BRIOCHE PLUM PUDDING and is the British pudding becoming extinct?

What do you do when you have over purchased on bakery products?  

You turn them into a pudding!

This "tear and share" style brioche was surplus to requirements but luckily we had friends coming round for dinner so I turned it into a version of bread and butter pudding.

It looks like a batch of cinnamon rolls but is actually fluffy and light brioche dough filled with a vanilla custard.  I was slightly stumped as to what to do with it so as a guide used Mary Berry's recipe which you can see here.  Using a filled kind of brioche bread I decided against buttering the rolls but added some fruit by tucking some of my cinnamon baked plums in between the pieces.  You can see that recipe here.

Another challenge was timing its cooking so as to have it ready to serve warm at the right stage in the meal.  Bread and butter pudding can become a bit stodgy when it's gone cold.  To achieve this I sliced and arranged the brioche in the dish, and whisked up the custard, well in advance, keeping the liquid in the fridge until it was needed.  I did the soaking stage just before serving the starter and had the kettle full and ready for the bain marie, and put it in the oven to bake just as the main course was served.

In France it is traditional to have the cheese course before dessert so it came out of the oven at that point and was still warm and fluffy when it was served.  Result!

It did look alarmingly like toad in the hole when it arrived at the table but in fact was delicious and everyone loved it.  Brioche certainly makes a light pudding and it was so good that I would definitely do it again!

I'm not sure I have seen the exact same brioche product in the UK but if you refer to Mary's recipe you will see that you can simply use buttered slices of a normal brioche loaf.

As it happens, there was a little of the custard mixture left over after filling the dish so I kept it in the fridge for a couple of days and then baked it by itself in a small buttered dish for about 30 minutes at 150° fan.  An added bonus of a baked egg custard!

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As an aside, in the news a while ago there was a report of research by English Heritage which showed that only 2% of British households regularly eat a home made pudding as a dessert. Blogger Karen at Lavender and Lovage also posted about this here.

This got me thinking.  Often we have a yoghurt at lunchtime and no dessert in the evening but at least once a week we will have some kind of baked pudding, often just a humble crumble.  We're most likely to have a pudding if we have friends round for lunch or dinner, in which case I nearly always make two different ones so that people have a choice and we have leftovers to enjoy later!  

The writer of the article baked and reviewed ten of the puddings allegedly under threat of becoming extinct and which were:

Jam roly poly, Sussex pond pudding, bread and butter pudding, queen of puddings, treacle sponge pudding, Malvern pudding, flummery, spotted dick, cabinet pudding and rice pudding.  

He reckoned the only one worth saving was the Malvern pudding.  Queen of puddings is something I make occasionally, bread and butter pudding regularly in some form or other and rice pudding is a very special treat.

I have never made or knowingly eaten a flummery, Sussex pond, cabinet or Malvern pudding and it’s a long time since I made a steamed or suet pudding of any kind.  These were served frequently when I was at school and when the school had a real kitchen.  Spotted dick always had the boys sniggering and had a bad press but I loved it and seconds were in high demand at school dinner.  My mum used to make steamed sponge puddings regularly, steaming it for hours on a Sunday morning.  I still remember the sense of anticipation and excitement as the kitchen filled up with steam!  A treacle sponge with Birds custard for "afters" was such a joy!  I think I would be more likely to make a microwave version these days.  

What the article doesn’t make clear is whether most households are skipping dessert altogether or serving shop bought ones.  "Ready meal" versions of numerous old fashioned puddings seem to be in plentiful supply in UK supermarkets; clearly still very much in demand even if people can’t find the time to make them for themselves.  They are also frequently on the menu in our favourite UK restaurants, so they’re not really becoming extinct, just not made at home as often.

Of course, in France the situation is very different. The average boulangerie will have a range of delicious tarts and pastries available every day.  Very tempting and if you turn up in the late afternoon the choice will be limited so that’s clearly the dessert solution in French households!

Personally I feel there is no risk of baked puddings becoming extinct in this house, nor in most where we are lucky enough to be invited elsewhere!  The English, or at least certainly the British ex-pat, love a nice pudding!  The French are fascinated by them too and are always keen to try one!

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Ingredients

1 brioche "tear and share" loaf 

150g cooked plums

3 tblsp demerara sugar

3 eggs

75g caster sugar

150ml double cream

600ml full fat milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

zest of 1 small lemon

Method

Butter a large baking dish.  Cut each roll from the loaf in half horizontally and arrange them in a spiral in the dish.  Tuck the plums between the slices.

For the custard, put the eggs, cream, milk, vanilla and lemon zest into a bowl and whisk together.  Pour this mixture over the brioche and press down with the back of a spoon.  Sprinkle the demerara sugar over and leave to stand for 30 minutes.

Heat the oven to 180°C / 160° fan / gas mk 4.  Stand the dish in a large roasting tin and pour in boiling water to about half full.  This is called a bain marie.  

Bake for 40 minutes until the brioche is golden brown and puffed up.  It will shrink back down a little.

Serve warm with cream.

Serves 6 generous portions.