Brioche Berry Pudding

I wonder if the Olympians can indulge in a pudding this week as a reward? Or maybe they are programmed never to go anywhere near sugar. For those of us who like an indulgent dessert/pudding this is one of my favourites because it is as light as a feather to eat, quick and easy to make and reheats quickly in the microwave.

All you need is a sliced brioche loaf, which I mostly buy from Aldi, berries of your choice, eggs, sugar, milk and a pot of whipping or double cream.

You will need: large buttered ovenproof dish

1 small sliced brioche loaf about 200g
75g fresh raspberries
75g fresh blackberries
250ml semi-skimmed milk
250ml whipping or double cream
3 medium eggs
25g caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
Icing sugar for dusting

1. Preheat the oven to 190°C.
2. Cut off the crusts. Lay half the brioche over the base of a 1.5 litre x 6cm deep ovenproof dish. Sprinkle over half of the raspberries and blackberries, cover with the rest of the brioche squares. Scatter over the rest of the berries.
3.Whisk the milk, cream, eggs, vanilla extract and sugar together in a jug. Pour the egg mixture over the top of the brioche and leave to soak for 5 minutes.
4. Put the dish into a deep roasting tin and pour boiled water into the tin to come halfway up the sides of the dish. Bake for 30 minutes until puffed and golden. Remove from the oven and the tin. Leave to rest for 10 minutes, dust with icing sugar, serve on it's own or with whipped cream.

Boozy Bread and Butter Pudding

I'm back from my annual holiday - I've missed National Baking Week and National Chocolate Week. No worries, I'm here to support National Bread and Butter Pudding Week......

My husband loves bread and butter pudding - there must be at least five other recipes on my blog!

Bread and Butter Pudding is one of our Great British puddings and there are many, many variations. This pudding has a thin layer of brandy soaked sultanas scattered over the base of the dish.  Unlike the majority of bread and butter puddings there is only a small amount of bread and lots of custard.

You will need: 50g sultanas soaked in a tablespoon of Brandy, 2 slices of white farmhouse bread, softened butter, 3 eggs, 50g caster sugar, ½ tsp vanilla extract or a vanilla pod, 0.5 litres milk.

Method:
Preheat the oven to 160ºC. Grease an ovenproof dish.

1. Soak the sultanas in the brandy. Butter the bread, remove the crusts and cut into triangles. Scatter the sultanas over the base of the dish. Arrange the bread in overlapping slices in the dish.
2. Whisk the eggs, sugar and vanilla extract together. In a small pan warm the milk and pour onto the eggs whilst whisking.
3. Pour the egg mixture through a fine sieve onto the bread.
4. Take a roasting tray and fill half way with hot water, place the dish onto the tray and cook for 45 minutes or until cooked.
5. Dust with icing sugar and carefully caramelise with a blow torch.

Nigel Slater's Hot Cross Bread and Butter Pudding

Nigel Slater may not be too thrilled about my little Easter chick but I think he's cute.

I had the last two packs of cinnamon and raisin Hot Cross Buns, a purchase one Sunday from Waitrose on the M6, and just a few miles away from where Nigel was brought up.

Making hot cross buns and then cutting them up for bread and butter pudding, that's just one step too far......they very conveniently come in a pack of four.

A generous handful of sultanas were sprinkled over the buns, the recipe says to sprinkle over peel too - not for us though.  The custard base uses egg yolks instead of whole eggs, a pot of double cream and the equivalent in milk, which makes a glorious custard. I always freeze my left over egg whites for a meringue making session.

The two of us couldn't polish off all this pud by ourselves, it heats up perfectly in the microwave and my husband said it tasted even better the second day, and he should know, because he's a bread and butter pudding expert.

Taken from Nigel Slater - The Kitchen Diaries II - sadly I can't find a link out to the recipe.

I am entering this into Dish of the Month - March 2013. Hosts are Janice at Farmers Girl Kitchen and Sue at A Little Bit of Heaven on a Plate.

