Brioche Bread and Butter Pudding

Brioche Bread and Butter Pudding is a lighter version of the nursery classic. Just the thing for cold days.

Brioche Bread and Butter Pudding

Pudding is what I really want at this time of year. Especially hot comforting puddings. My thoughts are turning to Rice Pudding, which I only ever want in the first couple of months of the year. November and December are taken up with Christmas but, by January, I am so fed up with no light and cold weather that  I really crave the sort of puddings I ate as a child. After all, winter really only starts on 21st December, so all that time before Christmas is officially late Autumn. WInter is definitely pudding time.

As children, we ate Jam Roly-Poly, which is made with suet pastry, and lots of pies and crumbles with custard. Treacle Tart was one of my favourites, along with Pineapple Upside-down Pudding. Even a simple Banana Custard will hit the spot, although it doesn’t have the carb quota for a real winter pudding.

Bread and Butter Pudding was another winter staple, and was good for using up the end of the loaf. These days we eat wholemeal bread from the breadmaker, which wouldn’t make a good pudding, so I’d have to buy a loaf just to make the pudding. On the other hand, I have brioche buns left in the freezer from the summer. They’ve been in the freezer too long to eat for breakfast.

Baked goods don’t have a long freezer life. They’re perfectly safe to eat, but the texture has gone, so baking in a custard is an ideal way to use them up. I also found some ready-to-bake croissants with a BB date of May 2015. I cooked them to see how well they had kept and they were perfect. So don’t chuck them out if you have some, just cook them and enjoy for a weekend breakfast indulgence.

Back to the Brioche Bread and Butter Pudding. I had chocolate brioche buns left, so that’s what I used. I like to add some dried fruit and marmalade, so there’s no need for any extra sugar. As this is a leftover dish, it’s a case of using what you have. A little cream in the custard makes a richer mix but you can just use milk. Any jam or dried fruit is fine. It will taste different every time – but satisfying and comforting, which is the point.

Print Recipe

Brioche Bread and Butter Pudding

Brioche Bread and Butter Pudding is comfort food for cold days.

Prep Time25 mins

Cook Time30 mins

Total Time55 mins

Servings: 6 servings

Author: [email protected] Cooks

Ingredients

• 6 brioche buns, chocolate or plain. Slightly stale is best
• 15 g butter
• 1 tablespoon marmalade, heaped tbsp (30ml)
• 60 g currants or other dried fruit
• 4 eggs
• 350 ml milk, full cream is best
• 100 ml cream, or extra milk

Equipment

1-litre/2-pint baking dish, not too deep

Instructions

Preparation:

• Preheat the oven to 190°C/ 170°C fan/ gas mark 5/ 375°F
• Butter the dish. Use a butter paper or butter on a piece of kitchen paper
• Melt the butter

For the pudding:

• If using buns, slice them into 1 cm rounds. Arrange half the brioche slices in the dish
• Spoon half the melted butter over the brioche in the dish. Spread the marmalade over the brioche in the dish. Sprinkle with half the dried fruit
• Beat the eggs. Add the milk and cream mixture to the eggs and mix together well
• Pour half the liquid over the layer of brioche. Arrange the rest of the brioche slices on top and sprinkle with the remaining dried fruit. Pour the remaining egg and milk mix over the brioche
• Cook for 30-40 minutes until set
• Serve warm.

Notes

This pudding is made with leftovers, so use any type of brioche, dried fruit, jam or marmalade that you have