Raymond Blanc’s Bread and Butter Pudding Recipe

This Raymond Blanc’s Bread and Butter Pudding recipe is a delicious way to use up any leftover bread. It is such a classic dessert that almost every nation in Europe claims to have invented it!

15 Mins 30 Mins Medium Serves 4

Image: Raymond Blanc

Ingredients

380ml double cream
380ml milk
½ tsp best vanilla extract or vanilla syrup
4 organic/free-range medium eggs
2 egg yolks
180g caster sugar
1 pinch sea salt
30g unsalted butter, diced, plus extra to grease
80g sultanas, soaked in sugar syrup for 30 minutes
200g bread or brioche
icing sugar for dusting

Method

Step 1

In a saucepan, bring the cream, milk and vanilla to the boil, then take off the heat and let stand for a minute.
In a large bowl, whisk the eggs, egg yolks, sugar and salt together, then whisk in the hot creamy milk. Set aside.

Step 2

Butter the baking dish, pour in a layer of custard and scatter over the sultanas.
Cut the bread or brioche into 5mm thick slices. Dip into the pan of warm custard to soak, then layer in the baking dish, overlapping the slices and building up layers to fill the dish.
Let stand for 20 minutes or so, to allow the bread to fully absorb the liquid.
Reserve the rest of the custard.

Step 3

Preheat the oven to 170°C/Gas 3.
Top up the dish with the remaining custard and dot the butter on top the pudding.
Stand on a baking tray and cook in the oven for 30–35 minutes until the custard is lightly set.

Step 4

Preheat the grill to high.
Dust the surface of the pudding with icing sugar twice to get a good covering and then place under the hot grill for a few minutes to glaze.
Add a final sprinkling of icing sugar before serving.

Recipe notes by Raymond Blanc

My mother taught me “you shall waste not” and this is a great way to use up any leftover bread that’s going a little stale.

It is such a classic dessert that almost every nation in Europe claims to have invented it! In France it is called pain perdu; in Switzerland it is brotauflauf; in Germany it is ofenschlupfer…

Regardless of whoever got there first, we all agree that it is comfort food at its best.

Any dried fruit can be added instead of, or in addition to, the sultanas. Dried cherries soaked in kirsch are particularly delicious.

It is important to immerse the bread in the custard to ensure the pudding will be luscious and moist.