Ingredients

• 500 g day-old briocheday-old all-butter; fresh brioche turns to paste in the custard
• 50 g unsalted buttersoftened
• 400 ml whole milk
• 250 ml double cream
• 4 eggslarge
• 80 g caster sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 120 g white chocolatereal, with cocoa butter high on the label; baking chips sit in the custard as waxy lumps
• 2 tbsp demerara sugar

For custard

• 300 ml whole milkfor the custard
• 150 ml double creamfor the custard
• 4 egg yolkslarge
• 30 g caster sugarfor the custard
• 100 g white chocolatereal, with cocoa butter high on the label; baking chips sit in the custard as waxy lumps

Method

1. 01

   Butter and pack the brioche

   Butter a 2 litre baking dish, about 22 x 30 cm. Spread the softened butter thinly over the torn brioche pieces. You do not need to butter every face, just most of them. Pack them into the dish loosely, standing some pieces on end so they stick up above the level of the others, and scattering the chopped white chocolate between the layers as you go. Loose packing is deliberate: tightly wedged bread cannot absorb, and steam has nowhere to escape.

   50 g unsalted butter · 120 g white chocolate

   If the brioche is genuinely freshSpread the pieces on a tray and dry them in a 140 C oven for ten minutes first.

2. 02

   Make the soaking custard

   Whisk the milk, cream, eggs, caster sugar, 1 tsp vanilla and cinnamon in a jug until completely smooth and no strands of white are visible. Cinnamon floats, so give it a final whisk right before you pour.

   400 ml whole milk · 250 ml double cream · 4 eggs · 80 g caster sugar · 1 tsp ground cinnamon

   Additions that suit white chocolateOrange zest in the soaking custard, or toasted hazelnuts between the layers.

3. 03

   Soak, but leave the peaks dry

   Pour the custard slowly over the brioche, aiming at the gaps rather than the raised pieces, until the liquid sits about two-thirds up the dish. The tops of the standing pieces should remain above the surface and stay dry. Press the submerged bread down gently with the back of a spoon two or three times over 20 minutes so it drinks it up. Do not press the peaks under.

4. 04

   Sugar and bake

   Heat the oven to 180C fan / 200C conventional. Scatter the 2 tbsp demerara evenly over the exposed peaks. It will melt into a thin crackling glaze on the dry bread. Bake for 35-45 minutes, until the pudding has puffed, the peaks are deep golden and crisp, and the custard is just set: a knife slid into the middle should come out clean-ish, with the centre still trembling slightly when you nudge the dish. Overbaked, the custard weeps and goes rubbery, so start checking at 33 minutes.

5. 05

   Start the white chocolate custard

   While the pudding bakes, warm the milk and cream in a heavy pan to just below a simmer. Whisk the yolks with the caster sugar for a minute until pale. Pour in a ladleful of hot dairy while whisking, then a second, then return everything to the pan.

   300 ml whole milk · 150 ml double cream · 4 egg yolks · 30 g caster sugar

6. 06

   Thicken and melt in the chocolate

   Cook over low heat, stirring constantly and scraping the base, for 6-10 minutes until it reaches 82-84C on a probe or coats the back of a spoon so a drawn finger leaves a clean line. Take it off the heat, add the chopped white chocolate and stir until it has completely melted into the residual heat. Do not put it back on the hob, as white chocolate seizes very easily. Pour through a fine sieve into a warm jug.

   100 g white chocolate

7. 07

   Serve hot

   Rest the pudding 5 minutes, then serve straight from the dish, making sure every portion gets some crisp peak as well as soft middle. Pour the warm white chocolate custard over at the table. Poured in the kitchen, it softens the peaks before anyone sees them.