Wartime spirit lives on with bread and butter pudding

FOR some, bread and butter pudding is the king of nursery desserts. For others, it's the stuff of bad childhood memories.

Seldom has a dessert rejoiced in such a proudly unpretentious name as the bread and butter pudding.

It is Victorian nursery food at its finest; blandly milky, comforting and stodgy, just the thing to use up all the staling half-loaves, trendy sourdough and Panettone that have outstayed their welcome at the festive tea table.

Some people, of course, like bread and butter pudding so much they can't wait for the bread to stale before firing-up the oven.

Like many of the best desserts, bread and butter pudding is not something that can be thrown together at the last minute – not only do you need to find some stale bread, but you need to allow time for the bread to get to know its custard sauce before you bake them both in a soothing bath of pure and luxurious delights.

You can use any plain or sweet bread you like, but a bog-standard basic white loaf just seems to hit the spot every time, giving the pudding an unorthodox but nonetheless pleasing, wholesome and ordinary sort of taste.

From humble beginnings, bread and butter pudding has come a long way since the 11th century.

The original concept evolved out of necessity as a way to prevent food waste. It was initially called 'poor man's pudding', as it was popular with the lower class of England. It has now shed its frugal stigma, and you can readily find it in any trendy restaurant around the UK.

Nowadays, shop-bought bread doesn't go stale in the same way as homemade bread, because of the preservatives. I love to see my parents to this day go into the freezer for three slices of bread at a time when it's needed. We may have given-up on the ration book years ago, but all's not lost – I'm trying to embrace wartime ethos into this week's recipe, so pull your socks up and get on with it.

A stern rummage in my abandoned bread bin did turn-up several butt ends of stale loaves which I can now use to pay tribute to all grandparents, a reminder that in life sometimes you have to make do with stale bread; life won't always be sweet bread and roses. The Yorkshire motto of eat all, sup all, pay nowt is the law. Put your money away for this week's recipe and use up that stale bread!

RECIPE

BREAD AND BUTTER PUDDING

Ingredients:

25g/1oz butter, plus extra for greasing

8 thin slices of white bread

50g/2oz sultanas

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

250ml/9fl oz milk

150ml/5fl oz fresh cream

2 eggs

25g granulated sugar

Nutmeg, grated to taste

Method:

1. Grease a 1 litre /2 pint pie dish with butter, then set aside.

2. Cut the crusts off the bread, then butter one side, cutting the bread into triangles.

3. Arrange a layer of bread, buttered-side up, in the bottom of the dish, then add a layer of sultanas and a little sprinkling of cinnamon.

4. Repeat the layers of bread and sultanas, sprinkling with cinnamon, until you have used up all the bread.

5. To make the custard, gently warm the milk and cream over a low heat, then crack the eggs into a bowl with the sugar and whisk till pale.

6. Add the warm milk and cream to the bowl and stir well, strain the custard and pour over the bread layers, with a sprinkling of sugar and grated nutmeg to taste.

7. Stand the pudding for 30 minutes before baking in a preheated oven 180C/Gas Mark 4 for 40 minutes till the custard has set and the top is golden brown.