bread pudding help

[david kaplan]

I am making bread pudding for events today and tomorrow. Today's was well-flavored but too dense, so what can I do to lighten the texture tomorrow? I would like it to be as rich and more moist but not as heavy. I suspect the answer is to reduce the amount of bread relative to everything else.

Here's what I did today:

12 oz brioche, cut up
2 cups half-and-half
half stick butter
4 eggs
3/4 cup maple syrup

350 degrees, 40-ish minutes

Is reducing the bread the way to make it less dense, or is there something in the technique that might help?

Thanks.

[todao]

My rule of thumb for brioche bread pudding is 1 egg for every two ounces of bread. That'd mean your recipe is short two eggs. Your milk/half-n--half looks to be short by 1 cup also. Your recipe doesn't contain any sugar which should also make it lighter.

Here's how I'd write it:

12 oz brioche, cut up
3 cups half-and-half
half stick butter
6 eggs
1 cup maple syrup

Baking time/temp looks good