What a fun chat with Matt Swaim on the Sonrise Morning Show this morning talking about do ahead foods for Thanksgiving. Wheat/bread was the topic and the recipe for pumpkin pecan bread pudding is a winner!

WHEAT

John 12:24: Unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain. 

Psalm 147:12-14……He makes peace within your borders and fills you with the finest wheat.

 How did people of Bible days use wheat?

They threshed the grain and then ground it by hand in stone mills. The mills were usually made of black basalt, which is hard and porous and has a rough surface. It was a noisy grinding process which began before daylight. It was usually done every day since only enough meal for one day was prepared. The flour was sieved onto trays and then ground into a finer state with a pestle and stone slab. 

When the call came from Moses to leave Egypt the people took their kneading troughs with them, so you know bread making was essential.

Flour comes bleached and unbleached. What’s the difference there?

The word “bleached” is confusing. Bleaching is actually a method of aging flour, which, as it ages, gets white in color. Originally, flour was bleached only by aging naturally, but now, it can go through a chemical processing to make it whiter. Time is money, and today it takes too much time to let the flour age naturally to become white so a lot of the flour is aged chemically. But you can still find flour that is aged naturally and that’s called unbleached.

Unbleached flour is just that – unbleached. I like it better since I think it gives a better rise in baked goods.

PUMPKIN PECAN BREAD PUDDING
Day old bread works great!

Ingredients

About 1 pound bread, like French, Italian, Challah, Cubano, etc.), torn into small pieces –  leave crust on

3 cups half & half

1 can, 15 oz, pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling)

1-1/2 cups sugar

4 large eggs, beaten lightly

1 tablespoon vanilla

1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice

1/2 cup or more chopped pecans

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350.

Spray a 9×13 baking dish.

Put bread into baking dish.

Whisk together half & half, puree, sugar, eggs, vanilla and pie spice.

Pour evenly over bread, covering all pieces. Your goal is to have each piece of bread soaking in custard.

Scatter pecans on top, then smoosh down into pudding.

Bake 50-60 minutes or until knife inserted in center comes out clean. Check after 50 minutes.

Serve warm or room temperature with a drizzle of caramel sauce.

Make it ahead!

Store in refrigerator after cooling. Wrap well.

Reheat, covered in foil, in preheated 325 degree oven until just warmed through.

Yummy served with:

BOURBON CARAMEL DRIZZLE

If using salted butter, reduce salt to 1/8 teaspoon

Ingredients

1-1/2 cups light brown sugar, packed

2 cups light corn syrup

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into pieces

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 cups whipping cream

1 tablespoon vanilla

1 tablespoon bourbon or little more to taste

Instructions

In large, heavy saucepan, whisk together sugar, syrup, butter and salt. 

Bring to a boil over medium heat. Boil 3 minutes.

Lower to a simmer. Add cream and whisk until blended. Cook another 3 minutes.

Stir in vanilla and bourbon.

Serve warm drizzled over bread pudding.

Make it ahead!

Cool, store in refrigerator up to 3 weeks.

It will firm up enough to be mounded when scooped with a spoon.

To serve, warm up until pourable.