Bread and butter pudding is one of those old English recipes that everyone loves. The addition of marmalade brushed over the bread makes it fantastically crisp, with a zingy orangey bitterness that just makes the whole thing superb. Try not to overcook it because you want to have the soft insides contrasting with the crispiness on top.
Serves 6
Ingredients
- 5 x 1cm thick slices of good-quality bread
- 4 large eggs, preferably free-range or organic
- 75g caster sugar
- 300ml whole milk
- 100ml double cream
- 1 vanilla pod
- 3 tablespoons good-quality fine-cut marmalade
- for the flavoured butter
- 40g unsalted butter, at room temperature
- a pinch of ground nutmeg
- a pinch of ground cinnamon
- 1 large orange
To make your flavoured butter
Pop the butter in a bowl with the nutmeg and cinnamon
Finely grate in the orange zest and mix it all together
Use a little of it to butter a medium-sized shallow, ovenproof dish
To make your bread and butter pudding
Preheat the oven to 180ēC/350ēF/gas 4
Butter the bread using the flavoured butter, then cut each slice in half diagonally
Put the slices in your buttered dish, butter side up
To make your bread and butter pudding
In a bowl, whisk together the eggs, sugar, milk and cream
Carefully split the vanilla pod lengthways and scrape out all of the seeds
Add the seeds to the bowl, whisk again, then pour the eggy mixture all over the bread
To cook your bread and butter pudding
Put the dish in a large roasting tray and pour enough boiling water into the roasting tray to come halfway up the side of the dish
Cook in the hot oven for around 20 minutes, or until the custard has just set
Remove from the oven and preheat the grill to high
To cook your bread and butter pudding
Gently warm the marmalade in a saucepan
Brush the marmalade over the top of the bread
Pop the dish under the grill for 4 to 6 minutes, or until golden and crisp on top - allow it to cool and firm up slightly before serving
© All recipe photgraphy David Loftus and Matt Russell