Panettone bread and butter pudding recipe | Jamie Oliver (2024)

FAQs

Why is my bread and butter pudding watery? ›

Luckily for you, we have a few tips and tricks to share in order to make sure your bread pudding turns out moist and delicious, not wet and runny. These tips include warming the liquid you put into the mix, covering it at the right time in the oven, and making sure you cook it for the right amount of time.

Toasted with butter: Some like to take those slices of panettone and toast them lightly, then spread a bit of butter on top. The heat from the toasting process warms the fruits inside, releasing their aromas, and makes the crust a little crispier.

To avoid dry bread, you need to let the bread soak in the custard for 10–30 minutes before baking it. You don't have to do anything to it during that time, except turn it over once with a spatula, but it's just a waiting game. During that time, you can properly preheat your oven.

Eggs: Make sure the eggs are well beaten into the yolks. This will help the bread absorb them and reduce the likelihood of a scrambled-egg texture winding up in your custard. Half-and-half: A rich, full-fat milk like half-and-half creates an indulgent bread pudding custard and sauce.

An eggy flavour is one of the most common issues people have when they make bread and butter puddings, and it's usually because there is too much egg compared to the other ingredients.

Due to the delicate structure of the dough, which consists mainly of eggs, butter, and sugar, we hang them upside down immediately after baking so the starches can set as they cool. This prevents them from collapsing, which is also why the are so soft and fluffy!

Sourdough is a mixture of flour and water that naturally contains some bacteria, and yeast. It makes the panettone ferment, providing it with an unmistakable and very pleasant aroma, and also ensuring that it has a spongy texture for longer. In short, pure magic!

Cover with plastic, press down slightly to cover the bread with the milk mixture. Refrigerate up to 24 hours. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Remove the plastic from the baking dish and bake the bread pudding for 45 minutes, until the top is golden brown and the milk mixture is set.

Should bread pudding be jiggly when done? ›

Bake the Bread Pudding in a preheated 325º F degree oven for 50-to-55 minutes. The custard should be puffed and jiggle when you wiggle the dish. If you want an even crispier cubed or sliced topping, you could put the cooked bread pudding under the broiler for just a few minutes.

Bread pudding can be served warm, room temperature, cold. If you'd rather have it warm or room temperature, skip the 6 hour refrigeration time. The orange custard sauce can also be served warm over warm bread pudding.

A good panettone is delicious as is. “When fresh, it's best eaten like the Italians do, as is, with a glass of sweet wine of your choice,” Manfredi says. “In Australia you can soak fresh cherries in a spirit or sweet wine and serve them with a slice [of panettone] and a dollop of mascarpone cream.”

Storing: Keep your panettone in a dry and cool place (54-65°F), away from direct sunlight. This is especially important if you have purchased a panettone with a glaze; they will be extremely sensitive to heat and light. After slicing, store the remaining inside of the cellophane bag that it was originally wrapped in.

It's common to serve it with a sweet wine and an accompaniment of something rich and creamy, perhaps based on mascarpone (with egg yolks, as used in tiramisu), plus dried or candied fruits. Ice cream, jelly, custard, hot or cold sauces and some fruits make panettone a delicious pudding.

For those facing persistent issues with runny pudding, adjusting the proportions of thickening agents like cornstarch or flour can be effective. Moreover, exploring alternative thickening agents such as gelatin or agar-agar can provide a more reliable method to achieve a firmer texture.

One of the primary mistakes people make with bread pudding is that they remove it from the oven too soon or too late. If you take it out prematurely, the custard doesn't have the chance to cook, so it is still runny.

Bake on a pizza stone

Pastry chef Susan Reid extols the virtues of baking your pies like pizza — in other words, baking them on a preheated baking stone. The blast of concentrated heat the stone delivers to the pie ensures the bottom crust sets before the liquid from the filling soaks in and makes it gummy.

Using a Thickening Agent

For 1 cup (240 mL) of custard, use 2 tablespoons (17 g) of flour mixed with 4 tablespoons (59 mL) of cold water. Add the mixture into your custard ingredients as they cook on the stove. Use cornstarch as an alternative to flour. Cornstarch, like flour, requires cold water as a mixing agent.