This is one of our ‘go tos’ for post tea meets –its almost foolproof and it quickly revives both hunt staff and foot followers on the bleakest of days and uses up those odd bits of bread which seem to be present in any kitchen.
NB It does work with fresh bread but stale is so much better
The stale bread can include loaf ends and crusts etc – bread type can be brown or white, loaves, sticks, rolls. but not artisan bread eg:- bread with added tomatoes, cheese, olives – this is not the place for those.
Required
Mesh colander or similar
Preheated oven/Aga –
Heatproof greased square/oblong baking dish
Ingredients
About 500/600g of stale white and or wholemeal bread/rolls/stick
500g/1lb 2oz mixed dried fruit
85g mixed peel
1½ tbsp mixed spice,
1tsp ground ginger, Ground nutmeg, and cinnamon to taste
2 large eggs
Two large dessert spoons of marmalade
150g brown sugar
100g butter
Caster sugar for decoration after baking
Method
Soak the bread in water until it breaks down, in fact you can safely leave it overnight if you have time pressures.
For firm crusts, you might have to get into the mix with clean fingers or a blender and help the bread break down.
You need to work the mix until there are no lumps and it is the same texture throughout
Pour the resulting and admittedly (at this stage) unattractive gloop into a colander over a bowl or sink until most of the water has drained. The consistency you are looking for is much like a soggy bran mash or perhaps a ‘cow pat’
Once the water has stopped dripping, transfer to a mixing bowl
Break and add the eggs, sugar, dried fruit, butter, marmalade, and spices into the bowl and mix everything together so that its consistent and there are no lumps of butter, etc
Transfer to a pre-greased baking tray and ensure the mix is level and goes into the corners
Bake for about an hour or so depending on the oven making sure that it does not burn- but it is fairly forgiving!
Remove, cool, and slice to serve
