Savory bread puddings

[chromedome]

Over the next week, at my day job, I'm taking up my new duties as "team leader" in the bakery (essentially manage that department).

We've just recently switched to a new bread supplier. These are artisanal breads of excellent quality from one of the leading local purveyors; the price points are higher and part of my job will be selling the new product to our longtime customers. However, because of the higher costs, another part of my job will be ensuring that we get maximum utilization out of the unsold product.

For the unflavoured breads, I don't anticipate any difficulty locating recipes for upscale bread puddings (or using them for breadcrumbs or stuffing or what have you); but many of the breads we're buying are savoury...black olives, peppers, onions, cheese, and many other suchlike ingredients. Are there any traditions of savoury bread puddings out there?

We do a carved item every day, so I wouldn't lack for meals to pair them with, but I'm unsure about how they'd be received. Bread puddings, for a lot of people, conjure up memories of frugal grandmothers and stale-tasting sodden goo. If there was a traditional style of savoury bread pudding, now, I'm thinking that I could put it across as an ethnic specialty...something that would perhaps garner a more sympathetic ear from my customers.

Anyone know of anything? Got any ideas?

[jackal10]

Stuffings and forcemeats are a good and traditional use.

Also as extenders for sausagemeats.

[MobyP]

I came across a savoury bread pudding/gratin with foie gras and chicken livers (I think). Can't for the life of me remember where.

[Gifted Gourmet]

Here are a few possibilities for what you may be contemplating .. personally, I think I may make the Wensleydale because I like most of the ingredients:

Savoury bread puddings which look interesting

something a little different from BBC

something from Food Network Canada

Wensleydale bread pudding

[naguere]

I had one once, where grated cheese was used in it. It was fabulouse.

Edited: Just realised you wanted a sturdy slab of stuff, I was referring to the delicate custard confection...... but it was still fabulouse.

Edited July 4, 2004 by naguere (log)

[andiesenji]

You might consider strata, which is a form of bread pudding, simply layered.

I have used "flavored" artisan breads in strata, anything from home made Asiago cheese bread to jalapeño/cheese bread and olive/dried tomato bread.

This site has a number of breakfast casseroles that can be used as strata/bread pudding ideas.

Breakfast casseroles

[Malawry]

I love savory bread puddings. When I worked at Ortanique we occasionally made them for specials. My favorite one included lots of leeks and other onions; it was baked in a thin layer in a half-sheet pan and cut into long triangles. It was served as a special starter with some kind of mache salad with plenty of trout (smoked in-house). Very yummy.

On the other hand, I've had a couple of disappointing savory bread puddings. IMO the special flavors in the bread should be carried through the pudding completely for the savory versions. If I had a cheese bread to use, I'd accent it with a little mustard in the mix and perhaps some onion or garlic flavor, and add extra cheese besides what's already in the bread.

I think savory bread puddings go best with sauced meats. If there is no sauce and I'm eating the pudding with something like a grilled chicken breast, after a while I start to feel like dinner is mealy and boring.

[Gifted Gourmet]

I started a thread on bread puddings back at the end of May and there are some posts which may be relevant to savoury, although some were definitely about the sweet types as well:

click here

[chromedome]

Thanks, all.

I will be doing some digging during my (less than copious) free time...I am a freelance researcher, after all...but needed a few quick ideas to get me started.

The links above are all that and more, and "strata" (thanks, Andiesenji!) is precisely what I was grasping for as a label to use for menu-writing purposes.

I can run with that, now that I know what to call them! I'll improvise variations on those themes, and bake them off on sheet pans or in two-inch hotel pans, and cut 'em in wedges to go with my roasts. Shouldn't be too difficult to co-ordinate pudding w/sauce w/roast.

The carving station has been rather fun for me. Making up sauces for the roasts has been an amusing diversion from the pizzas and pastas; makes me feel like I'm getting some practical use out of all that class time. And my "Repertoire", of course, is small enough to fit handily in my locker at work.

[andiesenji]

I love to prepare strata for brunches and also for late afternoon teas which actually morph into high tea or supper. In my opinion they are even better when prepared ahead of time so the flavors have a chance to blend and mellow. Being able to prepare something like this in advance allows one to have more time to devote to the finish.

I cook both carmelized onions and duxelles in large batches and freeze in small containers which I then place in a jumbo ziplok freezer bag (so the little devils don't get lost).

I incorporate the carmelized onions into some of the strata, but usually melt butter, heat till it is brown, then stir the duxelles into the butter and use that as a sauce on the strata.

Sometimes I mix it into a simple brown sauce.

I also use duck fat and duck stock to make a sauce that then has the duxelles added to it.