The History of Bread Pudding – Part 1

Website design By BotEap.comWelcome back to Italian desserts. This post is the beginning of another kind of fun. During new posts, we will discuss the history of bread pudding and a few recipes along the way. I digress again because my research on the world of Italian desserts has taken me a WAY back in time, it has led me to Sicilian desserts and that’s where I got here.

Website design By BotEap.comBread pudding dates back to prehistoric times and has had its place in all ages and in all countries ever since. My research has revealed that bread pudding, both sweet and savory, was first developed by ancient people. It seems that there has always been a tendency for frugal cooks to avoid wasting stale bread and thus this sweet was born.

Website design By BotEap.comThe history

Website design By BotEap.comIf you delve into the history of cooking from prehistoric times, you will find that stale or stale bread has been used in many ways; for example, medieval sop, foccacia, fillings, special dishes like French toast, and thickeners like puddings. Interestingly, if you search a 19th century cookbook, you are likely to find recipes for bread pudding listed as “Invalid Kitchen.” The recipes that you will find will be varied and depend on the type of bread used.

Website design By BotEap.comImportant category

Website design By BotEap.comAnother thing that you will find if you delve into the history of cooking is that many desserts throughout the centuries have included bread as an ingredient in the form of breadcrumbs or in slices or pieces. And, if you follow my line of thinking, I’m sure you’ll see the efficiency and frugality of using the leftover pieces of stale or stale bread to create another dish by adding a sweetening agent and milk and baking the resulting sweet. By adding fat, like butter, and a fruit, like gooseberries, to this mix, you move this use of potentially wasted bread into the category of a special treat.

Website design By BotEap.comThis has been so much the fact that today even cooks who don’t have stale bread will have some amazing recipes and uses for bread pudding. The “improved” product was called bread and butter pudding. Some cooks have even used brioche, panettone (leavened Italian bread), and plain cake slices in place of the bread, while adding more fruit and even spices to further enhance this simple dessert. Consequently, some of these “improvements” must be kept under strict control, the bread pudding loses its traditional characteristics.

Website design By BotEap.comHow it began

Website design By BotEap.comThe likely beginning of bread pudding can be found by looking back at medieval sops and the medieval practice of using a hollowed-out loaf of bread as a container for a sweet dish … varieties of bread pudding can be eaten hot or cold. like a cake. In fact, an Egyptian dessert that bears a considerable resemblance to bread and butter pudding, and was originally a simple dish originating in rural areas, is called Om Ali and is made with bread, milk or cream, raisins and almonds.

Website design By BotEap.comAnother Middle Eastern sweet bread, Eish is serny (palace bread), it is prepared by drying large round slices cut horizontally through a large loaf to make large sponge cakes (loaves or chunks of very stale bread twice baked), which are then they cook slowly in sugar syrup and honey flavored with rose water and colored with caramel. If you travel further east, a Mughal-style Indian dessert, Shahi tukra, is made with bread fried in ghee (clarified butter), dipped in a syrup flavored with saffron and rose water and then topped with a creamy sauce whose decorative slices of almonds are mixed.

Website design By BotEap.comOur next post will cover the emergence of bread puddings in America and some interesting facts and recipes for it. Stay tuned for more delicious information on this multicultural dessert.

Website design By BotEap.comEnjoy!

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