Ginger & Honey Bread & Butter Pudding with Strawberries

 

I had a bit of stale bread that I wanted to use before it went moldy the other day and so I decided to make a Bread & Butter Pudding. Bread & Butter Pudding is a real favorite dessert in the UK.  I don't think I had ever really had it before I moved over there. \

Its a pudding made with buttered bread and custard. An old fashioned bread and butter pudding will have raisins in it, and not much else. You will sometimes see bread and butter pudding with jam.

 That is one of my favorite versions. Little bread and jam sandwiches baked in a rich custard. Its really yummy!  

I actually have quite a few bread pudding recipes on the blog. You can access them from here. There is something there which is sure to please everyone and every taste! 

 

I thought I would try something a little bit different today.  First of all I wanted a bread pudding that wasn't overly large.  So I downsized a pudding I found in a cookbook I have by Martha Stewart called Dinner at Home.

Its a great book, filled with lots of yummy menus and recipes.  Her recipe called for rum.  Rum is not something I keep in my house because I don't really drink alcohol, although I do cook with it from time to time. 

 

I used to keep small bottles of quite a few things in the larder to cook with, small bottles of liqueurs etc. I have had to replace so many things here, setting myself back up again, that buying alcohol has been low on my priority list, so no cooking alcohol for now.

I decided I would use Ginger Syrup in it's place. Some of you may recall me making my own preserved ginger in syrup last December.  You can access that recipe here.

 

Its actually very easy to make and its a great ingredient to have on hand.  You will find millions of uses for both the knobs of preserved ginger and for the syrup.  Its lovely.  Sometimes I will add a touch of it to a lemon glaze when I am glazing a gingerbread or some such.

Its really delicious and pieces of the ginger are really nice as decorations on cakes, or even in cakes. I highly recommend you make some.

 

I felt that some of the syrup would make a great substitution for the rum, which meant I also had to cut back on the sugar.  I decided to use honey instead of sugar.

Honey and ginger are perfect partners.  Add some lemon into the mix and you have a trinity of beautiful flavors, and one very tasty bread pudding! 

 

Don't worry if you can't find or don't have preserved ginger.  You can just use extra honey in it's place and add some powdered dried ginger in it's place.  It will work find.

I added some lemon into the pudding along with the vanilla in the way of lemon extract.  I also introduced a bit of grated lemon zest. You won't be using any refined sugar at all, except for a bit of demerara sugar sprinkled on top before baking.

 

For even more ginger flavor, I added a small quantity of chopped candied ginger. I so love candied ginger. I sometimes sit and eat a piece of it instead of a sweetie, which totally satisfies my sweet tooth in a fabulously tasty way.

Have I mentioned how much I love ginger??? Well now you know!  I love LOVE ginger.

 

I also cut the recipe in half to serve only two people, which it does very generously.  Her recipe said that it fed four with leftovers. Mine feeds two generously.

I used a rustic white bread.  Some of a Stale boule I had in the fridge.  I cut off all of the crust and then buttered it lightly with some softened butter.  (The birds enjoyed the crusts)

 

I then cut the bread into cubes.  She had cut hers into quarters, but it is kind of hard to cut slices of a boule into quarters or triangles. 

I thought cubes would work well and they did.   I mixed the buttered bread with the pieces of candied ginger. 

The custard which is poured over top is made by beating together some whole milk, cream, and the other liquid ingredients, along with the lemon zest.

 

You just pour it evenly over top of the bread mixture,  and then you just leave it to sit for an hour.  Don't skip this step.

That sitting time allows for the bread to soak up as much of that custard as it can, which results in a pudding with a lovely light and creamy texture.

 

Once the hour is up you can bake the pudding.  I sprinkled some demerara sugar over top just before baking, for a bit of a sparkle and a tiny bit of sweet.

There is no sugar in the pudding itself, just the honey and the ginger syrup.

 

It gets baked for about a half an hour in a hot oven. If you think it is getting browned too quickly on top, cover it with a sheet of aluminum foil. It works a charm.

I had always thought that with foil you wanted the shiny side away from the food, and dull side in.  Actually it is the other way around according to my sister.

In all truth, it probably doesn't matter much.

 

This soufflés up really nicely in the oven.  It comes out all nice and puffy. It is done when a knife inserted near the center comes out clean. If its not quite done, pop it back in for a few more minutes.

Easy peasy lemon squeasy as they say!

 

Martha served hers simply with some strawberries which she macerated in their own juices with a bit of sugar.  I thought that was perfect.

I had some lovely berries that a lady brought to my door that were beautiful and extremely fresh. Picked just that morning.  They tasted lovely.

 

I knew they would go really well with this pudding.  I simply washed them, cut them in half and tossed them with a bit of sugar, leaving them to sit for about 10 minutes.

You could also toss them wit some ginger syrup if you wanted to.  Its up to you really.

This was a beautiful pudding really.  Crunchy on the outside. Soft and creamy on the inside, with lovely lemon and ginger flavours.

Tiny bits of candied ginger, strewn throughout and a few bits on the top that got a bit crunchy. Just lovely.  I think I may have found my new favorite bread and butter pudding!  I think you are going to love it too!!

Ginger & Honey Bread & Butter Pudding with Strawberries

Yield: serves 2

Author: Marie Rayner

Prep time: 1 H & 10 MCook time: 30 MinTotal time: 1 H & 40 M

Make sure you soak the bread for at least an hour prior to baking. This delicious rich pudding serves two generously.

Ingredients

• 2 large free range eggs
• 1/2 cup (120ml) whole milk
• 1/2 cup (120ml) heavy cream
• 2 TBS liquid honey (pick one with a nice flavor)
• 1 TBS ginger syrup (if you can't find it, use an additional TBS of honey) (from a jar of preserved ginger)
• 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp lemon extract
• the grated zest of half a lemon
• 2 TBS chopped candied ginger
• pinch of salt
• 4 thin slices of day old rustic white bread, crusts removed
• softened butter to spread
• 1 TBS demerara sugar to sprinkle on top

For the berries:

• 1/2 pint fresh strawberries, rinsed, hulled and cut in half
• 1 TBS sugar

Instructions

1. Whisk together the eggs, milk, cream, honey, ginger syrup, vanilla, lemon extract, lemon zest, and salt.
2. Butter a small rectangular casserole dish which holds two cups.
3. Butter your bread slices on one side and cut into cubes.  Toss them together with the chopped candied ginger and pop them into the prepared casserole dish.
4. Pour the egg mixture over top. Let stand at room temperature for one hour.
5. Preheat the oven to 400*F/200*C/ gas mark 6.  
6. Sprinkle the demerara sugar over top of the casserole and then pop it into the oven.  Bake for 25 to 30 minutes until golden and set. Remove from the oven.
7. Combine the prepared strawberries with the sugar and leave to macerate for about 10 minutes, tossing occasionally.
8. Serve the bread pudding warm in dishes with some of the berries on the side.  Delicious!

Notes:

Ginger syrup is the syrup which surrounds preserved ginger in the jar. It is thick and syrupy and has a lovely ginger flavor. If you cannot find it, just use honey in it's place and perhaps add 1/4 tsp of powdered ginger to the egg mixture.

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