Nora Ephron's Friend Ruthie's Bread Pudding For Christmas

When I finished reading Nora Ephron's I Remember Nothing, the one thing that I wanted to do was to make her deceased friend's bread pudding. Ephron's love for her deceased friend Ruthie got eternalized when she added Ruthie's recipe into the book.

In the Mixlarge eggs - 5egg yolks  - 4granulated sugar - 1 cupsalt - 1/4 tsp
whole milk - 1 quart heavy cream - 2 cups (set aside one cup for serving)vanilla extract - 1 tsp
brioche bread - 12 half inch thick slices, crusts removedbutter - 1 stick or less, brought to room tempconfectioners sugar - 1/cup or as needed 


How To Do
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Grease a flat baking pan (2 quarts) with shortening or butter. Need an extra baking pan larger than this to place it in a water bath while baking. I used my turkey roasting pan which was big enough.

Gently beat/whisk the eggs, egg yolks, granulated sugar and salt until thoroughly blended. You can use home baked brioche bread if you have any. Butter one side of the bread slices and set aside.
Scald all the milk and 1 cup of heavy cream in a saucepan over high heat. Do not boil. When you tip the pan and it makes a sizzling noise, remove from heat.Add in the vanilla extract. Stir this gently into the egg mixture without beating until blended.

Overlap the bread, butter side up in the greased baking pan and pour the prepared mix over it. Not all pieces need to be submerged I guess but do make sure those pieces get poured over with some of the liquid. Set in the larger pan and add hot water to come halfway up the side of the baking dish. Bake for about 45 minutes or a sharp knife inserted in the middle comes out clean. The bread should be golden and the pudding puffed up. Can be done earlier in the day.

Before serving, sprinkle with confectioner's sugar and place under a broiler for a minute or so. Or use a crème brûlée torch to brown the sugar. Serve with heavy cream. I did not brown the confectioner’s sugar and it was still yum. Adding heavy cream is optional as the dish is loaded enough.  

I still have my late friend Dee's recipes.  I wish she had given me more.