml heavy cream

3 oz/85 g butter

3 large eggs

8 oz/240 ml whole milk

8 oz/240 ml half-and-half

¼ cup/60 ml bourbon

¼ cup/50 g sugar

1 tbsp/15 ml pure vanilla extract

1 lb/450 g stale croissant, brioche, challah or other bread, cut into 1”/2.5-cm dice

4 oz/110 g pecans, toasted

To make the caramel, combine the sugar, water and agave in a very clean, heavy-bottom stainless steel pot. Make sure any utensils you use are very clean, as impurities in your caramel can cause it to crystallize. Warm over medium heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Once dissolved, turn the heat to high. Boil until a dark amber color is achieved, periodically washing down the sides of the pot with a pastry brush dipped in water to dissolve any sugar crystallizing.

Carefully add the cream. (Look out for lots of steam! Don’t get burned—wear an over mitt if you have one.) Once the bubbling has subsided, add the butter and stir until melted.

Return the caramel to medium heat, and simmer for another 5 minutes to thicken. Cool and refrigerate for long-term storage.

Whisk the eggs, milk, half-and-half, bourbon, sugar and vanilla in a large bowl until combined and smooth. Add the bread and pecans to the bowl, and toss it with your hands or a spoon until all the bread is coated with the custard. Let it sit for at least 30 minutes and up to 1 hour, stirring occasionally.

Preheat the oven to 375°F/190°C. Put half of the bread and custard mixture in your greased pan or mold, gently pressing down to create a mostly flat surface. Spread 2 ounces/60 g (about ¼ cup) caramel on the surface, and top with the remaining bread and custard mixture.

Bake until golden brown and firm when pressed, about 45 minutes. After the bread pudding has cooled down a bit, top with more caramel. Serve with even more caramel if so desired. Caramel, caramel, caramel.

3 large eggs

8 oz/240 ml whole milk

8 oz/240 ml half-and-half

¼ cup/50 g sugar

2 tbsp/30 ml pure vanilla extract

1 lb/450 g stale croissant, brioche, challah or other bread, cut into 1”/2.5-cm dice

4 oz/110 g pecan pieces, toasted

5 oz/140 g semisweet chocolate chunks (or bittersweet if you prefer)

CHOCOLATE SAUCE

8 oz/240 ml half-and-half

1.5 lb/700 g semisweet chocolate chunks (you can use darker or lighter chocolate to suit your preference)

Whisk the eggs, milk, half-and-half, sugar and vanilla in a large bowl until combined and smooth.

Add the bread and pecans to the bowl, and toss it with your hands or a spoon until all the bread is coated with the custard. Let sit for at least 30 minutes, or up to 1 hour, stirring occasionally.

Preheat the oven to 375°F/190°C. Put half of the bread and custard mixture in your greased pan or mold, gently pressing down to create a somewhat flat surface. Sprinkle with the chocolate chunks in an even layer. Add the rest of the bread and custard mixture, and press down again.

Bake until golden brown and firm when pressed, about 45 minutes.

While the bread pudding is cooling, make the chocolate sauce: Bring the half-and-half to a simmer and pour it over the chocolate chunks. Whisk until all the chocolate is melted and smooth.

Cool the sauce down a little bit, about 30 minutes, and then drizzle it over the whole bread pudding before cutting. Refrigerate any leftovers for 2 weeks; reheat as needed.

1 tbsp/9 g lemon zest

½
cup/100 g sugar

3 large eggs

8 oz/240 ml whole milk

8 oz/240 ml half-and-half

1 lb/450 g stale croissant, brioche, challah or other bread, cut into 1”/2.5-cm dice

7 oz/200 g fresh blueberries

Confectioners’ sugar, for dusting

In a large bowl, rub the lemon zest into the sugar to release the lemon oil. Add the eggs, milk and half-and-half and whisk until combined and smooth.

Next, add the bread and blueberries to bowl, and toss with your hands or spoon until all the bread is coated with the custard. Let sit for at least 30 minutes or up to 1 hour, stirring occasionally.

Preheat the oven to 375°F/190°C. Put all of the bread and custard mixture into the greased pan or paper mold. Bake until golden brown and firm when pressed, about 45 minutes.

When cooled, dust with confectioners’ sugar.

3 large eggs

8 oz/240 ml whole milk

8 oz/240 ml half-and-half

¾ cup/140 g granulated sugar

1 ½ tsp/4 g ground cinnamon

1 lb/450 g stale croissant, brioche, challah or other enriched dough, 1”/2.5-cm dice

2 Cortland apples or other baking apples

1 oz/30 g unsalted butter

⅓ cup/70 g brown sugar

4 oz/100 g mascarpone cheese

¼ cup/60 ml pure maple syrup

Whisk the eggs, milk, half-and-half, sugar and cinnamon in a large bowl until combined and smooth. Add the bread, and toss it with your hands or spoon until all the bread is coated with the custard. Let it sit for at least 30 minutes (but no longer than 1 hour), stirring occasionally.

While the bread is soaking, prepare the apples (or this can be done up to 1 day in advance). Peel the apples and slice into ½-inch/1-cm slices. Melt the butter in a sauté pan along with the brown sugar over medium heat. Stir until combined. Add the apples and toss to coat completely. Cook until softened and slightly caramelized.

Preheat the oven to 375°F/190°C. Put half the soaked bread into your greased pan or mold. Layer all the apples on top of this first layer of bread. Scoop out the mascarpone cheese into five mounds and place them on top of the apples, evenly spaced. Then, fill with the remainder of the soaked bread. Gently press down on the top to compact it all together slightly.

Bake until golden brown and firm when pressed, about 45 minutes. While still warm, drizzle the top with the maple syrup.