Turn your favorite summer salad into a warm and wonderful tomato and mozzarella filled treat with this easy recipe for caprese bread pudding!
Click here to PIN this recipe for Caprese Bread Pudding now – so you can make it later!
Up until recently I was pretty sure I had caprese-ed everything there was to caprese. Steak, peaches, and of course the good old caprese salad.
I love each and every one of them, but as it turns out, they were all just delicious preludes to the wonder that is this caprese bread pudding recipe.
Yes, it’s exactly what you hope and dream it is – torn pieces of buttery brioche bread soaked in milk and eggs, and then baked with slices of sweet heirloom tomatoes and creamy mozzarella cheese, and then scattered with basil leaves and drizzled with balsamic vinegar.
It is warm and wonderful summer on a plate, pure and simple. Let’s get to caprese-ing!
Here’s how you make Caprese Bread Pudding!
The first order of business is to get your mitts on some of these.
Heirloom tomatoes. They might not be the prettiest vegetables on the farm, but they are the best tasting! And you also need a handful of this.
Sweet, wonderful basil. You also need some brioche or other soft bread, some milk and eggs, and a hunk of the best mozzarella cheese you can lay your hands on.
And extreme self-control if you are a mozzarella thief the way I am. You know what I’m talking about – sneaking just a little piece here and a little piece there. Guilty as charged.
Anyway, start by tearing the bread in pieces and soaking it in a mixture of the milk and eggs until everything is nice and saturated.
Press the bread mixture into the bottom of a well-buttered tart or pie pan until it is fully covered. Now press slices of the tomato and cheese in an overlapping circle all around the bread.
Pop it in the oven for about 20 minutes, and then let it sit for 5 minutes to cool. (The cooling is the hardest part!)
Now drizzle a little balsamic vinegar on top and sprinkle it with basil leaves. Oh yeah, baby.
I think I will just step aside now and let you get to caprese-ing!
Want to round out your meal? This recipe pairs well with...
Caprese Bread Pudding
Prep Time: 10 minutes- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 8 1x
- Category: Appetizer
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: Italian
- Diet: Vegetarian
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Pin RecipeDescription
Turn your favorite summer salad into a warm and wonderful tomato and mozzarella filled treat with this easy recipe for caprese bread pudding!
Ingredients
- 5 slices brioche or other soft bread, torn into pieces (see note)
- 8 eggs
- 1/2 cup milk
- 2 heirloom tomatoes, sliced thinly
- 8 ounces mozzarella cheese, the best you can find, sliced thinly
- Handful of basil leaves
- Sea salt
- Balsamic vinegar
Instructions
- Beat eggs and milk together. Stir in bread and mix until bread is well-soaked with the milk mixture.
- Preheat oven to 375.
- Butter a tart pan or pie plate. Press the bread mixture onto the bottom, making sure the bottom of the pan is fully covered.
- Place overlapping slices of tomato and cheese all around the bread layer. Bake for 20 minutes or until eggs are set.
- Let cool for 5 minutes. Drizzle with balsamic vinegar, sprinkle with sea salt and scatter basil leaves on top. Cut into wedges and serve.
Notes
You can usually find brioche bread in the bakery section of your supermarket, but honestly, any soft bread will work just fine!
Updated (and made even more delicious!) from a previously published Framed Cooks post!
Wow! I need that in my life! I am so glad you are a caprese rebel and have taken to caprese-ing everything. I could see this as a girl-night-in dish with a glass of wine or….several. :)
A caprese rebel! I need to add that to my bio. :)
Hi Kate, at first glance I thought it was puffed pastry! I’m not a fan of bread pudding so I’m thinking of adapting the recipe to puff pastry instead. Do you have any hints on how to treat the puff pastry before baking?(and would you bake it same temp and time) Like a drizzle of olive oil or would it make the whole thing soggy. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I hope you’re enjoying your new home!
Hi Jenny – I have something even better for you, which is this other recipe for caprese pastry made with puff pastry! All the same key caprese ingredients as the bread pudding, but with the puff pastry approach you are thinking about. Here’s the link and hope this helps! :) https://www.framedcooks.com/2014/07/caprese-pastry.html
Perfect!
Thank you so much, Jenny