Can there be any more comforting pudding on earth than Bread and Butter Pudding? I think not.
Essentially designed to use up all the stale bread in the house, this quintessential British pudding was created by an epicurian of genius proportions back somewhere in the 17th century, having evolved from it's tasty ancestor . . . bread pudding. Bread pudding used up stale bread as well, and along with a varieity of sweet spices, currants and raisins was simply steamed and then devoured. When more luxurious items like eggs, butter and cream became more readily available, it was only a matter of course before they found their way into the mix, and we ended up with the deliciously tasty dessert that we have come to know and love today.
I am always one for trying and adapting things to the currant situation in my larder. I have made this lovely pudding with dates and nuts. I've also used stale brioche and studded the pud with chunks of Green & Blacks milk chocolate. After Christmas is all over, it's wonderful made with the last of the Pannetone . . . stale gingerbread and chunks of roasted apple . . . I've deliciously been there.
Essentially, it's the perfect pud to use up all sorts of stale bread, cakes and loaves . . .
Today I came home from the shops armed with several punnets of juicy, dark, ruby coloured plums . . . on offer at two punnets for three quid. How could I resist?
We just love plums in this house, and they looked so beautiful sitting there in their little baskets, just begging to be bought.
I've done plum cakes and tarts recently and today I thought . . . mmmm . . . Bread and Butter Pudding with Plums . . . why not?
*Plum Bread and Butter Pudding*
Serves 4
Printable Recipe
What could be any better than Bread and Butter Pudding? Why Plum Bread and Butter Pudding of course! Rich and creamy and indulgently delicious, not to mention stogged full of tasty roasted plums. What's not to like?
1 punnet of dark red plums
(about 8 plums)
1 cup of caster sugar, plus a bit to spoon into the plums (190g)
1/2 loaf of coarse stale bread sliced
softened butter
1 1/2 cups heavy cream (335ml)
1/2 cup of whole milk (120 ml)
4 large free range eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla paste (or 1 tsp vanilla extract)
Pre-heat the oven to 200*C/400*F. Wash the plums and cut in half. Remove the stones and then place them into a baking dish, skin side down. Place approximately 1/2 tsp of caster sugar into the centre of each. Bake in the heated oven for 15 minutes or so, just until the juices begin to run. Remove from the oven and set aside. Turn the oven temperature down to 180*C/350*F.
Trim all the crusts off of the bread. (I always give them to the birds) Cut the bread into 1 inch wide strips. Butter them on both sides generously. Lightly butter a 6 by 8 inch glass baking dish.
Whisk together the eggs and the sugar, whisking until the sugar is almost dissolved. Whisk the milk and the cream together in a large beaker along with the vanilla paste. Slowly whisk in the egg mixture, whisking until you have a nice creamy custard like solution. Sit aside.
Place the bread into the baking dish, by placing three strips across, almost upright, but not quite. Place a plum half on each. Place another three strips in front of the plums. Place another three plum halves on each. Repeat until all the bread strips and plum halves have been used. I also cut several strips into smaller pieces and tuck them in all the way around the pudding, kind of like a frame.
Pour the custard slowly onto the bread in the pudding, in and around the plums. Allow the bread to absorb the custard, before pouring on more. Add custard until the bread can't absorb any more. Drizzle any plum juices over top and then place into the oven. Baked for 30 to 35 minutes, until the sides of the pudding are set and the top is nicely puffed and lightly browned. The centre should still be a bit jiggly. Remove from the oven and allow to cool to warm. Cut into slabs to serve. We like to serve this with additional cream for pouring over top.
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.JPG "Bread Machine French Bread")
I wanted to bake a loaf to take to my sister's today for supper. She is so kind and usually invites me for Sunday Supper. I don't always like to go empty handed. (I popped this tasty loaf into the bread machine before I left for church this morning.)
This week I thought I would bake a loaf of bread to take. I had been eyeing this French Bread recipe in a book I have called The Bread Lover's Bread Machine Cookbook, by Beth Hensperger. Every recipe I have tried from the book has been exceptional, although not always beautiful.
.JPG "Bread Machine French Bread")
Once again, this loaf was no exception. It was a bit ugly to look at, but I knew from the minute I laid my eyes on it that it was going to be an exceptional loaf, albeit not traditional looks-wise!
The crust was beautifully crisp and the bread itself felt as light as a feather.
