Bread and Butter Pudding

Bread and Butter Pudding is a dish that I did not grow up with, so I have no preconceived notion of how it should taste. It is considered quite the treat here, so I’ve tried making it many times and with several variations. This is a Mary Berry recipe that I’ve changed quite a bit. There are several features of this recipe that I think are terrific, like cutting the bread in 3 pieces and dipping into melted butter instead of buttering each individual piece. My taste is for less butter and more lemon, which is not very traditional but makes for a much lighter dessert. You can alter the recipe to suit your own taste.

1/4 – 1/2 cup butter, depending upon taste and whether you are using one or two baking dishes. You can either use one 8 x 13 or two 8 x 8 dishes

1 cup raisins or raisin mix
1/2 cup caster sugar
1/2 lemon – grated rind plus juice
1 tsp cinnamon
dash of nutmeg

500 ml whipping cream
1 cup milk
3 eggs
Loaf of white bread

Demerara sugar for sprinkling

Heat oven to 180C / 350F
Melt butter inside baking dishes, around 5 minutes. When melted, remove from oven and pour out butter into a shallow bowl. This is what you will be dipping your bread into. Now your dishes are greased and butter melted.
Mix fruit, lemon, sugar, and spices.
Beat together cream, milk, and eggs.
Cut bread. First remove crusts then cut into 3 pieces so you have long thin rectangles.
Dip each piece into the butter, only on one side, then arrange in the baking pan butter side up.
After each layer, add some of raisin mixture so you have enough for all layers. Generally if I am making two dishes, I will have 3 layers of bread in each, so two inbetween layers. Thus I have to divide my raisin mixture into (approximately) four. Don’t worry, this is not an exact science.
Pour the milk mixture onto your bread pudding, then sprinkle with demerara sugar. Allow to sit for about an hour.
Bake for 30 – 45 minutes, until browned on top and cooked in the middle.