Strawberry bread pudding heralds the new season

Strawberry fans, our season has arrived!

The very best berries, I believe, should be eaten unadulterated, simply washed and consumed while standing over the sink. Those berries often can be found at a fruit stand or at the farmers market in April or May.

But there are strawberries out there now, maybe not THE best, but still lovely to enjoy in the right dish.

This recipe is for those berries. Frozen ones, too. As a bonus, it uses up stale or extraneous bread, rolls, whatever you have. Bread pudding works both for brunch and dessert -- a win-win recipe if ever there was one.

Note on the bread: I dug through my freezer and found a bag of dinner rolls, which were purchased for a holiday dinner but never consumed. I defrosted them on a baking pan in a low oven (250 degrees), turned off the oven, tore the rolls into pieces, and put the pieces back in the cooling oven to dry out somewhat. They were just "stale" enough for the recipe, and I gained some space in the freezer. But use what you have: Cubed ciabatta or brioche, dried by sitting out overnight or placed in the oven like my rolls, will work beautifully.

The custard here has a twist I hadn't seen before: Most of the berries are blended with the milk and eggs, creating a mixture resembling a smoothie. This is poured over the casserole of bread pieces, which soak up the strawberry essence. Other strawberry pieces are mixed in with the bread, creating extra bursts of strawberry flavor. (If using frozen berries, defrost them just enough to work with but not mushy. Save any berry juice that runs off and incorporate it into the custard mixture.)

Bake this treat as a celebration of early spring, while it's still not too hot to turn on the oven.

Strawberry bread pudding

Serves 6 to 8

Ingredients:

1 pound fresh strawberries or unsweetened frozen whole strawberries, divided

8 cups dry bread cubes or pieces

1 cup milk (any type)

3/4 cup plain whole-milk yogurt (regular or Greek style) 

4 large eggs

1/3 cup confectioners sugar, plus more for sprinkling

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled, plus butter for the baking dish

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Pinch of salt

Fresh whole strawberries for garnish, optional

Instructions:

Butter a 2-1/2 quart casserole or baking dish, then fill it with the bread cubes or pieces. Set it aside.

Wash the strawberries and remove the stems. Pull out 4 or 5 of the largest berries, slice those into 3 or 4 slices, and gently stir the slices into the bread pieces in the dish so they are well-distributed but not broken up.

Halve and quarter the remaining berries. Place these pieces (and any juice, if using frozen berries), plus the milk, yogurt, eggs, sugar, melted butter, vanilla and salt in a blender, and blend until the mixture is smooth.

Pour the strawberry milk mixture over the bread in the casserole, pushing the bread pieces into the milk mixture as needed to coat them.

Now heat the oven to 350 degrees. This allows the bread to soak up the milk mixture while the oven is heating. You can leave the casserole sitting out for up to 30 minutes, but if you must delay baking longer than that, be sure to refrigerate the baking dish until ready.

Once the oven is hot enough, place the baking dish, uncovered, in the oven for about 55 minutes. Check on its progress when there's about 25 minutes remaining. If the bread on top is browning too quickly,  cover the dish lightly with a piece of foil.

The bread pudding is done when the top is fully golden brown and the custard is set. Use a knife to check that the middle of the pudding is not still liquidy; moist is good, but you shouldn't see a lot of milky liquid at the bottom. If you do, return the dish to the oven for 5 or more minutes, checking at 5-minute intervals.

Allow the pudding to cool at least 10 minutes before serving. Sprinkle confectioners sugar over the top.

Serve garnished with extra berries, whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.

Refrigerate any leftovers. Portions can be reheated in the oven or microwave.