Bread and butter pudding (not to be confused with bread pudding), seems to have a long and honourable history. In 1845, Eliza Acton, in her book “Modern Cookery for Private Families”, provides one of the earliest recipes. The curious thing is that whilst the basic mix and cooking method have remained consistent, there are now so many variants the Bread and Butter Pudding could be seen as a range of desserts, rather than a single dish.
The following provides the basic pudding (which is ideal as a first venture at cooking for junior chefs in the making) and some more experimental versions for the adventurous cook! Most recipes agree that the important thing is to let the assembled pudding sit for about an hour before cooking it in order to let the bread swell and soak up all the lovely custard liquid
4 slices stale, white bread, 2 cm thick (stale not mouldy!)
butter
190ml currants or 150ml seedless raisins (optional)
2 large eggs
125ml white sugar
1ml salt
750ml milk (full cream not the watered down version)
1. Remove the crusts from the bread and butter the slices thickly
2. Place them, buttered side down, in a greased ovenproof dish
3. Sprinkle the currants or raisins over the bread
4. Beat the eggs well and stir in the sugar, salt and milk
5. Pour the milk and egg mixture over the bread and set the dish aside for 30 minutes to allow the liquid to soak right through the bread
6. Bake the pudding, covered, at 160°C for 30 minutes
7. Uncover the pudding and bake for a further 10 – 15 minutes or until the top is golden
8. Serve the pudding hot with golden syrup, honey or jam
Note
Try spreading the bread slices with apricot jam and sprinkle some cinnamon sugar over the pudding before baking it, to give a nice caramelised crust when it comes out of the oven … the sky’s the limit with Bread and Butter Pudding, so add any flavouring to the milk custard the you feel like …
A good liqueur added to the custard also helps warm you!
paulsmusing2 