pane cioccolato

I wrote, last year, of my battles with bread pudding, and how finally, I had found one that I liked. Well, this year (it seems I make one a year, doesn't it?), I tried again. I'm happy with it.
I wanted to make a chocolate bread pudding, for the marvelous dinner we had last night. I had a friend in mind who loves chocolate, but who deserves something a little bit different than the usual. To be fair, if I made him a chocolate pound cake, or a chocolate cupcake, he'd be just as happy. Not me. And I began designing a dessert: chocolate bread pudding with bitter orange creme anglaise. I still had some seville oranges left from the time I didn't make marmalade, and I had visions of a soft cream underneath the pudding, that would impart the bittersweetness of a liqueur like gran marnier, but without the alcohol. And, it would offset the bittersweetness of the chocolate, because there was no question that it was going to be bittersweet chocolate.
I also wanted individual portions. Here's where the fun began. Every single source I consulted, made one large bowl of the stuff, and called up on you to ladle it out. Okay, not bad, on its own terms, but not what I wanted. Also, all of the recipes I consulted called for French bread, or pan di mie, or some plain, white bread kind of base.
Again, not what I wanted. If you recall, I did my huckleberry bread pudding, with brioche.

So, to the drawing board I went, with the recipe I liked best. "IF I were going to make a large pot of the stuff, this is the one I would make" was how I reacted to it. So, a nip here, a tuck here, and all of a sudden, you have the dessert.

Here's the interesting thing. The original recipe says that the dessert serves 6-8. I have 12 ramekins of the stuff. Half cup portions. And that's plenty. This is a rich dessert. It's easy. Try it.

You'll need about a pound loaf of challah. If you can buy the bread a day or two before you make the pudding, that's best. Leave it out to stale a little. You also need 2 cups of milk and one of heavy cream. A half cup of sugar as well, a big pinch of salt, 10 ounces of extremely good quality, bittersweet chocolate (I used scharffenberger. One bar is 9.7 ounces, and this is fine). Six large eggs, and some butter.

First, tear the bread up or cut it up into small pieces. Don't worry about taking off the crust. Put the torn bread into a bowl, while you prepare the dairy mixture. First, chop the chocolate fine. Then put the dairy into a pot with the sugar and the chocolate, and the salt, and stir, just unitl the chocolate melts. Let this sit for a minute or two, and then whisk in six eggs. (Make sure that milk isn't too hot. If it is, let it cool to just lukewarm). As you stir in the eggs, you're going to see a sheen form in the milk mixture. This is a good thing.

Pour all of this over the bread, and let the mass sit for an hour, while you prepare the ramekins, and the oven. Put the oven to 325. Then, get your ramekins. Like I say, this made 12, so borrow some from your friends, or make half a recipe. Butter the inside of each one. Position them on a baking sheet and then ladle the bread mixture in them, just about to the top. While you're doing this, bring a kettle of water to the boil. When it's there, put the tray in the oven, and then carefully pour water into the baking sheet, until it's just up to the rim. Close the oven door, and go away for 40 minutes.

The puddings will be a little soft at this point, and that's fine. It's precisely what you want. Open the oven door, and let the tray cool there. If you try to move it (as I did), you will slosh water everywhere, curse, wet your shoes, curse some more, and then have to mop. When the stuff is cool, remove each ramekin, and then move the water filled tray. it will be much easier.

Run a knife around the rim of each one, but it isn't necessary to remove them until you're ready to serve. It' just makes it easier to do it early, rather than later.

You can refrigerate these, but if you're serving the same day, don't do it. They're fine refrigerated, and get very dense. If they're never refrigerated, they are much ligher. Both are good, but they are very different.

I DID say bitter orange creme anglaise, didn't I? Well, we're gonna get to that. Next time around, when we look at creme anglaise, generally. A dessert very useful to have on hand.