Panettone Bread Pudding

By Tejal Rao

Panettone Bread Pudding
Meredith Heuer for The New York Times
Total Time
10 minutes plus 1 hour baking
Rating
4(483)
Comments
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If you’ve bought a loaf of truly fantastic panettone, made in the Italian tradition from a natural starter, the kind that’s airy and melting, we hope you don’t have any leftovers. But if you find yourself with an excess of mass-produced panettone, or simply very old panettone that’s past its prime, here’s how to transform it into something special. Cut it into thick slices, as the pastry chef Elisabeth Prueitt does with brioche, when she makes her bread pudding at Tartine Bakery in San Francisco. Toast them. Now layer the bread in a wide dish, and pour over a whisked custard of milk and eggs. It will look like too much liquid, but as it bakes, the panettone will soak it all up, becoming moist and tender and impossibly rich. It’s close enough to a casserole of French toast to make it ideal for a special holiday breakfast, but sweet enough to step in as dessert on a cold night. Vanilla would be a classic way to flavor the custard, but panettone tends to be quite sweet and perfumed already, so taste the bread first before adding extras.

Featured in: Panettone Has Become an Obsession for American Bakers

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Ingredients

Yield:8 servings
  • 1tablespoon unsalted butter
  • 6 to 8slices/550 grams panettone
  • 6eggs
  • ⅓cup/67 grams sugar
  • ½teaspoon kosher salt
  • 4cups whole milk
  • Confectioners' sugar, to garnish
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (8 servings)

429 calories; 16 grams fat; 6 grams saturated fat; 1 gram trans fat; 5 grams monounsaturated fat; 2 grams polyunsaturated fat; 56 grams carbohydrates; 2 grams dietary fiber; 26 grams sugars; 14 grams protein; 373 milligrams sodium

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

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Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Heat the oven to 350 degrees and butter a deep baking dish that will fit all the bread slices in a single layer, overlapping slightly, about 9 by 5 inches. Place the sliced panettone on a sheet pan and lightly toast it in the oven so that it’s still flexible, but dry to the touch, about 10 minutes. Arrange toast in the baking dish.

  2. Step 2

    In a large mixing bowl, whisk the eggs with the sugar and salt, then add the milk and whisk until smooth. Pour through a fine-mesh strainer over the panettone, allowing the excess mixture to fill up the pan. Cover tightly with aluminum foil and bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until the bread has soaked up all the custard and puffed up, and the custard is no longer runny. Allow to cool at least 30 minutes before serving, then use a fine-mesh sieve to dust all over with confectioners' sugar and serve.

Ratings

4 out of 5
483 user ratings
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Comments

diane

This recipe may be a fine bread pudding, it’s still in the oven 1. the pan. 9x5 deep pan? That’s a loaf pan. 2. Slices? More than overlapping, and it still won’t all fit. 3. the liquid: the volume would probably have filled up the loaf pan WITHOUT the bread. Don’t let me forget, when I put the aluminum foil on it, I inadvertently pressed down on it. You guessed it, a good 1/4 to 1/2 cup milk mixture overflowed on to the counter. If it’s great that I make it again, I’ll use a 9x13 Pyrex dish.

Kat

For those who thought the recipe asks for a 9 x 5" pan, and that pan would then be a loaf pan...I read this sentence differently: ....butter a deep baking dish that will fit all the bread slices in a single layer, overlapping slightly, about 9 by 5 inches. It's the *slices* that are 9 x 5", the approx. size of pannetone slice. Bread pudding is best in a shallow dish, to allow for plenty of browning. Just try laying the slices in a 9 x 13 or so dish and see if that works.

Annie

My only comment is that when I bake any bread pudding I always do it in a pan of hot water so the custard will not separate. Also, this recipe is pretty much how I do ordinary bread pudding except that I lightly butter the lightly toasted bread slices. I've used challah, brioshe, just about any bread I happen to have on hand, always HOPE to have leftover pannetone to do it but never do. I think this year I will hide one so I can make a pudding with it.:>)

janeannechovy

Made a 4/3 recipe because my panettone was 750g. I didn't toast the bread, assembled it in a 9x13" lasagna pan (it would have fit in a regular 9x13), and refrigerated overnight with a light weight. I let it sit on the counter for an hour before baking and covered tightly with foil before putting in the oven. I pulled the foil off after 40 minutes and the custard was still completely liquid. It was probably another 40 minutes after uncovering it until it was done, maybe longer.

marguerite

The results were heavenly perfection. I did not change the ingredients. But I cut the panettone into big 1 inch cubes and toasted them in a 350 degree oven for 8 minutes. I also covered and sealed the 9 x 13 dish with foil, put it in an already hot ban marie, for 50 minutes. Then I uncovered it and cooked it for another 10 minutes. Next time I may add some bourbon or chopped marrone glaces. I used the panetonne made by Scarpato ’24 (their recipe changed in '23?).

Rebecca S.

Added grapefruit and lemon zest into the sugar and took the aluminum foil off for the last 15 mins. Squeezed a bit of grapefruit juice on the top before it cooled. We loved it!

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