Individual Summer Berry Puddings
By America's Test KitchenPublished on August 22, 2007
Time
35 minutes, plus 20 minutes cooling and 8 hours chilling
Yield
Serves 6
Ingredients
Before You Begin
Stale the bread for this recipe by leaving it out overnight. Otherwise, put the slices on a rack in a single layer into a 200-degree oven for 50 to 60 minutes, turning them once halfway through. For this recipe, you will need six 6-ounce ramekins and a round cookie cutter of slightly smaller diameter than the ramekins. If you don’t have the right size cutter, use a paring knife and the bottom of a ramekin (most ramekins taper toward the bottom) as a guide for trimming the rounds. If you use challah, the second choice for bread, cut it into ½-inch-thick slices. If neither potato bread nor challah is available, use a good-quality white sandwich bread with a dense, soft texture. Whipped cream is the perfect accompaniment to summer pudding. For a larger, one piece pudding, see related recipe.
Instructions
- Heat strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, blackberries, and sugar in large nonreactive saucepan over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until berries begin to release their juice and sugar has dissolved, about 5 minutes. Off heat, stir in lemon juice; let cool to room temperature.
- While berries are cooling, cut out 12 bread rounds.
- Spray six 6-ounce ramekins with vegetable cooking spray and place on rimmed cookie sheet. Following illustrations below, with a slotted spoon, place about 1/4 cup of fruit into the bottom of greased 6-ounce ramekins that have been placed on a cookie sheet. Lightly soak rounds of bread in the juices left in the saucepan, then place on top of the fruit in the ramekins. Divide the remaining fruit amoung the ramekins (about 1/2 cup more per ramekin). Lightly soak rounds of bread and place on top of fruit; bread should sit above ramekin lip. Top with remaining juices, and cover the ramekins loosely with plastic wrap. Place a second cookie sheet on top, then weight with several heavy cans. Assemble, cover, and weight summer puddings. Refrigerate puddings for at least 8 and up to 24 hours.
- Remove weights, cookie sheet, and plastic wrap. Run a paring knife around ramekin perimeters, unmold, and serve.
Time
35 minutes, plus 20 minutes cooling and 8 hours chillingYield
Serves 6Ingredients
Test Kitchen Techniques
Ingredients
Test Kitchen Techniques
Ingredients
Test Kitchen Techniques
Why This Recipe Works
We wanted to find an easy way to make a refreshing summer berry pudding dessert and to discover the best bread for the job. Instead of lining the mold with bread and then filling it with berries, we opted to layer the bread and berries together in a loaf pan; the berries on the outside were like brilliant jewels, while the layers of bread on the inside almost melted into the fruit. We used day-old potato bread in our summer berry pudding recipe, finding that its even, tight-crumbed, tender texture and its light sweetness made a perfect match for the berries (fresh bread became too gummy in the pudding).
Before You Begin
Stale the bread for this recipe by leaving it out overnight. Otherwise, put the slices on a rack in a single layer into a 200-degree oven for 50 to 60 minutes, turning them once halfway through. For this recipe, you will need six 6-ounce ramekins and a round cookie cutter of slightly smaller diameter than the ramekins. If you don’t have the right size cutter, use a paring knife and the bottom of a ramekin (most ramekins taper toward the bottom) as a guide for trimming the rounds. If you use challah, the second choice for bread, cut it into ½-inch-thick slices. If neither potato bread nor challah is available, use a good-quality white sandwich bread with a dense, soft texture. Whipped cream is the perfect accompaniment to summer pudding. For a larger, one piece pudding, see related recipe.
Instructions
- Heat strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, blackberries, and sugar in large nonreactive saucepan over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until berries begin to release their juice and sugar has dissolved, about 5 minutes. Off heat, stir in lemon juice; let cool to room temperature.
- While berries are cooling, cut out 12 bread rounds.
- Spray six 6-ounce ramekins with vegetable cooking spray and place on rimmed cookie sheet. Following illustrations below, with a slotted spoon, place about 1/4 cup of fruit into the bottom of greased 6-ounce ramekins that have been placed on a cookie sheet. Lightly soak rounds of bread in the juices left in the saucepan, then place on top of the fruit in the ramekins. Divide the remaining fruit amoung the ramekins (about 1/2 cup more per ramekin). Lightly soak rounds of bread and place on top of fruit; bread should sit above ramekin lip. Top with remaining juices, and cover the ramekins loosely with plastic wrap. Place a second cookie sheet on top, then weight with several heavy cans. Assemble, cover, and weight summer puddings. Refrigerate puddings for at least 8 and up to 24 hours.
- Remove weights, cookie sheet, and plastic wrap. Run a paring knife around ramekin perimeters, unmold, and serve.
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