Leek and Gruyere Bread Pudding Recipe

Prep Time:

25 mins

Cook Time:

1 hr 35 mins

Total Time:

2 hrs

Servings:

12

This savory bread pudding recipe blends mild, sautéed leeks with Gruyere and Parmesan cheeses for a decadent, soufflé-like dish. It can be served as the main event on a brunch menu or as a side dish for a holiday meal. You'll cook the leeks down until they're melty and sweet, then combine them with cream, milk, and spices like nutmeg and cayenne pepper. After whisking in eggs, you'll cook the mixture gently on the stove until it becomes thickened and custard-like. This will get poured over the bread—we love using stale brioche here—before baking in a water bath, which ensures it stays soft, creamy, and tender. Making this recipe requires some time but you won't mind a bit when you pull this winner out of the oven.

Bread Pudding vs. Strata

Bread puddings and stratas are both baked casseroles that contain stale bread, eggs, and a dairy product like milk or cream, but there are a few subtle differences.

Bread puddings are often on the sweeter side (unlike this savory version) and made with warm spices, dried or cooked fruit, and sometimes nuts. They contain less eggs than a strata and are typically made with an eggy type of bread such as brioche. Many of our bread puddings are cooked using a water bath to keep them moist and tender.

Stratas, on the other hand, are nearly always savory and feature more eggs than bread puddings. They're usually made with meats, cheeses, and vegetables and are baked without the use of a water bath.

After slicing your leeks, be sure to rinse them thoroughly under cold water using a colander—pay attention to silt between the layers. Alternatively, add them to a bowl of cold water and swish them around to loosen any dirt, then lift them out of the water, leaving any grit behind in the bowl.

Make Ahead

You can bake this bread pudding up to one day ahead. Let it cool completely, then cover and refrigerate. Reheat it, covered, at 350 degrees Fahrenheit until hot throughout. If desired, you can drizzle a bit of milk or cream onto the bread pudding before reheating to help it stay moist.

Directions

Heat oven and prepare baking dish; cook leek mixture:

Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter a 10-inch (10-cup) round baking dish. Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add leeks and garlic; cook, stirring often, until soft, about 10 minutes. Add wine; bring to a boil. Cook until reduced by half. Transfer half of the leek mixture to a bowl, and reserve.
Whisk cream into leek mixture; add to eggs, then cook until thickened:

Whisk cream, milk, nutmeg, cayenne, salt, and pepper into leek mixture in pan; bring to a simmer. Add 1/2 cup hot cream-leek mixture to eggs and yolks in a medium bowl, whisking. Whisk in another cup cream-leek mixture; return egg-leek mixture to pan. Cook, whisking, until thickened, 4 to 5 minutes.
Assemble bread pudding; let sit:

Arrange 8 or 9 pieces of bread in prepared dish. Pour 2 cups egg-leek mixture over bread. Sprinkle half the reserved leeks and half the cheeses over bread. Let stand 10 minutes. Arrange remaining bread in a slightly overlapping circle on top, and then add remaining egg-leek mixture. Sprinkle with remaining leeks and cheeses. Let stand 10 minutes.
Bake in water bath; let cool before serving:

Cover dish loosely with foil, and place in a small roasting pan. Add enough hot water to reach halfway up sides of dish. Bake until golden brown and set, about 55 minutes. Remove foil, and bake until deep golden brown, about 20 minutes more. Let cool in dish on a wire rack. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Storage

Leftover bread pudding can be refrigerated in an airtight container for up to three days. Reheat it, covered, in a 350-degree Fahrenheit oven until heated through. While you can also microwave individual portions of bread pudding, they will be on the softer side and can veer on soggy.