This is an bread pudding recipe given to me by a friend who has used it for many years. He says that he prefers to use brown bread, but it's possible to use most types of bread with any hard crusts cut off. It's probably best not to use seeded bread, although that may give the bread pudding an strange texture. Personally I don't fancy that idea too much.

Try making the recipe without sugar

My mum tried making her bread pudding without using sugar, in an attempt to reduce the amount of calories. It was a success, she increased the weight of fruit that she put in though, in an effort to use the sweetness of the fruit to compensate for the lack of sugar.

Ingredients needed to make this old fashioned bread pudding recipe

The quantities I've used here in this recipe are for a fairly shallow bread pudding, using a 40cm x 28cm baking tray. If you use a smaller tray the bread pudding will become deeper so you'll have to increase the baking time to accommodate for the additional depth.

• 22 oz (625 grams) bread, crusts cut off
• 12 oz (340 grams) caster sugar
• 4 oz (114 grams) margarine
• 11oz (312 grams) of sultanas, or other dried fruit if you prefer
• 1-2 tsp mixed spice, depending on your taste
• 3 medium eggs, lightly beaten

How to make old fashioned bread pudding

• Preheat the oven to 170C.
• In a mixing bowl add water to the bread, bit by bit mixing it in with your hand. Continue until the bread is sodden, but not too much so that it drips when squeezed. Leave to soak through whilst you prepare the other ingredients.
• In another bowl beat together the sugar and margarine, then add the beaten eggs a bit at a time bringing the batter together before adding some more.
• Add this batter and the remaining ingredients to the bread and mix well using your hands.
• Line the baking tray and spread the mixture evenly.
• Bake for around 1 hour for a shallow bread pudding increasing to around 1hr30 for a deeper one. You can check using a temperature probe in the centre of pudding too.
• Sprinkle with caster sugar straight after removing the it from the oven and leave to cool. It can then be divided up and kept in a tuppleware.

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