Sherry and almond bread and butter pudding

I will not be claiming that this is the ‘ultimate’ bread and butter pudding: there are infinite variations possible on the basic idea of bread baked in custard, and most recipes seem to suggest that they are the best/most authentic of their kind. I think there is room in the world for all these different recipes to coexist and be perfectly adaptable for any occasion.

This particular version is a dense, boozy, sugar-crusted pudding. The rye flour, toasty almonds and orange peel from the marmalade give it an amazing depth of flavour that, in my opinion, needs no accompaniment from ice cream or extra custard.

This recipe is quite a long way from it’s frugal war-time origins as a way to use up stale bread. The sherry and the almonds mean this is not a cheap a dish to make, but the flavours in this recipe are just so perfectly balanced it’s worth that extra little expense. Plus you are actually making bread to turn into a pudding, which even to me seems a slightly mad, although not so mad that I won’t be making this again…and again.



Things I have learnt from making this pudding:

The amount of raisins in the dough makes it take longer to cook through, and mine wasn’t done in the middle when the edges were quite well done. Next time I will shape the dough into a longer, thinner loaf to avoid this.

Be generous with the sugar on top, the custard itself is not that sweet and although you could add some sugar to the custard as well, I prefer it just sprinkled liberally on top as it adds a nice contrast.

This makes A LOT of bread and butter pudding! I would make a half quantity next time and save the rest of the fruit bread for toast.



Sherry and almond bread and butter pudding: serves 8-10
(barely adapted from Dan Lepard’s recipe over here)

For the sherry fruit loaf:
200ml cream sherry
200ml milk, plus extra for brushing
100g marmalade
1x 7g sachet of fast action yeast
250g raisins
100g whole almonds, roughly chopped
500g white bread flour
100g rye flour
1 ½ tsp salt
extra flour for kneading and shaping

• Put the sherry, milk, marmalade and yeast in a large mixing bowl
• Add the raisins, almonds, white flour, rye flour and salt then mix to form a rough sticky dough
• Cover the bowl with cling film and set aside for 10 minutes
• Tip the dough out onto a floured work surface and knead for about 1 minute
• Return the dough to the mixing bowl, cover with the cling film and leave for 3-4 hours or until risen by half
• Roll out the dough to a rough rectangle then roll up to form a log shaped loaf
• Place seam-side down on a floured baking tray, cover with cling film and leave for 1-2 hours more
• Brush with a little milk and cut one long slash along the loaf with a sharp knife
• Bake in an oven pre-heated to 200°C for 30-40 minutes, or until it sounds hollow when tapped on the underside
• Transfer to a wire rack until completely cool

For the bread and butter pudding:
75ml cream sherry
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
5 free range eggs
350ml milk
150ml double cream
¾ loaf of fruit bread
Butter, for spreading
Demerera sugar, for sprinkling

• Beat the eggs in a bowl with the sherry and vanilla
• Add the milk and cream and stir to combine
• Cut the bread into 1cm thick slices and butter one side of each slice
• Arrange the bread in overlapping layers in a very large (approx 1 litre) oven-proof dish
• Pour the custard over the top and press down to briefly submerge the layers of bread
• Leave for 1 hour
• Preheat the oven to 180°C and cover the top of the pudding with a generous sprinkling of sugar
• Bake in the oven for 30 minutes or until the custard is just set
• Leave to cool for another 30 minutes before serving