Recipe: Maple Sourdough Bread Pudding with Pear Caramel

This bread and butter pudding may just be the best thing you could possibly do with your day-old bread. The judges fromThe Great Canadian Baking Showstopped by to show us how to make one with a bit of maple for a particularly Canadian flare, but you can really mix in anything you want into this versatile dish. Sourdough or challah, crusts on or crusts off, its up to you, because it all works. Its the most delicious way to get to eat bread for dessert, and you can even make it a day in advance to take some of the stress off of your dinner party prep.

Ingredients

• 2 cups whipping cream
• 2 cups homogenized milk
• 9 egg yolks
• cup maple syrup
• 2 tbsp cornstarch
• cup maple sugar
• 8 slices of sourdough bread

Pear Caramel:

• 2 Anjou pears
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• cup maple sugar
• cup water
• 1 vanilla bean, cut lengthwise
• 1 pinch sea salt
• cup cream

Preparation

Pre-heat the oven at 275F.

In a saucepan, bring the cream and milk to a quick boil then turn the heat off and remove from stove top. Set aside to cool slightly.

Whisk together the egg yolks, maple sugar and cornstarch in a large bowl. Pour 1/4 cup of the cream mixture into the egg mixture and mix well. Add in remaining cream mixture, along with the maple syrup and mix until smooth.

Add sourdough bread to the maple cream; toss to coat. Let soak for a few minutes. Spoon equal amounts of the soaked bread into 6-8 ramekins.

Boil a kettle of water. Place the ramekins into deep baking dish. Fill with water to within 2 cm of top of ramekins. Place in the oven on the middle rack.

Bake for about 40 minutes at 275F. Remove from the oven and cool for 2 hours. Refrigerate until needed.

For the caramel:

Peel, core and cut pear into 8 wedges. Repeat with second pear.

In heavy bottomed sauce pan, cook the sugar and water over medium low heat until it caramelizes into a light golden colour.

Add the cream, sea salt and vanilla bean while stirring with a wooden spoon. Bring to a quick boil. Add the sliced pear and remove from heat. Transfer into a bowl to cool. Set aside at room temperature until needed.

How to enjoy:

Remove the pudding from the fridge and let set at room temperature for 30 minutes.

Spoon a large amount of the pear caramel on the top.Garnish with fresh blueberries if desired. Enjoy!