.JPG "Bread Machine French Bread")
I just had to cut a slice from it to see what it looked on the inside. My sister won't mind. She is used to getting things from me with a slice or piece missing! That's the hazards of being related to a food writer!!
As you can see it was beautiful. It had a lovely tight texture and chewy crumb. Just what you would expect from a good French loaf! I think the family will be well pleased!
If you would like all of my hints and tips on using your bread machine, do click here. I share everything I know! I bake myself a fresh loaf of bread every week, sometimes twice a week. That means of course, as a woman living on her own, I often have stale bread I need to use up!
Beneath the bread recipe you will find a number of ways to use up your stale loaf. No waste here! You can of course make croutons, but really there are a whole lot of delicious ways of using all your bread up. I can highly recommend each of these recipes!
Bread Machine French Bread
Ingredients
- 2 large free-range egg whites
- 1 cup (240ml) water
- 3 cups (408g) bread flour
- 1 TBS vital wheat gluten
- 2 tsp sugar
- 1 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 1/2 tsp bread machine yeast
Instructions
- Using an electric mixer, beat the egg whites until almost stiff and soft peaks are formed.
- Place everything into your bread machine according to the manufacturer's directions for your particular machine. (With mine the dry go first and the wet last). Add your egg whites in with your water. Make sure the salt does not touch the yeast.
- Basic or French cycle.
- Remove from the bread machine as soon as the baking cycle ends and immediately remove from the pan. Leave to cool to room temperature before slicing.
BREAD AND CHEESE OMELET - It is the simple things in life which often bring us the most pleasure. A few eggs, some good cheddar and a crust of stale bread. A few chopped spring onions and presto you have either the makings of a delicious breakfast or a light supper! You can also add a few sliced tomatoes for something which is just as tasty! Especially nice during fresh tomato season.
BAKED TOP HAT PORK CHOPS - This is a recipe I got from one of my mother's old cookbooks, Martha Logan's Meat Cookbook. It features lush tender perfectly baked chops with a fabulously tasty corn and bread stuffing which gets baked on top. Totally simple. Totally delicious in every way!
TRUE NEWF POUTINE - A copycat recipe from one of our favorite local eating places. It's a seasonal restaurant and is only open in the summer months. Making our own is one way of getting our favorite version of Poutine that this place specializes in. Crisp French Fries/chips topped with rich gravy, cheese curds and plenty of Newfoundland stuffing! A delicious carb fest!
WELSH CHEESE PUDDING - A savory bread pudding made with Leek and Cheese Sandwiches. A deliciously simple way to make a few choice ingredients go further. You can use onions if leeks are not available.
AMISH CHICKEN AND STUFFING CASSEROLE - This is one of my absolute all-time favorite chicken casseroles. Not only is is a great way to use up stale bread, but you can also use up leftover cooked chicken or even turkey, or you can cook chicken specifically just to use in it. Stale bread, butter, softened celery and onion, a variety of herbs, seasoning and tender poached chicken mixed with a tiny bit of stock and baked to give you one very delicious and simple entree.
MARY BERRY'S SAGE & ONION STUFFING - This is probably my absolute favorite of all the stuffings I make, even more than my mother's stuffing. It's very simple, just stewed onions, bread crumbs, butter and some seasonings. Easy peasy lemon squeasy never tasted so good!
BITTY BERRY FUDGE PUDDINGS - A simple and delicious dessert that goes down well when the blueberries are in season, or even when they aren't! Serve warm with some cream or creme fraiche for spooning. Butter, honey and cream topped with berries and then a bread crumb mixture. Baked to perfection and served warm with lashings of cream. Delicious!
SUMMER PUDDING - Stale bread, a mix of berries, some sugar, cassis and a pudding basin. All you need, plus a few hours to set it up. Delicious, delicious, delicious. One of my favorite summer desserts! But you can also enjoy it in winter as well, depending on the availability of fresh berries. Fabulous served with some pouring or clotted cream.
SWEET ALMOND BREAD PUDDING WITH A BLACKBERRY SAUCE - These puddings are best served warm with the cold blackberry sauce. You can make the puddings ahead of time, keeping them wrapped tightly for up to three days in the refrigerator. (This makes them perfect for celebratory dinners!) They are quite simply delicious.
OLD TIME BREAD PUDDING - Stuffed with dried fruits and meant to be eaten cold in slabs, this is an old-fashioned bread pudding that many British grew up with. Lightly spiced it's almost like a cake and is beautiful served with a nice hot cuppa. You can also serve it warm with custard. Its beautifully delicious either way!
