Today I’m delighted to be sharing the recipe for one of my favourite childhood treats – Old Fashioned English Bread Pudding. Its name certainly doesn’t do it justice though, as it tastes nothing like bread nor would I describe it as a pudding! Instead, it is more like a sweet, dense fruit cake. It is delicious served with a hot cuppa, and also makes a fantastic energy-boosting snack to stash in your backpacks for hikes and bike rides. I think this year, all of us have been spending a lot more time outdoors and we definitely need some tasty snacks to keep us fuelled and put a spring in our step. This bread pudding definitely fits that bill!
When I first went vegan, I thought that I was going to have to forego this favourite treat of mine, but it turns out that it was really easy to ‘veganise’ my family’s traditional bread pudding recipe. It was simply a case of switching the cow’s milk for plant milk (I use soya), switching the butter for oil, and ditching the egg. I honestly couldn’t tell the difference from the original. I was absolutely over the moon that my beloved bread pudding was back on the menu.
When I was selling my cookbook at local fairs, I would often take some trays of bread pudding to display on our stall, and they would go in a flash. It was a running joke that the bread pudding was our top sales person as people would often buy a slice, then come back to buy the book specifically for that bread pudding recipe!
Since my cookbook is almost out of print, I thought it would be useful to share the recipe here on the blog, so everyone can enjoy a slice or two of this tasty treat.
It is really easy to make and super cheap too! It is traditionally made with stale bread, but as bread never hangs around long enough in my house to go stale, I buy a cheap loaf of wholemeal bread instead. The supermarkets’ own brand medium-sliced bread only costs about 60p and you need less than a whole loaf to make 16 slices of bread pudding, making it an absolute bargain!
Old Fashioned English Bread Pudding
Ingredients
- 500 g / 17½ oz wholemeal (whole wheat) bread
- 600 ml / 2½ cups soya milk
- 1 TBSP mixed spice
- ½ TBSP ground cinnamon (or more mixed spice)
- 500 g / 3½ cups mixed dried fruit e.g. sultanas, raisins, candied citrus peel
- zest of 1 unwaxed/organic lemon
- zest of 1 unwaxed/organic orange
- 50 ml / ¼ cup neutral-flavoured oil (I use organic rapeseed (canola) oil)
- 100 g / ½ cup unrefined ('golden') caster sugar or coconut sugar
- 2 TBSP Demerara or turbinado sugar
Instructions
- Crumble the bread into a large mixing bowl. Pour in the milk and continue crumbling the bread until it has completely broken down. Stir in the mixed spice, cinnamon and dried fruits. Set aside for 30 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 180C (160C fan) / 350F. Grease and line a 20cm / 8 inch square baking tin with non-stick baking paper. Leave some paper overhanging the edges for easy removal.
- Add the citrus zest, oil and sugar to the mixing bowl. Stir until thoroughly combined, then tip into the prepared tin. Press down and level with a spatula. Sprinkle the Demerara sugar evenly on top. Bake for 1½ hours, or until a skewer inserted through the middle comes out clean. Leave to cool completely, then remove from the tin and slice.
- Stored in an airtight container in the fridge, the bread pudding will keep for a week. It also freezes well.
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If you make this Old Fashioned English Bread Pudding (or any other recipes on my blog), I’d love to hear your feedback and any suggestions for adaptations! Tag your photos with #bitofthegoodstuff on social media and they will find their way to me. You can also connect with me on my social media channels here: Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest.
With love,
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I love, love, love this. It brought wonderful nostalgic memories of my Dad buying 2 squares of bread pudding from the bakery and giving me one square to eat with him while I told him how my day went.
Thank you for giving me joy by recreating this recipe for us and bringing those long-forgotten memories back to my mind
My Mum who was an Eastender through and through made Bread Pud every week from the stale Bread that somehow accumulated.
It was always a delight plenty of Mixed Spice and grated Nutmeg on the top with a scattering of Sugar.
Either served with home made Custard or cut up with a Cuppa it is a treasured memory.
With growing sons and Dad working in the Docks it never lasted too long.
We lived 100 yards from the Local Bakery so Hot Fresh bread was purchased every single day
(bar Sundays of course).
She never wrote a Recipe down as most Fruit Cakes were multiples of Two Flour Lard/Butter Dried Fruit
But watching Her turn stale old bread and a few cupboard ingredients into something Magic is a wonderful memory.
God Bless Mum
My Mum, 96 yrs old, is a a proud Eastender too. Her Gran made this, no eggs used back then as they were too expensive, and my Mum used to make this for her family with her Gran’s recipe ie whatever was to hand in the kitchen cupboard, and I make it too, neither Mum or I ever use eggs, even though we’re are not vegan or vegetarian. It was always considered a” poor man’s pudding” due to the simple ingredients, but it is delicious and wonderful comfort food.
I always put glacé cherries in mine. And some brandy or sloe gin to soak goes well.
Oh thank you, thank you, thank you!! I really thought I would not be able to have bread pudding anymore because of the eggs! Yay! Really good of you to share the recipes from your book.
Problem is, everyone who has tasted it, wants me to make one for them.
And my wife suggested it as a regular for our house.
There is no doubt, this is a lovely recipe, so easy and it used a whole meal loaf that didn’t rise properly.
I am very pleased to have found this recipe, and even more that I tried it, and of course will continue to do so. Thank you
Made your bread pudding yesterday, only used Sultanas & mixed spice. It was delicious, will be making every week now 😋
I’m not one for cakes & biscuits, but this is perfect with a cuppa. 🫖
Loved this! I know exactly which well-known author’s recipe you based this on as it has long been a favourite of mine – I made it frequently before going vegan and always wondered if could be made without the eggs and dairy! I did less fruit than stated as I only had raisins and prunes, and didn’t want too many of them, but apart from that change, I followed the recipe exactly.
excellent! I made too many rye loaves last week so one became bread pudding. used 200g fruit as thats all I had but was plenty. got another rye to use up so ill make it again. such a nostalgic flavour!