Banana Bread Bread Pudding

5 from 1 vote

This Banana Bread Bread Pudding with its sweet taste of bananas is a really easy two step banana bread soaked in a spiced custard and baked. It's served with a Bourbon Pecan Sauce.

Prep Time1

Cook Time2

Soaking time20

Total Time3 20

Course: Bread Pudding

Cuisine: American

Keyword: Banana Bread, bread pudding, easy to make

Servings:

Calories: 591kcal

Author: Helen S. Fletcher

Equipment

8"x8" square pan

Ingredients

Banana Bread

1 cup banana puree
½ cup buttermilk
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
⅔ cup vegetable oil
2 cups cake flour (250 grams)
1 cup granulated sugar (200 grams)
1 teaspoon baking soda
¾ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt

Banana Bread Bread Pudding

6 cups cubed banana bread
4 large eggs
⅓ cup brown sugar (65 grams)
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 ½ teaspoon cinnamon
¾ teaspoon nutmeg
3 cups half and half

Bourbon Pecan Sauce

½ cup pecan pieces (60 grams)
¾ cup brown sugar (150 grams)
½ cup butter (114 grams or 1 stick)
¼ cup corn syrup
2 tablespoons cream or half and half
3 to 4 tablespoons bourbon

Instructions

Banana Bread

Line the bottom of a 9x5 inch loaf pan with parchment paper. Spray the bottom and sides well with cooking spray. Set aside. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Puree the bananas in a food processor or blender. Measure 1 cup puree. If you are short add water to make 1 cup (this should be no more than a couple of tablespoons at most).
Return to the processor or blender and add the buttermilk, eggs, vanilla and oil. Process to blend the liquids. In a medium size bowl, place the remaining ingredients. Add the liquid ingredients and whisk until combined.
Pour into the prepared loaf pan and bake for 45 to 55 minutes or until a tester comes out clean. Cool for about 10 minutes and turn the bread out onto a cooling rack to finish cooling.
At this point the bread can be cubed into 1" pieces and dried overnight on a baking pan or it can be frozen for use later. If you want to hurry the process, heat the oven to 200°F and dry the bread for 20 to 30 minutes turning it from time to time until it is very dry on the outside but still a bit soft on the inside. Cool the bread before continuing.

Banana Bread Bread Pudding

Spray an 8x8" baking dish with a non-stick baking release and set aside. Preheat the oven to 350°F.
Whisk the eggs until they are completely combined. Whisk in the brown sugar, vanilla, cinnamon and nutmeg. Add the half and half.
Pour the liquid over the cooled banana bread cubes and let soak for 20 to 30 minutes until most of the liquid has been absorbed. The time will depend upon how dry the bread was.
Pour the mixture into the prepared dish and bake for 1 hour 15 minutes or until the pudding is set and a knife inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool to warm if serving immediately. If not cool, cover with foil and refrigerate.

Bourbon Pecan Sauce

Toast the pecans in a 350°F oven until slightly browner and fragarant, about 7 minutes. Cool. Set aside.
Combine all of the ingredients except the pecans in a 1 quart saucepan and bring to a rolling boil. Boil for 1 minute - 2 at the most. Do not boil any longer or the sauce will become too thick.
Stir in the pecans and If using immediately, cool until warm. If using within the next 3 or 4 days, store the sauce in a covered container. Add some sauce the last 20 or so seconds when heating to liquify it.
The sauce yields about 1 ½ cups.

To Serve

Cut the bread pudding, place it in a bowl and warm it in the microwave for about 30 seconds, 45 to 55 seconds if the pudding is cold from the fridge. Times may vary according to how high the microwave goes. Store any leftover pudding in the refrigerator.

Notes

There is always an abundance of photos to guide you in the post above. If you have questions, look at the photos or read the header of the article. Many of them will be answered there.

As always, I recommend using a scale for accuracy and consistency. Flour, in particular, is difficult to measure by volume. For my recipes, I use 140 grams per cup of unsifted all-purpose, bread or whole wheat flour and 125 grams of cake flour. Others may use different weights so use whatever they suggest.

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Cake flour makes the best banana flavor yielding a firm but tender loaf. All purpose flour can be used if necessary but will change the texture somewhat. For more information on the different flours, see my post Flour as used in Baking.

Dark brown sugar is preferred for it's stronger flavor. Light may be substituted if necessary.

Make sure to toast the pecans for the sauce. It makes a difference.

A small bottle of bourbon is all that is needed for this recipe. It holds 4 tablespoons which is the most that will be needed. (see the photo above)

If you are adverse to corn syrup the brown sugar can be increased. The corn syrup is an inverse sugar that will keep the sauce from granulating. Using it ensures a smooth sauce that stays that way. If you don’t use it be sure to wash down the sides of the pan when it comes to a boil.

The bananas for the bread should be heavily spotted and really ripe for the most flavor in the bread.

Make sure to cube the banana bread and dry it so it can soak up most of the custard.

However, don't let the cubes get mush in the custard.

When making the bourbon sauce, if not using the corn syrup, replace it with ¼ cup or 50 grams of brown sugar.

Either half heavy cream and half milk or all half and half work for the custard. Half and half can also be substituted for the cream in the bourbon pecan sauce.

If the alcohol in the bourbon is a problem, it will burn off when the sauce is boiled. The taste remains but not the alcohol.

Do not let the sauce boil more than a minute - two at the most or it will become very hard and reduce too much.

Nutrition