Not your mama's bread pudding: Chef puts new spin on texture, flavors

The day her culinary school class was scheduled to make bread pudding was a lesson Sharon Mickel dreaded.

"I never liked bread pudding when I was growing up. I thought it was the nastiest, soggy stuff," she explains.

It was only after her pudding was ready - "And turned out awesome!" - that she considered the dish worth a second look. The chef began experimenting with flavors and textures and says she realized she might have a product worth selling. Encouraged by Nathan Greven, business instructor at The Culinary Institute at Virginia College, where she was a student, she founded Chattanooga Variety Bread Puddings.

Sharon Mickel mixes up bread pudding in the kitchen of her Dalewood home.

Her cottage industry was so successful, baking became her saving grace after having a baby, going through a divorce and losing her job, home, savings and car at age 40. Now she sells bread puddings in a dozen flavors, fills orders for parties and bakes them for fundraisers

Bread pudding is traditionally made of stale bread moistened with milk or cream. When ingredients such as syrup, honey, cinnamon or dried fruit are used in the recipe, or it is served with a rum-raisin sauce, it is considered a dessert and termed sweet pudding. If ingredients call for eggs, bacon or the like it is a savory pudding that might be served as a main course.

Making it can be tricky because if the bread cubes aren't dry enough or there aren't enough bread cubes or the dessert is allowed to stand too long before serving, it can deteriorate into a lumpy, sodden mess.

Mickel uses challah bread and even waffles to change the texture of her puddings. They roll out of the loaf pans light and moist, but not mushy. Lemon Swirl and Sweet Potato Pie are her two top-sellers, she says, but she also has puddings in blueberry, strawberry, apple cinnamon, chocolate raspberry, chocolate walnut, pineapple upside-down and chocolate orange among the dozen flavors she bakes. They sell for $20 per loaf.

Mickel, 44, is the mom of three boys and a daughter whose ages range from 5 to 25. After graduating from Kirkman High School, she got an associate's degree in computer programming from Electronic Computer Programming College. She held a variety of 9-to-5 jobs beginning with staff positions in several Hamilton County schools, a stint at BlueCross BlueShield and 10 years with the Chattanooga Heart Institute before her last child was born.

Four years ago, as a newly divorced, single mom at home with her new baby, Mickel was trying to keep up payments on her house by working part-time at a temp service, as well as pay medical bills from two stomach surgeries.

"It wiped out my savings. I lost my home and we moved in with my mother. It was my mom who suggested I go to culinary school because it was something I had always talked about," Mickel recalls.

A friend helped get her children to school in the mornings and her mother helped care for them after school.

The chef says she had been cooking since age 5 when she first learned how to make breakfast foods. One of her fondest food memories is making her first main dish, lasagna, on her own for a school project, she says.

"We had to pick a country and make a dish to represent it. I took lasagna to school. The class went crazy! I remember that day because I was so excited about their reaction. I was the star of the class," she recalls, laughing.

She enrolled in The Culinary Institute at Virginia College in 2013, graduating with honors in February 2014. While in school studying to be a pastry chef, she began selling her bread puddings on Facebook to test the market. During November and December 2013, she averaged a half-dozen sales a day.

After graduating culinary school, she moved to Jacksonville, Fla., where she landed a job with The Perfect Pear Catering. After nine months, she returned to Chattanooga. At that time, she says, her mother and grandmother were both in the hospital and she came home to be closer to them.

Not only has cooking become her livelihood, it has opened doors to a potential new career: acting.

Two months ago, she spent several days in Atlanta filming scenes in Jamie Foxx's upcoming movie "Sleepless Night." Having seen an online casting call for "chefs for a fight scene," she replied by email. The following day she was contacted with instructions to come to Atlanta for fittings.

In this remake of the French movie, Foxx plays a detective in Las Vegas who steals a bag of cocaine from a drug lord. The drug lord retaliates by kidnapping Foxx's son. Thus ensues a hunt-and-chase through numerous nightclubs and casino locales - even their kitchens.

"I'm making muffins in a casino kitchen when Jamie Foxx busts in with the guy he's fighting," Mickel describes. "You see a lot of the kitchen in this movie because of the drugs he hides.

"I'm in more than one scene, inside and outside the kitchen. A few of the other chefs told Jamie Foxx that this was my first movie and he came over and gave me a hug."

Mickel was scheduled as an extra in Kanye West's new TV drama "Underground," but had to turn that down since shooting fell on her son's birthday. She recently auditioned for "50 Shades of Black," the Wayan Brothers' spoof of "50 Shades of Grey."

Savory Bread Pudding

4 frozen waffles, thawed

1 cup whipping cream

1 small package ground pork or 1/2 package ground beef

6 mushrooms, sliced

1 yellow onion, sliced

2 eggs

1 cup fried and crumbled bacon (prepackaged bacon bits may be substituted)

1/2 stick butter

Heat oven to 425 degrees.

Brown ground beef or pork in skillet. Drain excess oil into sauté pan and sauté onions and mushrooms. If needed, add a touch of vegetable, canola or olive oil to pan for sauteing.

Break waffles into pieces and put in large mixing bowl. Add whipping cream, toss gently and set aside.

Melt butter then pour into loaf pan, coating sides and bottom. Reserve enough butter to pour over bread pudding before baking.

Add bacon and all other ingredients to mixing bowl. Pour mixture into loaf pan, then coat top with melted butter.

Place loaf pan into deep baking dish. Add water to baking dish, filling half-way up.

Bake 45 minutes or until top is brown and crispy.

Note: Waffles made fresh from batter may also be used; frozen waffles are the time-saving method.

- Sharon Mickel

Old-Fashioned Bread Pudding

2 cups milk

1/4 cup butter or margarine

2 eggs, slightly beaten

1/2 cup sugar

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon or nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon salt

6 cups soft bread cubes (about 6 slices bread)

1/2 cup raisins, if desired

Heavy whipping cream, if desired

Heat oven to 350 degrees.

In 2-quart saucepan, heat milk and butter over medium heat until butter is melted and milk is hot.

In large bowl, mix eggs, sugar, cinnamon and salt. Stir in bread crumbs and raisins. Stir in milk mixture. Pour into ungreased deep round pan.

Bake uncovered 40-45 minutes or until knife inserted 1 inch from edge comes out clean. Serve warm with whipping cream.

- Betty Crocker Recipes

Contact Susan Pierce at spierce@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6284.