the best way of using up breadcrumbsis brown bread ice cream. This sounds very odd, but intriguing, and the other day I happened to have a lot of brown breadcrumbs needing a home...
The first thing I did was to prepare the breadcrumbs. This involved mixing them with an equal quantity of sugar, spreading on a baking tray and baking until the sugar has melted and the crumbs have caramelised. I didn't have the demerara sugar called for in the recipe, but never one to let a lack of ingredients put me off, I used a mixture of white granulated and soft dark brown sugars. Spreading it on a baking tray was a bit of a challenge - it ended up about half a centimetre thick, and in serious danger of falling off the edge whenever I stirred it, which I did because I didn't want the top to burn while the rest stayed uncooked. A fair bit ended up on the floor. What didn't go on the floor went in a pot for use the next day, as I had yet to obtain the cream.
Rather more than a pint of double cream was duly procured (metric measures - the big pots are now 600 ml) and most of it whipped, eggs were separated and beaten, and the whole lot combined.
Ingredients for brown bread ice cream
The recipe said it would make a pint of ice cream, but the ingredients were about a pint and looking at the amount of air in that recipe, I reckoned it would make a lot more than that. Sure enough, it nearly filled a one-litre tub.
I kept back some of the beaten egg white because I had an idea for another recipe. When I made rhubarb fool I thought it might be nice frozen, so I decided to try some as ice cream. I'd frozen the stewed rhubarb, so had to take some out of the freezer for this. It didn't seem very efficient thawing it out only to refreeze it, so I let it soften just enough for me to scrape it into mush with a knife and fork. I then mixed in sugar, the egg white, and enough cream to make it look the right sort of colour. It actually ended up looking pinkish, rather than sludge coloured like the fool.
I stirred both of them once when they were half frozen, then tested a scoop of each later in the day. I was surprised that the brown bread one wasn't fully frozen, as I'd started it earlier, but it was in a bigger tub.
Rhubarb and brown bread ice creams. Can you tell which is which?
Ian hasn't tried the rhubarb yet, and says the brown bread one tastes a bit like cookie dough ice cream, but he doesn't like the texture. The crumbs aren't as hard as toast crumbs, but they're certainly not soft. Oh well, all the more for me, then!
Brown bread icecream! I used to have this as a dessert at a restaurant years and years ago and always planned to make some as it is my favourite icecream. Hoping to make elderflower champagne this weekend I have a ginger beer plant to make into ginger beer first - I have a few strawberries I may just pop these into the mix - thanks again for an inspiring post.
ReplyDeleteCheers, Rosie :-)
ReplyDeleteIs brown bread ice cream supposed to have bits in? I've never had it before and I'd assumed the bread would go soft in the cream before it froze, but it didn't come out like that. It's still very tasty, though.
I assume you mean the strawberries will be going in with the elderflowers, not the ginger beer, though that could be, um, interesting...
when you make icecream with eggs and cream you are supposed to make a cooked custard first with them and then cool before turning into icecream.
ReplyDeleteNot according to this recipe, Berti. I've no doubt there are lots of ice cream recipes of varying complexity. I've made one that's essentially just fruit and cream. That also comes out very well, though a little on the solid side.
ReplyDeleteMorning lovely; I couldn't resist sharing this recipe with our readers this morning (http://myzerowaste.com/2011/07/mrs-greens-recycling-stories-of-the-week-2/) and with, what looks to be a hot day, what better recipe to share :)
ReplyDeleteHope you're having a lovely weekend
Oh, goodness! If you're sending people here, I'd better make that recipe a bit more useful! Here are the quantities for brown bread ice cream:
ReplyDelete3 oz each of brown breadcrumbs and sugar
2 eggs
1 tablespoon of honey (can't remember whether I put that in or not. I might not have had any.)
3/4 pint double cream
The recipe comes from Sarah Brown's Vegetarian Kitchen.