Panettone Bread Pudding & the Beginning of the End

As this week draws to a close it marks the beginning of the end of a momentous period in my life. Earlier this week I handed in my final year dissertation that I have been working on for the past 5 months. What a rollercoaster of a ride that piece of work turned out to be – interesting, stressful, fun and a few sleepless nights but in the end a piece of work I feel proud of. Then today is my very last lecture at uni EVER! By tonight I will only have a month of exams left, after which my 4 years of uni will be finished for good. Not only that, but today also happens to be my birthday! My friends and I are going out for lunch for a triple celebration.

So where does panettone bread pudding come into all this? Well, it doesn’t really. I made it this week to use up some leftover panettone and very tasty it was too. I adapted a recipe for normal bread pudding by removing the sugar and currants from the recipe as panettone has enough of those already. Bread pudding is denser and stodgier than the better known bread and butter pudding, which is softer and contains more custard. Bread pudding is the traditional way of using up stale bread and tastes great cut into thick slices and served hot or cold. Using panettone in place of normal bread added a wonderful citrusy flavour and made it that little bit more indulgent.

Panettone Bread Pudding
Ingredients
200g stale panettone
200ml milk
2 tsp mixed spice
50g butter
1 egg
25g plain flour
½ tsp baking powder

Method
Tear the panettone into small chunks and place in a bowl with the mixed spice.
Pour over the milk and push the pieces of panettone into the liquid. Allow the bread to absorb all the milk for 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 180C. Grease the sides of a 1lb/400g loaf tin.
When the panettone has absorbed the milk and gone soggy, sift over the flour and baking powder and mix together well.
Melt the butter and beat in the egg. Pour the mixture over the bread and stir together ensuring everything is evenly coated. Press the soggy bread mixture into the loaf tin and press down lightly.
Bake for 30-35 minutes until crisp and browned on top. Leave to cool for an hours before serving in thick slices.
Store any leftovers in the fridge.
Serves 4-6