A comforting, luxurious bread and butter pudding made using Italian panettone
This is one of my favourite winter puddings and everyone in the family loves it, except for one of my brothers in law who doesn't like the saffron flavour! If you're not a fan you can leave it out and use a vanilla pod instead. It's crunchy on top and soft and squigy in the middle. It's delicious warm and works very well the next day cold from the fridge. I love that it's the perfect blend of one of my favourite Italian foods and the British art of pudding making. What could be more festive in winter time than a great panettone? A soft enriched bready cake, studded with candied peel and sultanas? And if there's one thing the Brits do really well it's custard. This panettone bread and butter pudding is a magical combination of the two.
Bread and Butter Pudding - The Recipe
Makes Enough for 6
Takes About 45 minutes to prepare and 35/40 minutes to bake.
The Ingredients
250g panettone - choose a good one. If you can find a Tre Marie they are lovely.
80g butter - soft enough to spread easily
6 egg yolks
60g caster sugar
500ml whole milk
250ml double cream
1 or 2 strips of orange peel (or clementine peel)
A large pinch of saffron
4 tbsp of demerara sugar
Cream or ice cream to serve if you like - these are definitely optional
The Making
Step 1
Pre-heat your (fan) oven to 140 degrees
Step 2
Make sure your butter is soft enough to spread easily. If it's not soft enough you'll end up tearing the panettone as you spread and it makes a real mess. If you have a microwave, you can soften the butter on a low setting for about a minute or a minute and a half.
Step 3
Cut the panettone into roughly 1.5cm thick slices .
Step 4
Butter each slice of panettone generously and then layer in a medium dish. You want to end up wiith two even layers. Lay all the slices of the bottom layer flat to cover the whole of the dish and the top layer looks nice if you slightly overlap the slices (see below).
Step 5
Separate the egg yolks into a large mixing bowl, ideally one with a pouring lip. If you don't have one then a large 1 litre pouring jug. You can save the whites to add to an omelette or to make meringues. They freeze well so no waste!
Step 6
Add the caster sugar and whisk the two together. Set aside
Step 7
Pour the milk and cream into a saucepan and add the orange or clementine peel and the saffron. Bring it to the boil, stirring often. When it has just come to a boil, take the pan off the heat and let the mixture cool down and infuse with the flavours of orange and saffron.
Step 8
When it's reached room temperature, (which takes a good hour, so you can prepare Steps 2 - 7 well in advance and then do the assembling, the last few steps, just before baking) strain the cream mixture into the egg yolks and sugar whisking as you go. No need to over whisk, just make sure they are well amalgamated.
Step 9
Carefully and slowly pour the custard mixture over the panettone slices. Pour about half of it and then wait a moment for it to absorb. You can press down gently on the panettone to give it a helping hand. When you've poured all the custard there should be no gaps, all the panettone should be submerged except for the overlapping crusts.
Step 10
Sprinkle the demerara sugar over the top making sure you cover all the exposed edges, this will give a crunchy texture when it's baked.
Step 11
Place the dish into a large roasting tin and pour boiling water from the kettle halfway up the sides of the dish (bain marie). Place in the middle of your oven and bake for about 40 minutes. The top needs to be golden and the custard mostly set with a little bit of a wobble.
Step 12
When it's done, take it out of the oven and let it settle for about 15 minutes. It's not great eaten piping hot.
Step 13
You can serve it with ice cream, double cream or a dash of marsala, or I like a suggestion from one of my nieces' of topping it with brandy cream.
It sounds like lots of steps to follow but I promise that when you've made it once you'll see how simple it is and I wouldn't be surprised if it became a firm favourite.
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