Bacon & Cheese Savory Bread Pudding (Strata)

When I have a little time on my hands, this recipe makes for a great savory breakfast recipe. It can also find itself on the homemade brunch menu on lazy Sunday mornings, or even as a wonderfully mouth-watering side dish to any meal.

Did you know:

Bread pudding is normally a dessert, but its savory version, like the one we’re making today is actually called a strata.

This savory bread pudding needs little time to prep into a baking dish, uses simple ingredients, but needs a few hours to rest in the fridge for any stale bread to soak up that egg mixture. Stale bread comes alive and moist again thanks to the eggs and milk.

Some tips and alternatives:

• Prepare your dish and leave it in the fridge overnight. I’ve gone above 12 hours sometimes, and the strata comes out just fine.
• While changing the temperatures, I take out my dish and top it with a sprinkle of shredded parmesan and extra thyme.
• Feel free to cook your bacon before hand, if you like your bits less on the chewy side or if you’re unsure about the uncooked bacon being fully cooked when baking. When uncooked, I saw that my bacon slices baked just enough in the oven to be chewy. Though I haven’t tried, cooked before hand can render the bacon having a saltier-toastier feeling.
• For a veggie savory bread pudding, simply replace bacon with veggies like pre-cooked broccoli, mushrooms or spinach. These veggies can be added to the onion mix to cook altogether. You can also, try plant-based meat alternatives, vegan cheese and vegan egg mixture.
• The result: all your favorite salty breakfast bits, chewy bacon, oozy cheese, and caramelized onions, combined into a heavenly slice of goodness.

Recipe:

Useful Info:

• Prep time: 30 minutes
• Cook time: 50 minutes
• Total time: 1hour, 20 minutes
• Serving size: 4-6 people (depending on slice size)

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon butter, plus extra to coat baking pan
• 1 large yellow onion, chopped to make about 1 1/2 cup
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tablespoon fresh thyme, chopped – or 1 teaspoon dry thyme
• 8 large eggs
• 3/4 cup milk
• 3/4 cup 35% cream
• 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
• 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon ground pepper
• 1 pound loaf of stale bread (brioche or challah bread recommended), cut into 1-inch dice
• 1 cup shredded cheese, either gruyere, emmental or cheddar
• 1 pack or 1 pound of uncooked bacon, cut into squares

Instructions:

1. Coat a 9×5 inch deep (at least 3-inches deep) loaf pan or baking dish with butter and set aside.
2. In a pan, melt butter over medium-high heat. Add onion and garlic and cook for about 2-3 minutes until translucent. Season with thyme, and a dash of salt and pepper. Set aside.
3. In a large bowl, whisk eggs, milk, cream, Dijon mustard, and add salt and pepper.
4. In the baking dish, use 1/3 of diced bread to create a bottom layer. Top with half of the cheese, then half of the onion, and finally layer half of the bacon.
5. Repeat layer of bread, cheese, onion, and bacon. Top with remaining 1/3 of bread.
6. Slowly and carefully pour the egg mixture evenly into the dish.
7. Use hands to press down the bread and make sure everything is soaked in egg mixture.
8. Wrap the baking dish in plastic film, and cover with a weight on top if possible to keep bread pudding compact and soaked in egg. Leave in fridge for 3-12 hours.
9. Bring out dish at room temperature for at least 20 minutes, enough time for your oven to preheat at 325 degrees.
10. Bake dish at 325 degrees for 20 minutes. increase heat to 375 minutes and cook for another 30 minutes. Top bread pieces should have a toasty golden-brown color.
11. Let cool for 5 minutes before serving.