A Bloody Good Bread and Butter Pudding

Plus: an exciting/busy month ahead!

Happy belated Easter, friends! The last couple of weeks have been a bit of a blur - work’s been more hectic than usual, we hosted family for Easter weekend and we’re gearing up for the next round of house renovations.

Things have finally settled down for the moment (famous last words…), though we have got the floor restoration and kitchen repaint looming next month. Once it’s all finished, I’ll share a quick house tour so you can see what we’ve been up to.

Excitingly, I’ve realised that this time next month I’ll be attending

Mark Diacono

and Diana Henry’s writing weekend!! Set in a beautiful manor house not too far from where I live, it’s going to be an exciting few days of hands-on workshops, incredible food and topping up on that creative inspiration.

In the meantime, I figured it’s finally time to get started on my new Cook The Books feature! Regular readers will know that I have quite the knack for buying (and collecting) cookbooks. Each month I will be picking one to work through, and will aim to make at least 3 recipes per week from it.

First up: Bakes and Wee Treats by Jonny Murphy. Here’s what I’m thinking of making:

• Flakemeal Biscuits

• Fruit Bannock

• Nanny’s Boiled Fruit Cake

I’m looking forward to reporting back on how they turn out! No doubt I’ll share my progress on Notes, so keep an eye out on there too.

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If you caught my last post, you’ll know I had a brilliant day at River Cottage, learning all things bread. A big highlight of the day had to be baking a buttery brioche loaf (and donuts) from scratch - which I was beyond chuffed at!

The Bread Day

I purposely saved most of the loaf because I knew that I wanted to have a crack at making a bread and butter pudding - something I love.

It’s a great feeling making something from scratch - but it’s even more satisfying to make something using ingredients that you’ve actually made yourself! I can’t lie, I was feeling pretty damn smug with myself.

And does anyone else feel like they’ve got their life together when they’ve made homemade bread? Just me?

Honestly, this bread and butter pudding tasted so bloody good - you’ve definitely got to give it a go!

Recipe: Brioche Bread and Butter Pudding

Ingredients

• 1 x 300g brioche loaf

• 50g butter, melted, plus extra for greasing

• 100g sultanas

• 3 tbsp demerara sugar

For the custard:

• 3 large eggs

• 75g caster sugar

• 150ml double cream

• 600ml full-fat milk

• 1 tsp vanilla bean paste (I prefer this to extract)

• Zest of 1 lemon

Instructions

Before we get started, preheat your oven to 160°C fan

1. Prepare your dish: Grease an ovenproof dish (about 2 litres capacity) with butter.

2. Prepare the brioche: Slice your 300g brioche loaf into slices that are about 1.5cm thick. Brush both sides of each slice with melted butter.

3. Layer in the dish: Arrange the buttered brioche slices in your prepared dish, overlapping them attractively. Sprinkle 100g sultanas evenly between and over the slices.

4. Make the custard: In a large bowl, whisk together until mixed (but not frothy), the following:

   • 3 eggs

   • 75g caster sugar

   • 150ml double cream

   • 600ml full-fat milk

   • 1 tsp vanilla extract

   • Zest of 1 lemon

5. Soak the brioche: Pour your custard evenly over the brioche and sultanas, making sure that all the bread gets a good soak. Gently press the bread down with a spoon so that the tops absorb the custard too. Finish with a sprinkle of the demerara sugar.

6. Rest: Leave the dish to stand for at least 30 minutes at room temperature, so the custard can soak in.

7. Bake: Place your pudding dish in a large roasting tin. Pour boiling water into the roasting tin so it comes about halfway up the sides of your pudding dish (creating a bain-marie). Bake for 40 minutes, or until the pudding is puffed up, golden, and just set with a slight wobble in the middle. Cover loosely with foil for the last 10 minutes if it browns too quickly.

8. Done!

With family staying over for Easter, I wanted to take full advantage of having some willing taste testers in the house. I decided to go with a tray bake, with them being easy to share, minimal fuss and guaranteed to keep everyone happy.

This season, it seemed like everyone was using mini eggs in their Easter bakes - so it seemed rude not to follow suit!

I went with this mini egg blondie recipe by Chloe on Instagram, whose bakes always look amazing. I ended up making a couple of swaps: Milkybar nibs instead of white chocolate and golden caster sugar instead of regular, because that’s what was in the cupboard!

These were a great hit with the fam - sweet, chewy and far too easy to keep going back for ‘just one more piece.’

I hope you’ve enjoyed today’s post! Thanks for stopping by and sharing in my little corner of the world.

See you next time!
Mark + Hiro 🐾

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