Brioche Berry Pudding – something gorgeous for Mother’s Day!

berry pudding

This is a post I did a couple of years ago on Mother’s Day. It is bright, cheery and gorgeous, just the thing to make for mom,especially after such a long winter. We MN mom’s need a bit of sunshine!

Some things are worth a little more effort, right! Like a dessert for your mom on Mother’s Day.  This berry pudding is really very simple to make, but I admit it will take just a bit longer than 5 minutes to put together. Berry puddings are a slightly retro English sweet and I think they deserve a come back. Their drop dead gorgeous color comes from the dark berry juice soaked brioche, hiding a treasure of sweet, slightly drunken berries within.

You just can’t resist something this wonderful and if you have a bucket of brioche on hand it will go together really very easily. Happy Spring to you all!

Berry Pudding:

makes 8 small Ramekins (6 oz.)

2-pound loaf of Brioche, baked in a loaf pan

8 cups fresh or frozen berries

2/3 cups sugar

1/4 cup port

1 teaspoon lemon zest

2 teaspoons lemon juice

brioche

I baked a 2-pound loaf of brioche in a Loaf Pan. I let it rise for about 2 hours and it baked for almost 50 minutes. traditionally you would use stale bread for this pudding so you can bake the bread a day or two ahead. Cut the loaf into 1/4-inch thick slices.

brioche for berry pudding

Using a Round Cookie Cutter cut a piece of the bread to fit the bottom of your ramekin. I used my individual Charlotte molds, but you can use any size ramekin. It is very dramatic to present this as one large pudding as well as individuals.

brioche for berry pudding

Then you will want to cut off the crusts and cut strips to line the sides of the ramekins.

berry pudding

In a pot mix together the berries, sugar, port, lemon juice and zest.

berry pudding

Cook just for a few minutes until the berries start to release some of their juices.

berry pudding

Using a Slotted Spoon fill the brioche lined molds to the top of the bread slices. You may need to strain the last of the berries to make sure you don’t miss any. Reserve the juice and once the ramekins are all evenly filled, spoon some of the juices over the top. Don’t use it all just yet.

berry pudding

Using the cookie/biscuit cutter cut another circle to fit over the top of the berries.

berry pudding

Spoon some more of the juice over the top of the puddings.

berry pudding

Cover the ramekins with plastic wrap and then weigh them down with cans or something else heavy. Place the puddings in the refrigerate to set for about 24 hours. You will want to check them after several hours to make sure that they have enough juice to soak the bread. If they do not, add more of the reserved juices and return to the refrigerator.

berry pudding

When you are ready to serve them, invert onto a serving plate. I like mine with a bit of Creme Anglaise or ice cream and an edible flour to garnish.

49 thoughts to “Brioche Berry Pudding – something gorgeous for Mother’s Day!”

  1. What a beautiful color! I love that it is filled with berries. I would love to try it with strawberry, raspberry or even blueberries!

  2. This is lovely. I have a few questions unrelated to this. I checked the book out on Saturday.
    I saw that there are two different temperatures listed for the buttermilk dough. 350 if you’re baking it in a loaf, and 375 if you are baking it freeform? Is this accurate?
    In the pecan caramel rolls, you use unsalted butter for the top, and salted butter for the filling. How much salt would I put in if I used unsalted butter there, too?
    And Instead of the barley flour in the ksra, can I just grind pearl barley or hulled barley in the blender instead?
    Thank you for your patience.

  3. Hi Zoe, THAT LOOKS SSPECTACULAR….So beautiful……can’t help but praise God for all these wonderful flavors and colors He has blessed us with for us to enjoy!
    YOU ARE GIFTED, NO DOUBT! So simple and yet…

  4. Great idea and looks amazing. I have never attempted a brioche dough before but I think that may have to be remedied.

    Plus it would throw mom off if I showed up with something that I baked.

  5. Wow!! Those are so beautiful. Do you think they could be made in a muffin pan? So, they do not get baked and are served cold?

  6. Hi Tammy,

    I bake the buttermilk at 350 degrees for both loaf pan and free form loaves.

    I like salt in my caramel rolls so I usually use salted butter for both the top and the filling. If you use unsalted butter than just add salt to taste, perhaps start with a 1/2 teaspoon and see what you think.

    I’ve never tried to grind my own barley, but it is certainly worth a try. It should work to grind either variety.

    Thanks, Zoë

  7. Hi Suzan,

    Depending on the size of the large mold you choose, you will have to piece the bread together to make it fit. Line the mold, just as I did and fill it with all of the berries. if you have some left over, just spoon them onto the plate when serving.

    If this didn’t address your question let me know.

    Cheers, Zoë

  8. Thank you everyone. I wish I could take credit for the color, but that is good old mother nature at work! 🙂

    Zoë

  9. Thank you Zoe. Please add this typo to the errors page. In the introduction to the buttermilk bread recipe, it says to bake at 375. It says 350 in the recipe. I haven’t seen barley flour in the store, so I would pulverize it in the blender or food processor. I’ve done that with oatmeal. Some of the errors still haven’t been fixed, even in the book I got at Barnes and Noble. The pudding looks delicious.

  10. Hi, it’s me again. I baked a loaf today and it worked pretty well. I have yet another question. In the Sun-dried Tomato bread on page 112, it says to roll the dough out to 1/4 inch thick. Is this accurate? All the others have you rolling it out to 1/2 inch. Next, I’m going to try deli rye bread. Thank you.

  11. Hi Tammy,

    I’m thrilled that you are baking so many recipes from the book. Yes, the directions on page 112 are correct for the sun-dried tomato bread. It is rolled thin and stuffed with the tomatoes and cheese then rolled back up. When you slice it you will have a lovely spiral.

