A classic British bread pudding made to use up stale bread; an early named recipe appears in Eliza Smith's The Compleat Housewife (1728). 'Bread and butter pudding'.
The top is crisp and lightly caramelised while underneath the bread turns into soft, trembling, vanilla-scented custard dotted with plump raisins. Warm, gently sweet and deeply comforting, it tastes of a childhood pudding.
The egg custard sets gently around the soaked bread as it bakes, binding everything into a soft pudding, while the exposed buttered edges crisp and caramelise in the oven's heat.
Variations
With marmalade or jam, brioche or croissant versions, with chocolate chips, whisky-soaked, panettone at Christmas
On the Palate
Where Bread and Butter Pudding sits in the British flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 6
How it's made
8 steps · 15 min
- 15 min
Butter the slices of bread and cut them into triangles.
- 24 min
Layer the bread in a buttered dish, scattering raisins between the layers.
- 33 min
Whisk the eggs with milk, cream, sugar and vanilla to make a custard.
- 42 min
Pour the custard evenly over the bread and press down so it soaks in.
Watch outPress the bread down into the custard so every piece soaks through — dry patches on top bake into hard, un-soft bits.
- 520 min
Let it stand so the bread absorbs the custard.
Watch outGive it a proper stand until the bread turns soft and swollen — skip this and the middle bakes up dry, not custardy.
- 61 min
Grate fresh nutmeg over the top and sprinkle with a little extra sugar.
- 745 min
Bake at 180C until the custard is just set and the top is golden and crisp.
Watch outPull it when the custard is just set with a faint wobble at the center and the peaks are golden — a firm, dry center means it went too far.
- 83 min
Rest briefly, then serve warm with cream or custard.
