PAIN AU CHOCOLAT BREAD and BUTTER PUDDING

It was a very hard decision at Bourke Street Bakery as to exactly what kind of bread to use in our bread and butter pudding — so many options! Do we use a fruit bread, brioche, croissant, pain aux raisins… or just plain old bread? In the end, after many fun trials, pain au chocolat was the winner.

Serves 5–6

200 g (7 oz) eggs (about 3 eggs)

120 g (4¼ oz) caster (superfine) sugar

360 ml (12½ fl oz) thin (pouring) cream (35 % fat)

240 ml (8 fl oz) milk

1 vanilla bean, seeds scraped

zest of 1 lemon

½ pinch ground ginger

½ pinch ground nutmeg

2 Pain au chocolat, each cut into 3 pieces

80 g (2¾ oz) blueberries

ice cream or cream, to serve

pure icing (confectioners’) sugar, for dusting

Preheat the oven to 150°C (300°F). Put a baking dish, measuring 11 x 21 cm (4¼ x 8¼ inch) and 6 cm (2½ inches) deep, in a larger roasting tin.

Put the eggs, sugar, cream, milk, vanilla seeds, lemon zest, ginger and nutmeg in a large bowl. Whisk to combine.

Arrange the pain au chocolat pieces standing up in the baking dish. Sprinkle with the blueberries and pour over the egg mixture. Pour enough boiling water into the roasting tin to come halfway up the side of the baking dish.

Carefully transfer the roasting dish to the oven. Bake for 1 hour 40 minutes, or until the custard has just set.

Serve warm, with ice cream or cream, and a sprinkling of icing sugar.