Brioche and Butter Pudding

A while back, I started the National Collection of Bread and Butter Pudding Recipes:) and to date, there are six other recipes on my site. Admittedly, some people find them problematic, but the secret is to make them well, and definitely not to have the obligatory burnt fruit on top (perhaps as some of our Mum's did), to do so is not only a crime against bread and butter pudding but a punishment of the highest order for the person who has to eat it.

This recipe is by the talented food writer, Tamasin Day-Lewis. The sultanas have been soaked in water and then drained, which prevents them from burning. It's always best to cook any bread and butter pudding recipe in a bain-marie because this will prevent it overcooking and take the humble bread and butter pudding to another level of fabulousness. Bread and butter pudding cooked to within an inch of it's life is horrible and years ago, before I learnt the error of my ways, I too have been guilty of this. I always check to make sure the pudding isn't overcooking by poking a hole in the top - as in the photograph. The custard will carry on cooking after it comes out of the oven and you will have a creamy custard sauce.

I have adapted the quantity of sugar used and the amount of apricot jam glaze. If I hadn't, the pudding would have been sugar overload. Presentation would have been better if I had used the tops of eight brioche rolls instead of using four brioche rolls sliced horizontally.

Adapted recipe for those on the 'No diet, diet' and to be fair I did use semi-skimmed milk and reduced the quantity of sugar. Who wants to diet in January anyway? I need proper food when it's cold, grey and miserable outside.

Serves: 4

You will need: 300ml semi-skimmed milk, 300 double cream, 1 split vanilla pod, 2 eggs, 2 tbsp vanilla sugar, 25g unsalted butter, 4 brioche rolls sliced horizontally into four, a handful of sultanas soaked in warm water until plump, few teaspoons apricot jam.

1. Preheat the oven to 170°C/Gas 4.
2. Pour the milk and cream into a saucepan. Scrape the seeds from the vanilla pod with the tip of a knife. Add to the pan along with the scraped pod. Bring almost to the boil and then remove the pan from the heat.
3. Whisk the eggs and sugar together thoroughly in a large bowl. Pour in the milk and cream mixture, firstly removing the vanilla pod, and whisk.
4. Melt the butter and brush it over the brioche slices, placing them into a greased pudding dish. Sprinkle with the sultanas.
5. Strain the milk and egg mixture over the top.
6. Place the dish in a roasting pan. Pour in enough boiling water to come halfway up the sides of the dish. Bake for 30 minutes or until just set and not over-browned.
7. Put the jam in a basin and add a teaspoon of water, melt gently in the microwave.
8. Brush generously over the eggy surface of the pudding.

Any pudding left over will heat up successfully in the microwave.

NIGELLA LAWSON'S CHOCOLATE CHIP BREAD PUDDING

I never bought into the idea of chocolate bread and butter pudding, it seemed like one step too far. Nigella's recipe for chocolate chip bread pudding is a half way house for me. I wasn't sure if my husband would like this pudding, he loves bread and butter pudding and doesn't really like it messed about with.

My adapted recipe and uses only a quarter of the chocolate chips used in the original recipe, otherwise my husband wouldn't eat it! I think this pudding is a real winner and has a lot more eye appeal than the usual chocolate bread pudding.

I made a loaf of bread in my bread maker for this recipe, so that I could cut large chunks of bread. To get the best out of this pudding you need a good loaf of unsliced bread and preferably not sliced 'plastic' bread.

The recipe can be found in Nigella's latest book Kitchen.


If you are a bread and butter pudding lover, perhaps you would like to see the others I have posted on this blog, maybe this is the start of the National Collection of Bread and Butter Puddings!

JAMIE OLIVER'S BUN AND BUTTER PUDDING

This is another of Jamie Oliver's Easter hot cross bun recipes and without any doubt his best to date.

