The Joys of Bread-Based Puddings

We never eat the ends of our breads.  Not only that, but we rarely ever manage to finish off all of our baked goods (biscuits, pancakes, etc.) before they go stale.  They say its bad luck to throw bread away - the idea being that throwing away bread means throwing away prosperity - so I've been avoiding throwing bread in the trash for years.  We used to freeze it all and take it to the park to feed the ducks and geese, but, as much as I love those birds and enjoy feeding them, I wanted another option. So, I've been testing out some ways to reuse these bread products to make our food dollar stretch as much as possible.

As it turns out, there are a ton of great pudding recipes out there that let you turn your stale bread products into crowd-pleasing desserts.  My personal favorite is the classic Amish Bread Pudding, which always turns out sweet and spongy.  Once I even made it with a combination of wheat bread and coffee cake and ended up with a fluffy, cinnamon treat that was perfect for breakfast. 

Occasionally a fancy bread pudding recipe will make its way into a modern cookbook, but for the most part, this ancient style of pudding seem to have been sadly forgotten in the new American Foodie world.  Luckily, I have my favorite old stand-by for forgotten kitchen wisdom: The American Woman's Cookbook.  In it, I have found several creative versions of bread pudding, including coconut-bread pudding and bread pudding with jam.  It's amazing to me what delectable treats can be made from the scraps in our fridge and pantry!

Finally, but not the least in my recently acquired repertoire of bready desserts, I have finally discovered the joys of a dish I've heard about my whole life but never gotten to taste: a Brown Betty.  As it turns out, this dish is a super-simple fruit pudding made with bread crumbs (it's typically made with apples, but any in-season fruit can be used).  And no, this is not the apple crisp so often referred to as a Brown Betty (in fact, when I Googled images of the dish, all I came up with were pictures of crisps), but a thick, gelatinous goo that tastes wonderful and could be parsed over oatmeal or pancakes as easily as it could be eaten by itself with some cream or ice cream. 

With all these things to do with my extra bread, I do hope the birds don't go hungry!