Brioche and Berry Pudding

Food in the days between Christmas and New Years is all about left-overs and while most of the food has been used, there's one last thing left - Brioche!




With stale Brioche you can make a perfect bread and butter pudding but as it is summer here and fresh berries are at their prime, why not combine the two?



Or in this case a selection of three - Boysenberries, Raspberries and Karaka Blackberries.

Wedged between two layers of sliced brioche and swathed in custard, when cooked the berries become almost jammy, their sweetness amplified. Leftovers really couldn't taste much better than this.




Brioche and Berry Pudding

4 brioche, slightly stale, sliced evenly
softened butter
1 punnet/150 grams raspberries
1 punnet/150 grams boysenberries
1 punnet/150 grams karaka blackberries
4 eggs
1⅓ cups milk
1⅓ cups cream
60 grams raw caster sugar
extra raw caster sugar, for sprinkling


Make the custard:

Break the eggs into a bowl, add in the sugar, then pour in the milk and cream. Using a balloon whisk, whisk briefly to just amalgamate the ingredients and dissolve the sugar.

Make the pudding:

You'll need a baking dish that will snuggly fit two layers of brioche.

Lightly butter the slices of brioche on both sides and arrange them on the base of the dish. Scatter the berries over and then lightly sprinkle with a little extra raw caster sugar.

Cover with another layer of sliced brioche.

Carefully pour over the custard making sure it totally covers the brioche. You may need to pause to allow the custard to soak in before adding more the custard. When it's all in, I like to turn the top slices over to make sure they get a really good soaking. Finish off with a generous sprinkling of raw caster sugar - I find that raw caster sugar when heat creates an almost caramelised topping on the bread.

Place the baking dish on a tray and bake in a preheated 160°C oven until the custard has set and the top is golden - a pudding this size can take about an hour to cook.



Best eaten warm from the oven - you could also serve with extra cream of the side if you so desire.



Fittingly, this recipe made enough pudding that there were leftovers and it's also quite good served cold as an alternative to French toast for breakfast.