Pumpkin Bread Pudding with Raisins (Whole Wheat Bread)

This is a dish my father and I use to make when I was a child, but we used more traditional ingredients like heavy creams, butter, brown sugar, white bread, vanilla extract and when no one was looking, we added brandy. Shhh!

For this Pumpkin Bread Pudding recipe, I'm trying something non-traditional. I have found some interesting ways to cut some of the fat out and keep the dish as low in calories as possible while keep the flavor.

By the way, there are about 60 calories in a big handful of raisins. A 1/4 cup of raisins has about 140 calories.



What you will need:
-- Baking Pan: 8" x 8"
-- Stale Whole Wheat Bread or any sliced stale bread
-- 3 Eggs (instead of 6)
-- 3 handful raisins
-- Can of Pumpkin (100% pure pumpkin by Libby's is the best)
-- Apple Sauce (organic Santa Cruz) about a cup (instead of butter)
-- Sugar in the Raw - about 1/4 cup
-- Cinnamon (1/4 teaspoon) or about that much. I just shake it until it looks good
-- Nutmeg just a pinch - this is a very strong flavor
-- Ginger powder -- just a pinch
-- Whole Milk or you can use whatever you have at the house
-- Salt - very, very little

I use apple sauce instead of butter, completely leave out brown sugar and heavy cream, and use less eggs.



Lets start with the bread. Even if it's stale, toast it until it's very dry and hard. I place my cookie sheet on my pizza stone to get the bottom of the cookie sheet really hot. Toast for 10 minutes but do not burn your toast. Keep an eye on it.



Once toasted, cut the edges off the whole wheat bread. Use a serrated edge knife to cut the bread and let it sit while you make the pumpkin pudding. You can now pre-heat your oven at 350 F

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In really hot (not boiling) water, soak your organic raisins for about 10 minutes. I do this to get them clean and softer, pulling off any stems or dirt. You could also soak them in brandy.



I just broke my only glass mixing bowl so I had to substitute my enamel cast iron sauce pan that I normal use for cooking. In a pinch, anything that looks like a bowl works.



Now add the pumpkin, eggs, milk, apple sauce, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, sugar, dash of salt and mix (whisk) really well.



I put a little oil in the baking pan to help with the non-stick factor, just use a little around the inside of the pan. Then start to layer the bread. It's not suppose to be perfect, but make sure you fill the bottom of the pan with bread as best you can.



Now the pumpkin pudding layer. I use a soup ladle to keep things a little less messy.



After cleaning and soaking the raisins, dry them off with a cloth towel and pull off any stems still attached. Add the raisin as the third layer to the pumpkin bread pudding. I just toss a few in - don't put too many.



Keep layering the bread, pumpkin pudding and raisins. I think you'll get three layers of bread and you should use all the pudding mix. Push down on the layers with the ladle to help the bread absorb the pudding mixture.




The last layer of the pumpkin bead pudding should be the pudding. As you can see, the bread doesn't have to be whole, just as long as there is a proper layer. The last layer should always be the pudding mix.

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Now place the 8"x 8" baking pan on the cookie sheet, the cookie sheet on the pizza stone and cook for about 25 or 35 minutes (depending on your stove). If you need to check your bread pudding, use a butter knife to stab the middle of the bread pudding and bend back the knife a little. If you see the mix is very 'runny' inside, keep baking.



While you are waiting for the bread pudding to cook, you can take the extra bread and make bread crumbs. I use a cheese greater, pick the texture and just grate away.



Here is an example of different grades or textures for bread crumbs. I bag them and use them later for meat balls, frittata, or stuffing zucchini.



Once baked, let it set for about 10 minutes to cool and settle. I leave my bread pudding on the stove top until ready to eat.



On my old cracked plate, I serve this dish with a dollop of whip cream, ice cream or caramel rum raisin sauce. I didn't have any today, so I'm just eating it as is!

Enjoy your stale bread!!

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