Bread and butter pudding without the fruit
Layered crustless white bread in a soft egg custard, no dried fruit anywhere in it
Halves into one 12 cm dish, using two slices of bread, one egg, 125 ml of milk and 50 ml of cream. Do not double it in the same dish, or the centre will not set through in time.
Bread and butter pudding earns its place here without the sultanas that usually stud it. Crustless white bread, buttered and layered, is left to drink up an egg custard before it goes in the oven, and what comes out is soft enough to eat with a spoon rather than a fork. Dried fruit brings a tough little skin that a narrowed gut cannot break down, so it stays out, and nothing about the dish suffers for the absence: the bread itself turns custardy and rich, especially near the base of the dish. Where most versions go wrong is the oven. Take it out the moment the centre still wobbles gently when you shake the dish, because it carries on cooking as it cools, and a pudding baked until fully firm turns rubbery rather than soft.
Ingredients
Contains: Gluten, Egg, Milk
- 40 gunsalted butter, softened, a little for greasing the dish and the rest for spreading the bread
- 4 slicewhite bread, crusts removed
- 3eggs
- 45 gcaster sugar, 30 g for the custard, 15 g for sprinkling on top
- 250 mlwhole milk
- 100 mldouble cream
- 1 tspvanilla extract
Method
Heat the oven to 160°C fan (180°C). Butter a small baking dish, about 20 cm across, using a little of the softened butter.
Butter the bread slices on one side with the rest of the butter, then cut each one in half diagonally to make triangles. Arrange them in the dish, overlapping slightly, buttered side up.
Whisk the eggs with 30 g of the sugar in a jug until pale, then whisk in the milk, cream and vanilla until smooth.
Pour the custard slowly and evenly over the bread, pressing the triangles down gently with the back of a spoon so every piece is soaked through. Leave to stand for 5 minutes so the bread can drink up the custard.
Scatter the remaining 15 g of sugar over the top. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until the custard is barely set, with a gentle wobble in the centre, and the top is pale gold.
A fully firm custard has gone too far. It should still shiver when the dish moves.
Leave to stand for a couple of minutes before serving, so the custard finishes setting as it cools slightly.
Watch-points
- Take every scrap of crust off the bread before it goes in the dish.
- No dried fruit of any kind, not even a few sultanas, because their skins do not break down in a narrowed gut.
- Bake it only until the custard has a gentle wobble in the centre. A fully set custard has gone too far and turns rubbery. The wobble is cooked custard, not raw egg. It comes up to temperature well before it firms up, and it carries on setting as it cools.
- Eat it warm. Anything left over goes into the fridge as soon as it has cooled and gets eaten within two days, or the next day if you are having chemotherapy.
Stoma note: White bread in this pudding has a mild thickening effect on output, useful on a day when things have been loose.
Make it more nourishing
- Use 150 ml of double cream instead of 100 ml, and drop the milk to 200 ml, for a heavier custard.
- Add a tablespoon of skimmed milk powder to the custard mixture before pouring it over the bread.
- Serve with a jug of warm pouring custard alongside, or a spoon of clotted cream on top.
- Stir 30 g of mascarpone into the custard before it goes over the bread, for extra richness without extra volume.
Swaps
- Instead of white bread, use brioche or a soft white bread roll, torn into pieces
- gives a richer, more even soak than sliced sandwich bread
- Instead of double cream, use extra whole milk in its place
- makes a lighter, less rich custard for a smaller appetite