Summer Pudding — a dome of bread soaked in red berry juice

i. Origin & history

Summer pudding is a relatively young British pudding. Recipes for it under that name start to appear in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Before that, a similar dish was known as hydropathic pudding, and the story usually told is that it was served at the fashionable 'hydropathic' spas and health resorts of Victorian Britain, where guests taking water cures were offered a fruit pudding made with bread in place of the rich suet or butter pastry of most puddings. The story is plausible and widely repeated, though the details are hard to pin down.

What is certain is that summer pudding grew from the older British tradition of bread puddings and from the abundance of soft fruit in English gardens in July. Raspberries, redcurrants, blackcurrants, white currants and strawberries all ripen within a few weeks of each other, and gardeners and cooks needed ways to use a glut quickly. Stale bread and a handful of sugar turned a bowl of berries into a dramatic, sliceable pudding with almost no effort.

By the mid-twentieth century summer pudding had become a fixture of English summer lunches, and food writers such as Elizabeth David and Jane Grigson helped fix its reputation as one of the great simple English puddings. It remains a seasonal dish — even now, summer pudding made outside of June to August is something of a compromise.

Its autumn cousin is autumn pudding, made with blackberries, apples, plums and elderberries, and it belongs to the same bread-and-fruit family as the baked apple charlotte and the custard-based queen of puddings.

ii. Why the bread must be stale and the berries cooked

Summer pudding is held together entirely by bread and fruit pectin — there is no gelatin, egg or baking. The bread must be good, close-textured white bread, a day or two old. Stale bread has lost some moisture and its starches have partially firmed through retrogradation, so it absorbs the juice slowly and evenly while keeping its structure. Very fresh, soft bread turns to mush and the pudding collapses when unmoulded; pre-sliced, airy sandwich loaf does the same.

The fruit is cooked, but only briefly — two or three minutes with sugar until the juices run. This releases the deeply coloured juice that will soak the bread, while leaving most of the berries whole. Redcurrants and blackcurrants are especially important: they are high in pectin and acid, giving the juice body and helping it set lightly as it chills, and they provide the deep colour.

Weighting the pudding overnight is not optional. Pressing compacts the fruit and bread together and forces the juice into every slice, so that when turned out the pudding holds its dome and is uniformly red. A plate that fits just inside the basin, topped with a couple of tins, is the traditional method.

Reserving some of the juice is the cook's insurance. Any white patches that appear when the pudding is turned out are painted with reserved juice so the whole surface is a glossy crimson.

iii. Ingredients

Makes 6 servings · scroll the side panel to adjust

• 8 slices day-old white bread, 1 cm thick, crusts removed
• 350 g raspberries
• 200 g redcurrants, stripped from their stalks
• 200 g blackcurrants, stripped from their stalks
• 150 g strawberries, hulled and halved
• 125 g caster sugar
• 3 tbsp water
• 1 tbsp crème de cassis (optional)
• 200 ml double or pouring cream, to serve

Use a firm, unsliced white loaf — a bloomer or tin loaf — and cut your own slices about 1 cm thick. Brioche is a richer alternative but softer, so leave it to stale for longer. The fruit mix is flexible, but aim for at least a third currants for colour and set; frozen summer fruit mixes work well outside the season. Adjust the sugar to the tartness of the fruit; blackcurrants in particular need a fair amount. A little crème de cassis deepens the flavour.

iv. Method

1. Put the redcurrants, blackcurrants, sugar and water in a wide pan. Heat gently for 2–3 minutes, stirring, until the sugar dissolves and the juices run. Add the raspberries and strawberries and cook for 1 minute more, just until they begin to soften. Stir in the cassis, if using, and leave to cool.
2. Line a 1.2 litre pudding basin with cling film, leaving plenty overhanging. Cut a round of bread to fit the base of the basin, and cut the remaining slices into wedges or strips wider at the top.
3. Strain off and reserve about 150 ml of the berry juice. Dip one side of each piece of bread in the remaining juice and press it, dipped side out, into the basin, overlapping slightly so there are no gaps. Keep enough bread for a lid.
4. Spoon the fruit and its juice into the lined basin, pressing gently. Cover with the remaining bread, dipped in juice, trimming to fit.
5. Fold over the cling film. Place a saucer or small plate that fits just inside the rim on top and weigh it down with 1–2 kg of tins. Set the basin on a plate to catch drips and refrigerate overnight, or for at least 8 hours.
6. To serve, remove the weights, unfold the film and invert onto a serving plate with a rim. Lift away the basin and peel off the film. Brush any pale patches with the reserved juice.
7. Cut into wedges and serve cold with cream and any remaining juice.

v. Tips & common mistakes

• Use proper stale bread. Fresh or very soft bread disintegrates; a day- or two-day-old unsliced loaf is ideal.
• Leave no gaps in the lining. Gaps let the fruit burst through when turned out. Overlap the bread and patch holes with small pieces.
• Cook the fruit only briefly. Overcooked berries turn to jam and lose their fresh flavour. You just want the juices to run.
• Include currants. Their pectin and colour make the pudding set and turn it a deep ruby. A pudding of only raspberries and strawberries is paler and softer.
• Weigh it down overnight. Pressing is what makes the pudding hold together and soak evenly.
• Keep back some juice. It hides any white patches and gives the turned-out pudding its glossy finish.

vi. Variations

Autumn pudding uses blackberries, apples, plums and elderberries. Individual summer puddings are made in ramekins or dariole moulds. Some cooks use brioche or panettone for richness, and gluten-free bread works if it is firm. Cherries and blueberries can join the mix.

For other British fruit puddings see blackberry fool and queen of puddings. Danish rødgrød med fløde uses similar red berries thickened into a pudding, and Spain's torrija is another use for soaked bread.

vii. Serving & storage

Summer pudding is served cold, cut in wedges, with pouring cream, clotted cream, crème fraîche or vanilla ice cream. It is a classic for summer lunches and garden parties, and looks most dramatic turned out whole at the table with a few fresh berries scattered around.

Keep any leftovers covered in the fridge for up to 2 days; the bread softens further over time. The pudding can be made up to 2 days ahead and kept, weighted, in the basin until needed. It can be frozen in the basin for up to a month; thaw overnight in the fridge before turning out, though the texture will be slightly softer.

ix. More from British & Irish

• Blackberry Fool — folded fruit cream
• Queen of Puddings — custard, jam and meringue
• Lemon Posset — lemon-set cream
• Strawberry Shortcake — biscuits, berries and cream
• Rødgrød med Fløde — Danish berry pudding
• Torrija — Spanish soaked bread