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I think Bread Pudding has to be the Toddster's favourite all time dessert, next to apple pie. So, this week, when I found myself having a bit too much bread in the house due to the Toddster's having bought the wrong kind of bread when he picked it up for me (men ARE from Mars!) I knew exactly what to do with the excess!
1 1/2 TBS lemon juice
Heat the cream, milk, sugar and butter together to melt the butter. Set aside. Put the bread into a large bowl along with the lemon zest. Toss to coat the bread with the zest. Pour in the milk mixture and set aside to cool. Whisk together the egg yolks, lemon juice and lemincello if using. Add this to the bread mixture in the bowl and combine. Whisk together the egg whites until stiff. Fold gently into the bread mixture and then pour into the prepared dish.
Bake for one hour, or until a knife inserted near the centre comes out clean.
While the pudding is baking make the sauce. Whisk together the sugar and corn flour in the top of a double boiler. Whisk in the hot water, lemon juice and Limencello, if using. Cook, whisking constantly until the mixture bubbles and thickens. Whisk in the butter and cardamom. Keep warm.
Serve the pudding spooned out into bowls with some of the sauce drizzled over top.
One of the things I like best about this time of year is all the lovely berry fruits that are becoming available. This pudding is a real favourite in our household, probably because all these fresh fruits are only in the shops for a very short time each year.
Soft and tremblingly tasty, this pudding is full of lovely fresh flavours . . . tart currants, sweet raspberries, blueberries, tay berries . . . cherries . . . this is summer at it's finest in a bowl.
Do plan ahead as it needs to be put into the fridge the night before in order for it to set up properly and for the lovely fruit juices to soak meltingly into the bread. Also be sure to use a good loaf of white bread, not the ordinary sliced bread that is for every day use, and so soft and squidgy. Buy a good and sturdy loaf, and let it go stale. You want it to be a couple of days old so that it will soak in the juices better.
*Summer Pudding*
Serves 6
Printable Recipe
This delicious pudding is one of my favourite things about summer. Tart . . . sweet . . . this pudding contains all the goodness of summer in every mouthful. Plan ahead as it needs to sit overnight to set up.
750g/1lb 14oz mixed summer fruit
(such as raspberries, red, white and blackcurrants, tayberries, loganberries, blackberries, cherries and blueberries)
185g/6½oz caster sugar
1 medium loaf good-quality white bread, slightly stale
2 tbsp cassis or blackcurrant cordial
creme fraiche for serving
You will need a 2 pint pudding basin.
Place all the fruit in a pan, removing any stalks as necessary. Add the sugar and then heat and cook them over medium heat for 3 to 5 minutes, only until the sugar has dissolved and the fruit begins to give up some of it's juices. Please be careful not to over cook them. Stir in the cassis or blackcurrant cordial. Set aside while you get the bread ready.
Trim off all the crusts from the bread and cut the bread into thin slices. Cut one round slice out of the bread to fit the bottom of the basin and place it into the basin. Line the pudding basin with the slices of bread, overlapping them and sealing well by pressing any edges together. Fill in any gaps with small pieces of bread, so that no juice can get through when you add the fruit. spoon all of the fruit and its juices into the pudding basin. Trim the tips of bread from around the edge. Cover the top of the fruit with more wedges of bread. Place the pudding basin on a plate to collect any juices. Find a saucer that fits neatly inside the bowl, and place it on top to cover the upper layer of bread, then weigh the saucer down with weights - unopened tin cans come in very handy for this.. Let it cool, then place in the fridge overnight.
The next day, remove the weights and the saucer. Run a thin blade around the edges, then invert the basin onto a shallow serving plate. Serve, cut into slices or spooned out, and topped with a good dollop of Creme Fraiche.
Serves 4
A delicious bread and butter pudding with the added twist of a layer of sweet apricot jam.
2 TBS softened butter, plus extra for buttering the dish
8 thin slices of sturdy white bread (stale is best)
good quality apricot jam
the grated zest of one lemon
330ml whole milk (1 1/3 cup)
60ml double cream (1/4 cup)
2 large free range eggs
30g caster sugar (2 1/2 TBS)
freshly grated nutmeg
demerara sugar for sprinkling
Trim the crusts off of the bread and butter each slice on one side. Spread half of the slices thickly with some apricot jam, on the unbuttered side. Put together with the other half of the slices like little jam sandwiches, with the buttered sides showing on the outside of each. Cut each sandwich in half diagonally and then place into the prepared dish.
