Bread & Butter Pudding 'Italian' Style!

At this time of year the wonderful Italian Panettone appears in the shops and people seem to be amazed at the high price commanded for what is basically a loaf of bread with fruit in it.

Panettone is a bread type product, but it is so much more than you imagine, it is rich, sweet and takes an incredible 20 hours or so to make, hence the extortionate price, but as you will agree when you've tried it, there's value in every bite!

Panettone, which is very much like Irish 'Barmbrack' is sweetened with dried fruit, but with a much higher ratio of butter, also it is put through 3 stages of rising which gives the panettone its distinctive fluffy texture. But unlike in Ireland, where we eat our brack with a good cup of tea, the Italians enjoy their panettone with a glass of sweet wine or a strong cup of coffee, preferably espresso.

Although panettone is as easy as making any other enriched type bread, it is time consuming with all the rising required, and with so many wonderful panettone products of a good standard on the market.......why bother!

Like any other bread product, once it's opened and cut into, the panettone can begin to go stale quite quickly,
So what to do with a panettone on its way out? well I love it toasted and buttered, try it with cinnamon butter....spread with your usual butter....we're talking 'real' butter by the way......and dust with a little ground cinnamon and castor sugar mixed together...simply delish.......it also makes a great French toast breakfast....I suggest drizzling with maple syrup...yum!...... but my favourite has to be a Panettone Bread & Butter Pudding!

Made exactly the same way as you would the usual bread and butter pudding, this is a great Christmas pudding alternative. It's light, perfect for after a heavy meal, and can even be made a day or two in advance......just heat it up on the day!

You will need: serves 8

7 inch by 9 inch ceramic baking dish, it needs to be a good 3 inches deep!

600 g panettone sliced and spread with butter

500 mls full fat milk

250 mls double cream

80 g castor sugar

5 medium eggs

1 tablespoon vanilla extract / essence or 1 vanilla pod
1 teaspoon cinnamon
some butter

a little icing sugar for glazing

how to:

• butter your baking dish and butter the slices of panettone 
• layer the slices in the baking dish
• if using a vanilla pod....split the pod down the centre and scrape out all the seeds with the back of a knife, place the seeds and the pod into the cold milk and cream in a saucepan and warm gently on a low heat
• while the milk is heating break the eggs into a large bowl.....we are going to be adding the warm milk to the bowl so make sure it's a big bowl!
• add the castor sugar, vanilla essence/extract and cinnamon to the eggs and whisk really well together, a hand blender is great for this as it really combines everything smoothly
• when the milk is heated....not too hot now, don't boil it, we want it warm enough to help dissolve the sugar really and no more.... remove the vanilla pod and discard, then pour the milk slowly onto the eggs whisking steadily as you pour
• once all the milk is added to the eggs, strain this mixture through a fine sieve into a clean bowl or a deep jug
• now pour this egg/milk mixture gently over the top of the slices of panettone, careful not to dislodge them
• now let it sit for about 5 minutes while the bread absorbs the liquid
• turn the oven on to 140 degrees centigrade
• place the pudding in a deep roasting tin, pour some hot water into the tray, about half way up the depth of the pudding dish.......this is called a water bath or bain marie
• place the tray in the oven and cook your pudding approx 40 -50 minutes or until the centre does not wobble!
• when cooked, remove from the oven, lift out of the water bath being careful not to get burnt!
• place the pudding dish on a baking sheet and turn your grill on full blast
• dust some icing sugar over the top of your pudding and place under the hot grill, the icing sugar
  will melt and caramelise giving a lovely glaze to your pudding.....be careful though, this stage takes literally seconds
• you can eat your pudding straight away with a few dollops of fresh whipped cream or allow it to cool and refrigerate to have later.

When whipping cream to serve with your pudding, try adding a little sieved icing sugar and a dash or two of a whiskey cream liqueur to the cream when it is almost fully whipped, it makes the pudding just that little more divine, especially for Christmas!

You can use chocolate panettone if you like, it's just as tasty!