Bread and Butter Pudding

This was my first attempt at making something more complicated than an omelette. I found the recipe in a cookbook called "The Classic 1000 Student Recipes" (Buy in the UK or Buy in the USA) which I picked up at a shop in town for a bargain £2 ($3)! It has been a great book for learning the basics. Yes, I did need to be told how to boil an egg...















Here is the recipe I used for the bread and butter pudding:

Bread and Butter Pudding

Serves 4

4-6 slices of white bread
Butter or margarine
4 tbsp sugar
4 tbsp sultanas
2 mugs of milk
2 eggs
A few drops of vanilla essence/extract

1. Preheat oven to 180'C/350'F/Gas 4/Fan Oven 160'C.
2. Spread the bread with butter or margarine. Cut each slice into four triangles.
3. Line a medium-sized ovenproof dish with half the bread. Sprinkle with half the sugar and most of the fruit.
4. Top with the remaining bread triangles, arranged attractively on top. Scatter the remaining fruit over.
5. Beat the milk and eggs together with a fork and add a few drops of vanilla essence. Pour over the bread and sprinkle with the remaining sugar.
6. Leave to stand for 30 minutes before baking for the bread to absorb the liquid.
7. Bake in the oven for about 1 hour until golden and set.














I changed this recipe slightly by adding one packet of milk chocolate buttons in with the sultanas, and I buttered both sides of the bread instead of just one. My version was more like 6 portions than 4, and that's with a man's appetite! My Other Half (OH) enjoyed it very much, and ate the whole thing!

The second time I made bread and butter pudding I changed the recipe again by spreading one side of each slice of bread with raspberry jam, and adding a handful of dark chocolate chips.















I cannot eat the pudding myself, it is too rich for me, so I freeze portions of it for OH to defrost and eat at a later date. It freezes well if you wrap it in foil to keep the moisture, then just defrost and warm up in the oven before eating.

This is a good recipe to use up any leftover or slightly stale bread. We go to the supermarket at night and often manage to pick up loaves of bread for just 10p (15 cents), which makes for a very economical dessert!

~ Sakura Moon