Summer Berry Pudding - the perfect Independence Day Dessert!
Although this classic summer pudding has British roots, it’s the perfect dessert to celebrate our nation’s Independence Day! It makes good use of ripe summer berries and slightly stale white bread, and it’s incredibly simple to make. This is a dairy-free dessert and can also be made vegan. The bread takes on a wonderful pudding-like consistency after soaking in the berry juice, hence the name berry pudding. Plan to make this at least 24-hours in advance to give the bread plenty of time to soak up all the juices.
SUMMER BERRY PUDDING
SERVES: 6-8
TIME: 30 minutes plus 24-36 hours chill time
WHAT YOU NEED:
6 cups mixed berries (I used 5 cups of mixed blackberries, blueberries, and raspberries, and 1cup of strawberries)
1/2 cup sugar, more or less to taste depending on sweetness of berries
1/3 cup water
Juice from one small lemon, Meyer if you have it
1 loaf of good white bread (I like to use Pepperidge Farm Hearty White Bread), preferably slightly stale
WHAT YOU DO:
Remove the crusts from the bread. Line a 2 qt. pudding mold or bowl or loaf pan with plastic wrap (this will help with unmolding the pudding). Cut crusts off bread.
Combine berries (all but the strawberries), sugar and 1/3 cup water in a medium saucepan. Simmer over medium heat until sugar is completely dissolved, and berries release their juices, 7 to 10 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in lemon juice. Taste and adjust flavor with more sugar or lemon juice as needed. Allow berries to cool slightly. While mixture is cooling, slice your strawberries.
Spoon an even layer of berry syrup (not the berries themselves) in the bottom of your mold, then place a single layer of bread in the bottom, on top of the berry juice (cut the bread as necessary to make it fit). Cut enough bread slices to fit around the sides of the mold, then add 1/2 of the fruit. Top this fruit with sliced strawberries, drizzle more berry juice on top, then top with another single layer of bread. Add the remaining berries and all the juice, then end with one final layer of bread.
Cut a round piece of cardboard that will fit just inside your mold and wrap it in foil. Place this on top of your pudding, then weight the whole thing down (I placed a shallow bowl upside down on the foil-wrapped cardboard, then placed a small cast iron skilled with a heavy jar inside). Refrigerate at least overnight, or up to 36 hours.
When you’re ready to serve, run a knife around sides of summer pudding, then turn it over onto a plate to unmold. Remove the plastic wrap, serve pudding in slices with good vanilla ice cream on top.
