Seldom has a dessert rejoiced in such a proudly unpretentious name as the bread and butter pudding. It's Victorian nursery food at its finest; blandly milky, comfortingly stodgy, and just the thing to use up all the staling half loaves left hanging around by Christmas guests who can't see an untouched item of food without taking a bite.
Stale v fresh
Some people, of course, like bread and butter pudding so much they can't wait for a loaf to stale before firing up the oven – but after making two lots of Delia Smith's classic recipe, I found that fresh bread gives an unpleasantly soggy result.
You can use just about any plain or sweet bread you like, of course – a panettone that's outstayed its welcome at the festive tea table is ideal, as it's already studded with all the dried fruits and candied peel you might fancy adding anyway, but I also had success with a sourdough loaf, which gave the pudding an unorthodox, but nonetheless pleasing chewiness.
A good old soak?
Like many of the best desserts, bread and butter pudding is not something that can be thrown together at the last minute – not only do you need to find some stale bread, but you need to allow time for it to get to know its custard sauce before you bake them both … unless you're Delia Smith, of course. Her Rich Bread & Butter Pudding goes straight into the oven.
I make two, and allow one to sit for half an hour while the other cooks. I like the crisper top of the first pudding, but it's definitely less unctuous than the soaked version of the same recipe, so I decide on a compromise, soaking the bottom layers first, and then adding a fresh layer of bread and custard just before putting it in the oven.
The question of custard
Most bread and butter pudding recipes involve a very simple custard – a combination of milk, cream, sugar and eggs, mixed together and poured straight over the bread without further ado. Victorian cookery writer Eliza Acton's recipe involves making a more conventional pouring custard by heating together the sugar and cream to just shy of boiling point, and then pouring them on to the eggs, and beating well before pouring it on to the bread. I find this an unnecessary faff – I can detect no difference. Using a homemade cornstarch-thickened egg custard, however, is a disaster – the pudding is dry and heavy without the extra liquid.
Extra touches
Eliza also soaks her dried fruit in rum or brandy overnight, which I quite like – hot toddy and hot pudding in one quivering, caramelised spoonful. I'm not so keen on Nigel Slater's marmalade version though; a subtle hint of booze is one thing, but bread and butter pudding's chief characteristic, in my opinion, ought to be creamy blandness, and this tastes more like breakfast. Leiths Cooking Bible recommends baking the pudding in a bain marie for a smoother- textured custard – it keeps the temperature more uniform apparently. It's easy enough to do with a roasting tin, and it does give a softer, silkier set to the finished dish.
A good bread and butter pudding can't be hurried, and doesn't deserve to be messed about with – but it's thrifty cooking at its finest. With stale bread this tasty, the birds won't get a look in.
Perfect bread and butter pudding
Serves 4
50g currants, raisins or sultanas, or a mixture, optional
3 tbsp brandy, optional
200ml whole milk
Vanilla pod, halved
Zest of ½ lemon
75g slightly salted butter
8 slices of slightly stale white sourdough, fruit bread or panettone, cut into triangles
3 eggs
2 tbsp caster sugar
100ml double cream
1 tbsp demerara sugar
Nutmeg, to grate
1. If you're using panettone or fruit bread, you can skip this step if you like. Put the dried fruit into a small cup and pour over the brandy to cover. Cover tightly and leave to soak overnight.
2. When you're ready to make the pudding, put the milk into a small pan with the vanilla pod. Bring to a simmer, then turn off the heat, add the lemon zest and allow to cool.
3. Meanwhile, butter the bread and your baking dish and arrange half the slices in overlapping rows inside. Beat the eggs together with the sugar until well mixed, and then remove the vanilla pod from the milk and discard before beating the milk and the cream into the egg mixture. Pour a little more than half over the bread, add the soaked fruit if using, and leave for 20 minutes.
4. Pre-heat the oven to 180C. Arrange the rest of the bread in a second layer in the baking dish and drizzle over the rest of the custard. Dot with the rest of the butter, scatter with demerara sugar and grate some nutmeg over the top.
5. Place in a roasting tin and and fill halfway with water to make a bain marie. Cook for 35 – 45 minutes until golden brown. Allow to stand for 10 minutes before serving.
Is bread and butter pudding the king of nursery desserts, or the stuff of bad childhood memories? Why does every Come Dine with Me contestant add Baileys – and what do you put in yours instead?
