Bread pudding - is this how you make it?

[Sandra Piddock]

I'm usually a big fan of BBC Good Food, but I'm not so sure about this recipe. Bread pudding is an old favourite of mine, and it was the first thing my Gran taught me to cook.

She used to soak the bread in water for a couple of hours, before straining it and then using suet rather than butter to make it. No milk either. The other ingredients were just about the same, and she never used scales - she just mixed it until it seemed to be the right consistency.

So, for those of you who make bread pudding - how do you do it?

 

[Puddles]

Mrs Beetons recipe from a 1960 cook book

Soak stale bread, strain and squish out all water, add eggs, suet, fruit, sugar mix it all up and bake - no milk (the recipe suggest you may need it if it is not "wet" enough but I have never needed milk) no butter!

Lots of people mix up bread pudding with bread & butter pudding

Ingredients:
8 ozs. of stale bread,
4 ozs. of raisins or currants, cleaned and picked,
2 ozs. of finely chopped suet,
2 ozs. of soft brown sugar,
1 egg,
a little milk,
2 tsp mix spice.

Method:
Break the bread into small pieces, cover them with cold water, soak for 30 minutes, then strain and squeeze dry. Beat out all the lumps with a fork, and stir in the sugar, suet, raisins, spice and mix well. Add the egg, previously beaten, and as much milk as is necessary to make the mixture moist enough to drop readily from the spoon. Pour into a greased piedish and bake gently for 1 hour. When done, turn out on to a hot dish, and dredge well with sugar.