Makes 8 to 10 servings
When you’re married to a man who makes two dozen loaves of bread every couple of weeks, as I am, you’re wise to have some great stale-bread recipes tucked away, like this bread pudding. In it, onions, slowly cooked in butter until they’re deeply sweet and caramelized, take the lead. Don’t look for shortcuts. It’s time — and butter — that brings out their flavor and makes them distinctive enough to hold their own against the rich custard and cheese that bind the pudding. If you can, do add the Calvados and pancetta — they’re little extras that make a difference.
a word on the bread
Most often, I use a baguette for the pudding, leaving the crust in place and cutting the bread into cubes. However, challah or another egg-rich bread is also a good choice. If all you’ve got is a sandwich loaf, use it. Finally, while stale bread is best, you can always “stale” it yourself in the oven. In fact, I usually oven-stale even already stale bread, insurance against it falling apart in the pudding.
and a word on skillet size
The onions are voluminous until they begin to soften. If you can’t get all of them into your favorite large skillet with room to turn them around, start with half the onions and then, when they settle down, add the remainder. You’ll be cooking the onions for a long time, so the fact that some will have a head start over others won’t matter.
Working Ahead
You can make the onions up to 3 days ahead and refrigerate them, covered. You can refrigerate the bread-and-custard mixture overnight.
If you need to dry the bread (see headnote), center a rack in the oven and preheat it to 350 degrees F.
Melt the butter in a large skillet, preferably nonstick, over medium heat. Add the onions and garlic, stirring to coat with butter, and cook, stirring, for 5 to 10 minutes, until they soften. Mix in the sugar and thyme, then pour in the alcohol, if you’re using it. Cook until it’s almost evaporated, then turn the heat to low. Stir in the pancetta, if you’re using it (if you’ve got cooked ham, hold on to it for now), and cook, stirring often, until the onions caramelize and turn the color of maple syrup. This could take about 40 minutes, but it’s the color that will determine their flavor, so stay with it. Season the onions with 1 teaspoon salt and some pepper, and if you’ve got cooked ham, stir it in. Remove from the heat. (You can prepare the onions up to 3 days ahead and keep them covered in the refrigerator.)
Meanwhile, if your bread needs drying, spread the cubes out on a baking sheet and stale them for about 10 minutes in the oven; stir them around after 5 minutes. Toss the bread into a large bowl. (Turn off the oven — you won’t need it for another hour or so.)
Heat the milk and cream in the microwave or a saucepan until they come almost to a boil.
Whisk the eggs and yolks together and season with salt and pepper. Slowly whisk in the warm milk and cream. Pour the custard over the bread cubes and stir.
When the onions are ready, add them to the bread mixture, stirring so that everything is well blended. Cover the bowl and leave the bread to soak and absorb the custard for about 1 hour, poking the bread down now and then. (If it’s more convenient, you can refrigerate the setup for as long as overnight.)
When you’re ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. You can bake the pudding in a 9-inch round or square pan. It will cook in a water bath, so line a roasting pan that will hold it with a double thickness of paper towels (they’ll keep the baking pan from jiggling).
Stir the chives, if using, and all but a tablespoon or so of the cheese into the bread mixture, then scrape it into the baking pan. Smooth the top and sprinkle over the remaining cheese. Set the pan in the roaster and fill it with enough hot water to come halfway up the sides of the baking pan.
Bake for 50 to 60 minutes, until the pudding is golden brown (if it’s browning too quickly, cover it loosely with a foil tent) and puffed all the way to the center; a knife poked into the pudding should come out clean. Carefully transfer the pudding to a rack and let cool until just warm or at room temperature before serving.
Storing: Once cooled, leftover pudding can be covered tightly and kept in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. Bring it to room temperature before serving or warm it, covered, in a 350-degree-F oven.
Choices: Sometimes I serve small pieces of the pudding with a green salad as a starter, but more often I serve it alongside grilled fish or steak, chicken (see recipes here or here) or the Thanksgiving turkey.