I love Easter puddings where you make use of hot cross buns. This pudding is simply another variation of bread and butter pudding but with a Jamie twist. There are a couple of plus points about this recipe, both brandy and grated orange zest are added to the custard!

My ultimate bread and butter pudding is one with an eggy sauce layer in the bottom and so I removed the pudding from the oven after 30 minutes, checked that there wasn't too much sauce and then I put the pudding under a very hot grill to tinge the buns a slight golden brown. If you don't want the sauce layer then cook for about 45 minutes.

Slightly adapted recipe.

Serves: 6 people

600ml semi-skimmed milk, 600ml double cream, 1 vanilla pod, 4 medium eggs, 100g caster sugar, 6 hot cross buns, 3 tablespoons brandy, zest of 1 orange, icing sugar.

1. Preheat the oven to 170°C/325°F/Gas 3.
2. In a pan put the milk and cream and bring just to a boil.
3. Cut the vanilla pod in half and scrape out the seeds, add to the saucepan.
4. Whisk the sugar and eggs together until light, now whisk in the milk and cream, remove the vanilla pod.
5. Halve the buns and spread with butter. Dip the buns in the mixture and place in an ovenproof dish. Pour over the cognac and the grated zest of the orange.
6. Pour the custard into a sieve held over the buns and now leave them to soak for approximately 15 minutes.
7. Put the dish into a roasting tin and half fill with hot water. Bake for approximately 40 - 45 minutes. When it is cooked the top will be slightly tinged and if you part some of the buns with a knife there should be a thick custard underneath. Check the pudding after 30 minutes cooking to ensure it doesn't overcook.
8. Dust with icing sugar.

Delicious!

JAMIE OLIVER'S HOT CROSS PUDDING

Jamie has come up with a great idea for a Easter hot cross bun pudding. We have just had the pleasure of eating this for our pud and it was great.
This recipe is part of Sainsbury's 'Try something new today' and uses Taste the difference hot cross buns and Taste the difference vanilla custard.

I have adapted the recipe using products I have tried before and enjoyed.

Serves: 4 people
4 hot cross buns from Marks and Spencer, halved and spread with Tiptree medium cut orange marmalade. Layer in an ovenproof dish and pour in fresh custard from Marks and Spencer to come half way up the buns. pop into a preheated oven 180°C for 20-25 minutes. Spread more marmalade onto the hot buns. Fabulous.


Sainsbury's Recipe.
Serves: 4 people.
4 Taste the difference hot cross buns, halved and spread with marmalade. Layer in an ovenproof dish and almost cover with Taste the difference vanilla custard. Allow the custard to soak into the buns for about 15 minutes. Then pop into a preheated oven Gas 4 for 15 minutes. Finish by placing under a hot grill for 5 minutes until golden brown.

Marks and Spencer products were used because I found the Sainsbury's Taste the difference hot cross buns disappointing, their ordinary hot cross buns are much better. Unfortunately, The Taste the difference vanilla custard has a very strange taste, I think it would be far better to buy fresh custard and flavour it with vanilla extract.

Last year I made Vanilla Scented Hot Cross Bun Pudding which was very good too!

BREAD AND BUTTER PUDDING

Mary Norwak in her book English Puddings, Sweet & Savoury, tells us that this pudding has been popular for more than two hundred years and appears in many eighteenth-century cookery books. As with all old recipes, there are many variations.
Gordon Ramsay and Jamie Oliver lace their bread and butter pudding with Bailey's cream liquer, Gary Rhodes uses eight egg yolks and ½ pint of double cream. There are now recipes for chocolate bread and butter pudding. All of these variations have helped to re-invent the bread and butter pudding, by modernising this old nursery favourite.
On a personal level, I have been scarred for life, by being given badly made bread and butter pudding. The most common faults are the custard separating and currants having been placed on top of the bread and these have burnt during cooking. they then resemble rabbit droppings!!
This particular recipe, whilst not entirely traditional, is a good everyday bread and butter pudding, and one that even I will eat. On a light hearted note, if you look at the photograph of the slice of bread and butter pudding, you will see that there appears to be only three currants. I assure you that there were others and that these were hidden amongst the layers of bread and custard. I think this is possibly called uneven distribution!!
For this recipe you will need medium sliced bread that is about two days old. It is important to use full cream milk and also butter to spread on the bread, otherwise it's really not worthwhile making as it will taste just the same as the one put before you when you were a child and we don't want that - do we!!!

