Largest bread pudding

The largest bread pudding is 1,424 kg (3,139 lb 6.1 oz) and was achieved by Joseph Dias, Trinity Group, Ranjeet Pandey, Prasad Paul,Saurabh Puri, Sunit Sharma, Manjit Singh (All India) in Panaji, Goa, India, on 2 August 2019.

It is believed that Bread Pudding originated in England around the 11th century. It started-out as a simple dessert made of pieces or slices of bread soaked in a mixture of eggs, milk, spices, sugar, vanilla, etc. and then baked. According to food historians, between the early 11th and 12th centuries, people were looking for ways to use stale bread that was left-over, rather than wasting it. It came to be known as “poor man’s pudding,” since it was a common dish which endeared to the lower classes.

Joseph and the team were looking at preparing a dish that everybody could identify with or had tasted at some point of time. It had to be a kind of comfort food which all the family could enjoy. Joseph also wanted to do a desert which was universally known and common place. They extensively researched on the internet and found the Bread Pudding fit the bill, not only because it had grown in stature from its humble beginnings to being featured in restaurants and hotels. Secondly, the team wanted to put out a message - Don't Waste Food - recycle and reuse. The Bread Pudding had huge potential for this since a sweet-dish could be created from left-over bread and a couple of easily found ingredients - milk, eggs, spices, etc.

The recipe followed for this large version is the same as the traditional regular recipe but with larger quantities of ingredients so that it is a scaled up version of the traditional bread pudding. As per the traditional recipe, the milk is heated and a sauce is made using milk, sugar & eggs. Vanilla and spices are then added to make the sweet liquid mixture. The broken stale or dry bread pieces are then left to soak the sweet liquid and it is baked in an oven. Raisins, nuts, etc. are also added. The mixture is then baked. Joseph kept the recipe and process the same using a day’s old bread slices to absorb the moisture. In keeping with the traditional recipe, they added spices such as Cinnamon, Nutmeg, Vanilla, Raisins and Cashew nuts.

In order to bake the Bread Pudding, a specially fabricated baking dish and oven was used. A water bath was also used while baking to maintain constant temperature, keep the moisture intact and to ensure the mixture does not get burnt. A forklift was used to move the baking dish with bread pudding in and out of the oven and finally on to industrial scales for weighing.

During the planning phase the team did a couple of trials for batches of 5 kg basic Bread Pudding mixture. It tasted good.

In the planning phase, the biggest challenge was designing & fabricating the baking dish and oven. This was created on CAD computers and tested many times. Joseph and the team had to ensure that it wasn’t overheating but that the temperature was just right to cook the Bread Pudding evenly. They had to keep checking the baking and so had to have special heat testing/measuring thermometers at hand. Another challenge was to ensure uniform power requirements, which was met by use of huge generators & power back up to supply the kind of electricity required to the oven.

Mr. Joseph Dias led the team along with 10 Executive Chefs from 5 Star Hotels of Goa and 50 Assistant Chefs from Catering & Hotel Management Institutions in Goa such as Angel Institute of Food Craft & Culinary Sciences, Department of Management Studies (Hospitality) - Goa University, Goa College of Hospitality & Culinary Education and FoodyBreaks Academy. In addition to these, there were about a hundred support, operations and logistics staff for the entire attempt.

The attempt took place alongside the 16th Annual Edition of the India Hospitality + F & B Pro International Expo. The audience just loved it. Mr. Rameshwar Teli, Union Minister of State, Ministry of Food Processing Industries, Government of India was also present and congratulated the organizers & chefs at the record attempt. Besides exhibitors and visitors at the Expo, the families of Executive Chefs and Assistant Chefs were also present. The Assistant Chefs were very proud to be part of this attempt as it was an experience of a lifetime and would have so many stories to tell their peers.

The Bread Pudding was distributed to hundreds of Exhibitors & Visitors at the 16th Annual Edition of India Hospitality + F & B Pro International Expo dealing with the culinary, food & beverages sector which was held alongside the GWR attempt. It was also distributed to various charitable institutions across Goa through Goa's Food Bank for The Poor.

Coming from a humble background, it has always been Joseph’s dream to be a Guinness World Records title holder. The feeling of great accomplishment, for Joseph, is further, heightened since it comes with the GWR credibility and the satisfaction of being able to drive a team towards a goal. Joseph and the team feel grateful that a high level of professionalism, dedication and the spirit of doing public good is recognised. The feeling of satisfaction that months of hard work was successfully brought to fruition and the feeling of deep honour to be able to put India and Goa on the world map.