Honey-sweetened custard around bread cubes
This is a plain bread pudding: white bread cubes soaked in milk, eggs and honey, then baked until the custard sets. Cinnamon and vanilla season the base. There are no raisins, nuts or separate sauce to account for.
The stated 350 g bread includes its crusts, which give some of the exposed cubes a firmer edge. Use the bread as weighed, keeping loose crumbs with the cubes. The complete dish makes eight portions.
Recipe
Honey Bread Pudding
White bread cubes baked in a honey-sweetened milk-and-egg custard. Eight portions, with all crusts retained and no raisins or separate sauce in the base.
8Ingredients
Yield: 8 servings
- 350 g commercially prepared white bread, including crusts
- 500 g whole milk
- 3 large eggs
- 1/4 cup clover honey (84.75 g)
- 28 g unsalted butter, melted
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (4.2 g)
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon (2.6 g)
- 1.5 g table salt
Ingredient amounts scale; instructions show the original batch. Cooking times and pan sizes may need adjustment. Season to taste. Honey grams use US measures at 20°C and 17.5% moisture, a density estimate; weigh your honey for precision.
Instructions
- 1Cut the bread and prepare the dishLine a 9-by-9-inch baking dish with parchment, covering the bottom and sides. Weigh the white bread with its crusts, cut it into roughly 1-inch cubes and put all the cubes and loose crumbs in the dish. Do not discard crusts after weighing.
- 2Whisk the honey custardWhisk the eggs until combined, then whisk in the milk, honey, melted butter, vanilla, cinnamon and salt. The butter should be melted but not hot. Pour the full custard mixture evenly over the bread.
- 3Let the bread soakPress the bread gently into the liquid so the exposed surfaces are moistened. Leave for about 20 minutes, pressing once more partway through. Heat the oven to 350°F (175°C) during this time.
- 4Bake the puddingBake for about 45–55 minutes, until the top is golden and the center custard is set rather than liquid. A probe in the center should reach 160°F (71°C); avoid measuring just an exposed bread cube. If the top browns before the center sets, tent loosely with foil and continue checking. The planning cook time is 50 minutes.
- 5Rest and portionLet stand for about 15 minutes, then divide into eight portions and serve warm. The planning total includes 15 minutes preparation, 20 minutes soaking, 50 minutes baking and 15 minutes resting. Any extra time needed for the center to set extends that total. No sauce or extra honey is included in the base.
Estimated nutrition per serving
240.93 calories · 8.11 g fat · 33.81 g carbohydrate · 8.28 g protein · 341.51 mg sodium
Serving: 1 of 8 equal portions
Calculated from ingredient weights and USDA FoodData Central: 174924, 171265, 171287, 169640, 173430, 173471, 171320, 173468. Estimates use ingredient input weights; actual portions, brands and cooking losses vary. Omitted nutrient values are unavailable, not zero.
Soak the cubes before baking
The source ingredient is commercially prepared white bread. A dense artisan loaf, enriched brioche or a dried-out bread weight changes both absorption and the reference nutrition. This formula uses ordinary soft white bread, weighed before soaking.
Press the cubes gently into the custard, then give them about 20 minutes to take it up. The top pieces can remain partly exposed, but their surfaces should be moistened rather than left completely dry.
Check the custard in the center of the dish, not just the browned bread on top. If the surface colors too quickly, cover loosely and keep baking until the middle is set. A browned crust alone does not show that the egg mixture has finished cooking.
Get the Honey Buyer's Cheat Sheet (free PDF)
16 varieties on one page — color, flavor, best use and what a fair price looks like — from the 304 honeys we track.
Choose the honey by flavor
Clover honey has a mild flavor, wildflower honey varies with its floral mix, and orange blossom honey brings citrus-floral aroma. Buckwheat honey has a stronger, malty flavor. The baking pairing guide offers more choices.
The chart uses an editorial 1–5 flavor-intensity scale for pairing. Individual jars vary with floral source and harvest.
1 = mild, 5 = bold. Editorial pairing guidance, not laboratory measurements; jars vary.
- Clover
- Mild honey custard
- Wildflower
- Floral bread pudding
- Orange blossom
- Citrus-floral baked custard
- Buckwheat
- A bold malty pudding
Serving and useful changes
Resting for 15 minutes lets the pudding settle before portioning. Serve it warm from the dish. A sauce, ice cream or an extra honey drizzle is additional to this recipe and its estimate.
For a different honey dessert, honey ice cream is frozen rather than baked. Honey cake is a batter-based bake, while honey butter is a separate spread.
If doubling, use two dishes of the original size and check both centers. A much deeper dish takes a different time, and simply doubling the baking time is not a reliable method.
Keeping leftovers
Cool leftovers and refrigerate them in a covered container. Use within about three days, or freeze separate portions. The texture is softest when warmed gently, covered so the surface does not dry out.
Keep the custard with its bread when portioning. This is not a method for draining or recovering a separate syrup, and the estimate makes no such adjustment.
Nutrition and source ingredients
One portion has an estimated 240.93 calories, 8.11 g fat, 3.82 g saturated fat, 33.81 g carbohydrate, 14.48 g sugars, 1.38 g fiber, 8.28 g protein and 341.51 mg sodium.
The complete measured bread with crusts, milk, eggs, honey, butter, vanilla, cinnamon and salt input is divided across eight portions. No custard is drained and no cooked-weight, moisture-loss or absorption factor is applied. Extra sauces and toppings are separate.
These values sum the USDA reference ingredients and divide them by the stated portions. They are estimates, not laboratory measurements of the finished bread. Baking changes water content; no guessed cooking-loss or recovery factor has been applied.
- USDA FoodData Central 174924: Bread, white, commercially prepared (includes soft bread crumbs).
- USDA FoodData Central 171265: Milk, whole, 3.25% milkfat, with added vitamin D.
- USDA FoodData Central 171287: Egg, whole, raw, fresh.
- USDA FoodData Central 169640: Honey.
- USDA FoodData Central 173430: Butter, without salt.
- USDA FoodData Central 173471: Vanilla extract.
- USDA FoodData Central 171320: Spices, cinnamon, ground.
- USDA FoodData Central 173468: Salt, table.
