Bread and butter pudding is a very old dish, which combines bread, eggs, dairy and sugar in a bowl-baked confection that has been handed down the generations since time immemorial. It is described in full in the 1700s, but earlier recipes may have even included bone marrow, and dates for that are not clear. It seems inconceivable that bread and butter pudding in some form or other was not being made by the Tudors. I have found an Elizabethan recipe that uses crumbs, and adds dried grapes, so I think I am right in my assertion that this basic idea is centuries old.
Bread and butter pudding
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Loading...Ingredients
- For the custard:
- 300ml full fat milk
- 300ml double cream
- Seeds scraped from 1 split vanilla pod (or use vanilla essence or vanilla powder to taste)
- 3 whole eggs
- 1 egg yolk
- 90g caster sugar
- To assemble:
- 8 slices of leftover white bread, cut up (see notes)
- Handful of sultanas
- Zest of 1 lemon
- Knob of butter
Instructions
To make the custard:
Mix the milk and cream in a pan, bring to the boil and remove from the heat. Stir in the vanilla seeds. Set aside to cool for a bit.
Beat the egg yolks and sugar until fluffy and pale (use a stand mixer). Add the cream and whisk it in. There is no need to reheat this custard as you would for standard custard or ice cream as the eggs cook in the oven step.
To assemble and cook:
Heat an oven to 180˚C (160˚C for fan-assisted).
Grease a baking dish with the butter. Arrange half the bread in the bottom, and then add half the fruit and zest. Add another layer of bread and fruit an sprinkle over the remaining zest.
Pour over the custard (it seems like a lot, but it will soak in) and leave it to soak for 30 mins.
Bake in the oven for 30–40 mins until fluffed up and golden.
Notes
This dish is endlessly versatile. You can use cut up bread rolls, old croissants, pandesal, stale hotdog buns ... literally anything bread-like. Our bread and butter pudding in the featured photo was made from two-day-old Tesco croissants.
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