I have slightly adapted the recipe from the original.

HAMLYN COMPLETE COOK

ISBN 0600601986 - Page 501

SERVES: 4 (but I'm afraid to say, mostly 2)

40g soft butter
4 slices of medium sliced white bread, crusts removed
1 tablespoon of apricot jam
50g sultanas, raisins or currants
450ml full cream milk
2 tablespoons sugar
2 eggs, beaten

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas Mark 4.
2. Grease a 1.2 litre ovenproof serving dish with some butter.
3. Butter the bread and spread with the apricot jam. Cut the slices into small triangles. Layer 8 triangles of bread in the dish, sprinkle with the fruit, top with the other 8 triangles of bread.
4. Place the milk and sugar in a saucepan and heat to just below boiling point. Remove from the heat and whisk in the eggs. Strain the mixture over the bread and leave to soak for 30 minutes.
5. Place the dish in a roasting tin and fill with hot water to halfway up the sides, bake in the oven for 45 minutes, increase the heat to 190°C/375°F/Gas Mark 5 for a further 10-15 minutes until crisp and golden on top and just set. Serve at once.

VANILLA SCENTEDHOT CROSS BUN PUDDING

Johanna over at thepassionatecook is running the challenge Waiter, there's something in my ... Easter Basket!

Hot cross buns! Hot cross buns!
One a penny two a penny - Hot cross buns.
If you have no daughters, give them to your sons.
One a penny two a penny - Hot cross buns.

I am sure we all learnt the above as school children, but I don't think Hot cross buns were ever made into a pudding or at least I don't have any knowledge of this.

Making sure the custard is not cooked too much is important here, I like my custard to have a wobble! The custard layer was very deep, and for all egg custard lovers this pudding will be a delight.

This is quite a substantial pudding, one for the boys maybe? On looks this would be far more attractive if it had been made with mini Hot cross buns and then a smaller portion or second helpings could be enjoyed by all.

A couple more Hot cross bun recipes I have seen recently are - James Martin's new cookery book Desserts and also in the April issue of Delicious Magazine.

Note: The original recipe came from Bart's Spices Website and unfortunately they have removed the recipe from their site. I didn't make a copy of the recipe but I believe it is a rich custard mixed with vanilla and cooked in the usual way.

PANETTONE PUDDING

Hidden inside beautiful boxes at Christmas time are panettone. These are Italian and are a cross between bread and cake. They come in all different flavours, chocolate, plain, mixed fruit etc. For this pudding you will need a fruit panettone. Also, if you do not use all of this bread, it freezes well.

COMFORT FOOD - BBC GOOD FOOD.

ISBN 0563488492 - Page 113

Go to www.bbcgoodfood.co.uk to view this recipe.

Serves: 4 people

Skill Level: Easy

Taste Test: A very creamy sauce with a good kick of vanilla, the bread is light and fluffy.

The recipe suggests buttering the panettone but I think it is rich enough and so I do not bother doing this. If I do not have any double cream then I have used light Elmlea double cream, the only difference this makes is that the sauce does not set but is the consistency of double cream. I always reduce the amount of sugar i.e. one tablespoon instead of the two tablespoons suggested. I find it too sweet otherwise. Cook this for 30 minutes and check to make sure the custard hasn't set too much, if it is still too runny give it another 5 minutes.

Kitchen Equipment Used: Balloon Whisk.