    Enjoy, Zoë

  12. That’s beautiful, Zoe. A feast for the eyes and for the palate!

    How do you get your loaf breads to rise so much? Mine have great crust and crumb, but they never rise enough — even with oven spring — to overflow the edges of the pan and make a real “sandwich bread” style loaf. Any tips or tricks?

  13. Hi Julia,

    I filled my loaf pan nearly to the top, let it rest for nearly two hours before baking and baked it for almost an hour. just more dough in the pan should do the trick.

    Thanks, Zoë

  14. Zoe! Couldn’t wait for Mothers’ Day. I tried this yesterday in a small deep (1 qt ?) tapered bowl and it was perfect even though I had only 10 hours to chill and compress it!

    I lined the bowl with brioche bread pieces and used sliced frozen strawberries and frozen blackberries for the center.

    This was fun, easy and VERY impressive.

    Thank you both for all of your interactive help for your fans.

    Margot

  15. Hi Margot,

    I can’t tell you how excited I am that you tried this! Isn’t it just lovely. I don’t think people believe the color in the photo, you just have to make it to believe it! 🙂

    Thanks, Zoë

  16. I may have a strange question but I am looking at converting the enriched dough recepie into a vegan one: can I use the Bob’s Red Mill Egg replacer instead of eggs to achieve the briosh dough?

  17. I just love the brioche. I used half of the dough and made cinnamon roll Sunday. They are by far the best cinnamon rolls I have ever made or eaten. Today I took the rest of the dough and rolled out like for cinnamon rolls then spread a date nut filling on the dough and rolled it up and cut in 1 inch slices and put them in my demarle cup cake mold. Let rise for 2 hours, baked and then brushed the dough with butter and added a smear of glaze. My husband thinks he has died and gone to heaven. Thank you so much for this awesome method for making dough.

  18. I’m sorry, this if off topic to your current post. I’m experiencing a website problem. At the bottom of the page is “keep looking.” When I clicked on that yesterday and today, I receive an error message. Previously, I have been able to view older posts. Is this a website problem or is it something on my end?
    I purchased ABin5 just a couple months ago. My family and I are really enjoying many of the recipes. We can’t say enough how much we are loving these breads. Plus, we are looking forward to trying many more.

    1. Hi Vicki,

      We did some updates to the site and it must have messed with this feature. It should be fixed very soon.

      Thanks, Zoë

  19. Wow, this pudding looks gorgeous!

    I am wondering if you have done any experimenting adding lecithin to your recipes for increased shelf life?

    1. Thank you Michelle,

      We have not used lecithin as a preservative. If you try it, please let us know what you think of the results.

      Thanks, Zoë

  20. I would love to see a complete post on making a vegan enriched bread. I make your regular bread (white, wheat, rye) all the time, but would love to branch out into the enriched ones for special occasions, but I’ve been hesitant since I’m vegan. I’d especially like to see vegan special occasion breads – like Challah, Easter Bread, and Panettone, etc. Thanks : )

    1. Hi Anna,

      It is a great idea. I did a post about a gluten-free bread that used flax in place of the eggs. I wonder if that same principle would work here? Worth some experimenting.

      Thanks, Zoë

  21. I love your first book Artisan Bread . . . but have a question: after mixing dough and letting it rise 2 hours in a some sort of container, do you punch the dough down before putting in the fridge? Or do you just put the risen dough in the fridge?

    Also: it would be great if you gave weight measures for flour, water, etc. I’m finding volume measures vary with the season, the humidity especially, and flours vary with the mill/processor.

    Great web site!

    Thanks – hp

  22. The pictured ramekins with lids appear to be a “vintage” item; however, if possible can you suggest a source?

  23. I LOVE the Almond Brioche “Bostock” from AB in 5, and I want to make it again for Mother’s Day (my mom raved about it, too, the last time I made it). I have a question, though…the recipe says to let the prepared dough (after adding almond filling, rolling up & slicing) rest for an hour. Will it work ok to let it rest for a longer period of time? I noticed some of the other Brioche recipes rest for as long as 2 hours. Thanks for all of the wonderful recipes and a new approach to home baking!

  24. This looks really good. Reminds me of the summer puddings my mum (yes i’m english would make for us when I was a kid.
    Ours were always red and would include blackberrys. Delicious served cold. I think we just used “normal” bread too although this has given me extra incentive to try that brioche.

  25. I recently bought your books. I grind my own flour and was happy to find information about using it in your master recipe successfully!!! on your website. Last I could see was a note that you would be posting, 10 days later, a follow up on the comparison between fresh ground and commercial flour. That was dated November 2009. Did you and I just missed it ? Was curious, I will be making my own soon.

    1. Diana: Never did post that, but I can tell you that it did just fine with storage. But here’s the rub– people who’ve used home-ground flour generally don’t get as good results as I did with this very-finely ground flour. Actually I think the major difference has to do with water content in the wheat berries that go into the grinder– we have no way to standardize the moisture when people grind their own.

      So it’s going to take some trial-and-error. Jeff

  26. Hi, I have an unrelated question. Can I use polenta instead of cornmeal for the Broa recipe from your first book? If so, do you use the same amount? Thank you! LOVE the book. Never thought I could make bread… yet, make it I do…

    1. Ann: Depending on how coarse the polenta is, you may have to decrease the proportion of corn, but basically, this should work very well. Jeff

  27. Jeff, I made a batch of the basic dough and added 1/2 cup of buttermilk powder and increased the water to 3 1/3. The consistancy of the dough was perfect. The bread turned out awesome. My husband loves it. I baked in small loaf pans as there is just the two of us at home. Works well for us. Thanks again.

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