How to Make Great British Bread Pudding

Bread pudding is one of those fabulous stomach fillers that characterize the Great British dessert. It is not quite as filling as the Banoffee Pie that we featured a few weeks ago on this blog. I can finish a plate of bread pudding but the victorious Banoffee Pie stood over my exhausted body and laughed.

My mother was taught how to make bread pudding by my grandmother. I learned how to make it from my mother. But the bread pudding I grew up with is fundamentally different to the popular recipes used by modern cooks.

The bread pudding I ate as a child was made with a copious quantity of beef suet. The fat literally dripped from the fork.

Bread pudding can be made in two ways. One way uses suet. I made it with Atora Light Vegetable Suet which contains 30% less fat than regular beef suet. A healthier alternative is to substitute the suet with eggs. I made that too.

Just for good measure I made a third variety - Bread & Butter pudding. We are going to get fat in my household this week.

Ingredients

• 1 loaf white bread
• 1/2 cup raisins
• 1 teaspoon each of cinnamon, nutmeg
• 1/4 cup sugar

and either:

• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup milk

or:

• 1/2 cup Atora Light Vegetable Suet

Preparation

• Cut the bread into small squares and add enough warm water to thoroughly moisten the bread
• Knead the bread and water into a smooth mush then drain off as much water as possible
• Mix the raisins into the mushy bread then stir in 1 teaspoon each of cinnamon and nutmeg plus the sugar

Either:

• Mix in the Atora suet

or:

• Whisk the eggs and milk together and add to the mix

Then:

• Put the pudding into a greased loaf pan and bake at 350 degF until the top begins to darken
• Allow to cool then turn out of the pan and cut into slices for serving

John's Notes
I enjoyed both varieties of bread pudding. For my health's sake I'll probably only make the egg variety in future. But here's a bonus:

Bread and Butter Pudding Bonus

Thickly butter 3 or 4 slices of bread. Cut the slices into quarters and layer in a baking dish with raisins. The top layer must be bread. Pour on a whisked mixture of 1 cup of milk, 2 eggs, 1/4 cup of sugar, a teaspoon of cinnamon and a teaspoon of nutmeg. Bake at 350degF until the top layer of bread browns.