Calatrava bread

Related to the family of flans and puddings , Calatrava bread may be one of the easiest recipes to prepare and at the same time the most appreciated. Its basic ingredients could not be more basic: milk, eggs and sugar, to which a portion of pastries or bread (hence its name) is added as the main characteristic. In other words, a classic egg flan only with a prize. It doesn't look bad at all, right?

It is actually a recipe for using up leftovers in order to make the most of that loaf of bread, those muffins, those croissants or those ensaimadas (to name a few options) that may have become a little dry and we don't want to throw away. And at home, not a single gram of food is thrown away. Because Calatrava bread, as well as torrijas (another of the star sweet recipes for using up leftovers), with their humble appearance and simple preparation, are a triumph for the palate and for the pocket.

And for those of you who don't know, Calatrava bread – also known as “leftover pudding” – is one of those recipes steeped in tradition. Today it is considered a typical dessert from the region of Murcia, also very popular in some areas of Andalusia (such as Almería), although it actually seems to have its origins in Castilla la Mancha. Even so, in the province of Alicante (where I live) it is also a very popular dessert in many traditional restaurants (and at my grandparents' house on more Sundays than I can remember).

Although it is true that it is very common to use a plumcake mould when preparing this recipe, we can actually use almost any mould with the shape that we like the most. I have opted for the ceramic mould for pudding and cakes from Kitchen Craft which, in addition to giving a fantastic result for this type of preparation (although its uses are many and varied), is simply a beautiful piece, don't you think?

Kitchen Craft Pudding and Cake Mold

Ingredients (for 6 people)

All ingredients should be at room temperature unless otherwise noted.

• 65 g white sugar, to caramelize the mold
• 30 ml (2 tablespoons) of water, to caramelize the mold
• 650 ml of whole or semi-skimmed milk
• Zest of ½ orange (avoid the white part, as it is bitter) – optional
• 20-25 cardamom pods – optional
• 150 g white sugar
• 5 eggs (L)
• Approx. 200 g of bread* or pastries (muffins, croissants, ensaimadas, sponge cake, etc.), preferably from the day before

Preparation

1. Preheat the oven (electric and without air) to 165ºC with heat from above and below and place the deep oven tray in the lower third (2nd lowest level). Next, fill the tray with water up to ¾ of its capacity**.
2. The first thing we'll do is caramelize the mold (although some people skip this step; at home we can't do without that touch of caramel), for which we'll put the 65g of sugar and the 30ml of water in a saucepan over medium heat and bring to the boil without stirring . We'll let the sugar dissolve on its own with the heat until it acquires a light, uniform golden tone, then we'll remove it from the heat immediately, since the sugar takes color very quickly once it starts to toast. WARNING: Melted sugar at these temperatures can cause serious burns, so we'll have to be extremely careful when handling it.
3. Now pour the liquid caramel onto the base of a 1.5 litre Kitchen Craft pudding mould that I used***, and make a few circular movements so that it also covers part of the sides. Set aside.
4. If you want to flavour the milk, put it in a medium saucepan along with the orange peel and the cardamom pods - which you will partially open to release their aroma - and bring to the boil. Once the milk starts to boil, turn off the heat and let it rest, with the saucepan covered, for about 10 minutes. Strain and set aside. If you are going to use the milk directly without flavouring, you will obviously skip this step.
5. Next, in a large bowl and using a whisk, gently mix the eggs and sugar so as not to incorporate air into the mixture ( ball-tip whisks are ideal for this) until you obtain a uniform mixture.
6. Next, gradually add the milk (flavored) to the sugar and egg mixture, continuing to mix (without beating) with the whisk.
7. Then we add the pastries we have chosen (I used butter croissants ) crumbled into the bottom of the mold.
8. Finally, pour the previous mixture of eggs, sugar and milk into the mold on top of the crumbled pastries and mix a little with the help of a spoon so that it is distributed and soaked well.
9. Bake for about 60-65 minutes until the surface has acquired a light golden hue and the centre is completely set (when you insert a skewer into the bottom it should come out completely clean and dry). As with any egg-based flan, if you bake too little, your Calatrava bread will fall apart as soon as you take it out of the mould or cut it; if, on the other hand, you bake too much, it will be excessively dry and even acquire a slightly greenish hue inside.
10. We remove the mould from the oven, being careful not to burn ourselves with the water from the bain-marie that may drip, and we let our Calatrava bread cool completely inside the mould on a cooling rack at room temperature. We will keep it refrigerated and well covered until serving time, as this type of pudding is best served cold and from one day to the next, as this way the flavours are well accentuated.
11. To unmold, we will pass a thin knife around the mold to separate the Calatrava bread, we will place a plate or a dish on the mold and we will turn it upside down. And that's it!

A scoop of vanilla ice cream, a little (or a lot) of whipped cream or a generous dollop of custard, for example, are ideal accompaniments, but I'll leave that up to you.

Calatrava bread, in addition to being much better from one day to the next, can be kept perfectly refrigerated for up to 3 days.

Kitchen Craft Pudding and Cake Mold

Grades:

• *If you use bread (always from the day before) instead of pastries, you will have to soak it in milk for at least 30 minutes before adding it to the rest of the ingredients of our Calatrava bread; as it will provide less sweetness than the pastries, you can always slightly increase the amount of sugar in the recipe.
• **If we do not have a deep oven tray for the bain-marie, we would use the rack, but we will then need an additional container (suitable for oven) larger than our pudding mould with enough capacity to fill it with water about 3 fingers without it overflowing when we put the first one inside.
• ***If we are going to use a mould of different dimensions (always with enough capacity to hold our Calatrava bread), we will have to check the cooking time in the oven; for example, if it were lower and wider, the time would be reduced, even if the volume of the mixture were the same.
• As for flavouring milk, some people prefer to use it naturally, skipping this step. I chose orange and cardamom, but there are countless possible options, each more interesting than the last: the classic lemon and cinnamon, anise, etc.
• 1 tablespoon = 15 ml / 1 teaspoon = 5 ml

And so, loaded as it is with tradition, Calatrava bread confirms to us – once again – that no complications are necessary to end up with a dessert that never ceases to conquer those who try it (and those who prepare it!). And you, did you know about it?

A hug,

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