When we bought a slow cooker I never thought of using it for puddings; however it makes excellent bread and butter pudding every time!
Use the recipe as a guide; don’t follow it slavishly. Any dried fruit will do, and obviously the amounts you use will depend on how big a pudding you want. It is almost impossible to make this wrong – it will either be really good or excellent!
You can also vary the flavour by adding lemon or orange zest and other interesting flavours. I’ve used all types of bread, but found it worked best for us using French sticks; a premium British white loaf was excellent; Ciabatta sadly gave the worst results.
Ingredients
Stale bread
100g/large handful sultanas, mixed fruit, peel, or similar
2 to 3 eggs
400 ml milk
3tsp brown sugar
1tsp cinnamon (optional)
1tbsp butter/margarine
Instructions
Grease the inside of the slow cooker well with the butter, slice up the bread, and butter on one side of each piece. Line the slow cooker with one layer. Sprinkle the dried fruit and some brown sugar on it, then add another layer of butter bread followed by the fruit and brown sugar and repeat until you have enough.
Next mix up the eggs and milk with a little melted butter and the cinnamon if you use it (I prefer not to) and pour it over the pudding. Use a flat implement like a spatula to press everything down and then add a final sprinkle of brown sugar on the top. Cooking time will depend on your slow cooker but ours does it in 2 hours on high and 3 to 4 hours on medium. If you want a crisp top like you get from conventional oven cooking, place a tea towel over the top of the cooking dish before putting the lid on to hold it taught over the pudding. This absorbs the moisture which normally drips back onto the pudding and keeps it moist.
Chris Ottewell
