Bread Pudding

Bread Pudding is one of the things I remember from my childhood as something my grandmother used to cook.  It's the first recipe in an old diary I use to write down recipes I've picked up from family and friends.  Mr Vitty used to have a saturday job in a bakery when he was much younger and said they used to make it from left over bread that had sat outside in the yard for a few days (with the predictable vermin/bird activity).  Mine didn't quite go through that 'maturation' process but I like that it makes use of left over bread (although I don't generally have much of that), reflecting the thriftyness of the past which we don't seem to value any more. 

Ingredients:

Large loaf of bread
500g Dried Mixed Fruit
225g Brown Sugar
1.5 Teaspoons Mixed Spice
125g Suet
125g Butter chopped into small pieces
1 Egg

Ready for the Oven

Method:

Soak the bread in cold water for 15 minutes.  Squeeze out the excess water and then mix in the fruit, brown sugar, mixed spice, suet, most of the butter and the egg. Place in a roasting tin and fleck with the remaining butter.  Cook at 180 C for 11/4 to 11/2  hours.  Remove from the oven and dredge with caster sugar.  Eat warm or cold.

Ready to Eat