Place the milk in a pan over low heat. Add the lemon zest. Scald. (Heat just until you see bubbles appearing around the edges. Do not let it boil.) Whisk in the cream.
Break the eggs into a bowl, add the sugar and beat together well. Whisk in the heated milk slowly. Strain the resulting custard into a beaker, then pour this custard over the bread mixture. Let stand for about 30 minutes so that it is absorbed somewhat. Sprinkle with some freshly grated nutmeg and a dusting of demerara sugar.
Place into the oven and bake for 30 to 40 minutes, or until the custard has set and the top is a golden brown. Serve warm.
I think I must subscribe to just about every cooking magazine going. I know . . . I am obsessed. Todd thinks I'm crazy . . . but, having said that . . . he does more than enjoy my cooking efforts daily.
Usually I flag recipes from each magazine that I want to try out at some point. Of course there are far more than I could ever conceivably try in reality . . . but, at least I am well intentioned. Sometimes I get there and, well . . . sometimes I don't . . .
I flagged this pudding recipe in the October issue of Good Food magazine as one that I definitely wanted to make. It's taken me almost a month to get to it, but today was the day.
All my stars were in alignment or something coz I actually got it done! Roly Poly pudding is a favourite around this house with my old school hubby as is bread and butter pudding, and we are both nuts about anything with jam in it!
This lovely pudding combines elements of all three! Lovely little buttery roly poly bread and raspberry jam sandwiches laid on a bed of more raspberry jam, and then baked in a sweet vanilla custard, until it all souffles up in a rich cloud of baked custardy goodness . . . soft and creamy inside, with lovely buttery sweet crunchy bits on the outside.
You take a slightly trembling spoonful and place it in your bowl, licking your lips in anticipation . . . you want to dig in immediately, but daren't for fear the jam will burn your lips . . .
You finally lift a spoonful to your mouth and gently blow before you plunge the delightful mass past your trembling lips . . .
mmmm . . . ahhh . . . did you feel that?
That, my friends, was an itty, bitty taste of heaven . . .
*Roly Poly Bread and Butter Pudding*
Serves 8
Printable Recipe
Little bread butter and jam rolls baked in a delicious vanilla custard until light fluffy and scrummy yummy! You will want to use very fresh bread for this. Dry bread will not roll properly.
3 ounces softened butter, plus extra to butter the baking dish (3/8 of a cup)
12 ounces of raspberry jam (1 1/2 cups)
1 large fresh unsliced loaf of white bread
4 large free range eggs
14 fluid ounces of milk (1 3/4 cup)
14 fluid ounces of double cream (1 3/4 cup)
3 ounces of caster sugar, plus a bit extra for sprinkling on top of the pudding (3/8 of a cup)
1 tsp of vanilla paste, or the seeds scraped from one vanilla pod
Butter a deep two litre baking dish. Stir the jam well with a fork and then spoon half of it into the prepared baking dish.
Trim the crusts and rounded top off of the loaf of bread so that you have a large rectangular block of bread. Carefully cut the bread into 4 long slices lengthwise. (This is the hardest part as fresh bread is a bit squidgy, but persevere and go slowly. It will be worth it.) You can whiz all the edges and leftovers into bread crumbs and store in the freezer for something else.
Spread each of the four long slices of bread on one side with butter. Flip them over and spread the jam on the other sides. (Yes it will make the counter a bit of a mess, but again, it's worth it!) Roll up the bread slices, rolling up from the short sides, until you have 4 fat swiss rolls. Cut each in half carefully, so that you have 8 jammy rolls, and then place them, cut sides down into the jam lined baking dish.
Whisk together the eggs, milk, cream, sugar and vanilla. Pour through a strainer over top of the jammy bread rolls, stopping to allow it to soak in, until all the mixture has been used up. Let stand for half an hour on the counter before baking,
Preheat the oven to 160*C/325*D/ gas mark 3. Place the baking dish on a baking sheet. Sprinkle the top with some more caster sugar and then place in the heated oven to bake for about an hour to an hour and a quarter until the top is lightly browned and the custard is gently set. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for five minutes before serving. Delicious!
Note - I knew that there was no way that the Toddster and myself could eat a whole one by ourselves, so I cut the recipe in half. It worked out great!
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