Plum Pudding for Christmas

Before I forget what I did here, I better write it down, because it was delicious.

I happen to have a pudding mold (of course I do) but this is unnecessary, you can use a heatproof bowl with a tight lid

Ingredients

• 3 c lightly packed down crumbs from good white bread with the crusts on (about one half of a 1 lb loaf of bread, crumb-ified in the food processor)
• 1 c each: black raisins, golden raisins, and prunes, chopped in the food processor
• 1-1/3 c dark brown sugar (I like Muscovado sugar from India Tree)
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp mace
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 c butter, melted
• 4 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 1/8 tsp almond extract
• 1/2 c bitter orange marmalade (seville orange marmalade from Trader Joe's works great)
• 1/3 c spiced rum
• 1/2 c cognac, heated on the stove before attempting to flambe
• Sprigs of greenery like juniper and holly, optional

Procedure

Toss the bread crumbs in a large mixing bowl with the prunes, raisins, sugar, cinnamon, mace, nutmeg, and salt.

Then toss with the melted butter, and finally with the eggs, almond extract, orange marmalade, and rum.

Pack the pudding mixture into the greased steaming container (either a pudding mold with a tight fitting lid, or a bowl with a tight fitting lid) and cover with a piece of greased foil and snap the lid over the foil. Set the container in a stock pot, or whatever you will be steaming in, and add enough water to come a third of the way up the sides of the pudding. Cover the steaming pot tightly and bring to a boil, lower the heat to a simmer, and steam about 6 hours. Check every hour or so to make sure you're not losing too much water and top off if necessary.

Don't unmold it yet, it can be kept in the fridge about 4 months to mature. I made mine 2 days before and it was still delicious. Day of, bring it out of the fridge and allow it to come to room temp before unmolding the pudding. I decorated mine on a cake plate with holly and juniper, and set it out for decoration.

When ready to flambe, heat the cognac in a saucepan on the stove until hot but not boiling and pour the hot cognac into a sturdy pyrex measuring cup with a spout. Grab a long match and head to the table, hitting the lights on your way.

Pour some of the cognac on the pudding and ignite with the match, then pour the rest of the cognac on the pudding, allowing the stream to ignite. Don't worry if the flames crawl up into the pyrex, just keep pouring steadily- when it's empty, it will continue to burn inside the cup, but will soon go out- or you can blow it out like a big baby (me).

The holly catches fire. No biggie.

Sandwich Loaf

While I love me an authentic crusty baguette, most weeks a sandwich loaf is in order. It's obviously great for sandwiches, but also makes damn delicious toast with butter and jam.

My recipe is simple and doesn't require a stand mixer but if you have one and want to use it, I won't begrudge you the convenience and the recipe will turn out just fine. I happen to like kneading dough by hand. It doesn't take much longer than if you did it in a mixer, and I feel....I don't know...a little more connected to the bread. I also find it rather soothing.

After it's risen in the loaf pan, right before it goes into the oven, I like to brush it with whole milk and sprinkle it with something, here I did sesame seeds.

Sandwich loaf ready for the oven 

Don't be tempted to slice it before it's totally cooled or it will dry out quickly

Everyday White Sandwich Loaf

Ingredients
3 c. all-purpose flour

2 Tbsp. sugar

2 1/4 tsp. active dry yeast

1/2 c. cold whole milk
2/3 c. hot water
4 Tbsp. melted butter
2 tsp. Kosher salt
non-stick cooking spray
milk for brushing the top of the loaf
seeds for the top of the loaf (optional)

Equipment
8 1/2" x 4 1/2" loaf pan

Flexible dough scraper (recommended)

bread knife (recommended)

big flat surface for kneading, like a granite counter or slab of heavy wood or marble

Procedure

Mix the flour and sugar together. 

Make a little well in the flour mixture and add the yeast, rubbing it into the flour mixture with your fingers, until the yeast has "disappeared." 

Add the cold milk, hot water and warm melted butter and mix with a spatula or, ideally, a flexible dough scraper, until the ingredients are incorporated. 

Turn the dough onto your kneading surface and knead the dough without beating the crap out of it. Incorporate air, turn, fold, but don't punch or smash. 

After a minute of kneading, add the salt and knead to incorporate. The dough will be sticky at first, but will come together into a supple dough after about 8-10 minutes of kneading. 

Form the dough into a ball and put it into a clean bowl that's been greased with non-stick spray, cover with plastic wrap and let it rise for an hour or two in a draft-free place in your kitchen, until it's almost doubled in size. 

Use your dough scraper to encourage the dough out onto your kneading surface and press the dough out with your fingertips, roughly into a 7"-8" long rectangle. 

Fold the dough down it's length and press the seam closed with your fingertips. Do this again, so you've got an 8" long log of dough. Roll the log so the seam side is facing up, then press the seam down toward your kneading surface.  All this folding and pressing gives structure to the way the dough rises, and will ensure your bread will have an even, orderly crumb. 

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Place the log into a greased pan and cover lightly with a greased piece of plastic wrap (give it room to rise up out of the pan) and allow to rise for another hour until it's up out of the pan. 

Remove the plastic, brush with milk, and if you'd like to sprinkle on seeds, now's the time. 

Bake for 35 minutes, until it looks and acts like bread. Be sure to let it cool before you slice into it- it will dry out more quickly if you cut it while it's still warm. Store at room temp in a big ziploc, remembering that it's going to get stale more quickly than store bought bread with all those creepy preservatives in it, so EAT IT!