Bread Sauce Recipe please?

Question

Does anyone have a recipe for bread sauce that tastes similar to the ones by Colmans or Schwartz? I live in France + they don't sell it here + I miss it like crazy!

METRIC ONLY PLEASE

Thanks

Answer 1

Bread sauce  

Makes 1 litre  



Preparation time less than 30 mins

Cooking time 10 to 30 mins

    







Ingredients

1 day-old loaf unsliced white bread

1 litre/2 pints full-fat milk

1 onion, peeled and quartered

4 cloves

2 fresh bay leaves

1 tsp white peppercorns

2 blades fresh mace or heaped ¼ tsp ground mace

2 tsp salt

30g/1oz butter

2 tbsp double cream, optional

1 fresh nutmeg, for grating

Method

1. Remove the crust from the bread and tear the stripped loaf into a mound of rough chunks or cubes about 2cm/¾in in size. You should end up with 175-200g (6¼-7¼oz) of cubes. If the bread is not slightly stale already, leave the pieces out on a wire rack to dry out.

2. Pour the milk into a saucepan. Press a clove into each quarter of the onion.

3. Add the onion quarters, bay leaves, peppercorns and the blades of mace (or sprinkle the ground mace into the pan) along with the salt and bring to the mixture almost to its boiling point.

4. Remove the pan from the heat. Cover the pan with a lid and let the ingredients infuse for at least half an hour, though you can leave it for a few hours if that helps with your cooking schedule.

5. After the mixture has infused, place the pan back on a very low heat. Using a slotted spoon, remove the onions, peppercorns, cloves, bay leaves and the blades of mace.

6. Add the bread to the saucepan and cook for about 15 minutes, stirring every now and then, by which time the sauce should have become thick and warm.

7. Just before serving the bread sauce, add the butter to the saucepan and stir until the butter has melted and combined with the sauce and season, to taste, with salt.

8. Add the cream (if using). Grate over quite a bit of nutmeg, adding more once you have poured the bread sauce into a warmed bowl or gravy boat.

Answer 2

4 oz (110 g) freshly made white breadcrumbs (a two-day-old white loaf with crusts removed will be hard enough to grate, but the best way to make the crumbs is in a liquidiser, if you have one)

1 large onion

15-18 whole cloves or freshly grated nutmeg

1 bay leaf

8 black peppercorns

1 pint (570 ml) breakfast milk

2 oz (50 g) butter

2 tablespoons double cream

salt and freshly milled black pepper



Cut the onion in half and stick the cloves in it – how many you use is a personal matter; I happen to like a pronounced flavour of clove. If you don't like them at all, you can use some freshly grated nutmeg instead. Place the onion – studded with cloves – plus the bay leaf and the peppercorns, in a saucepan together with the milk. Add some salt then bring everything up to boiling point. Take off the heat, cover the pan and leave in a warm place for the milk to infuse for two hours or more.

When you're ready to make the sauce, remove the onion, bay leaf and peppercorns and keep them on one side. Stir the breadcrumbs into the milk and add 1 oz (25 g) of the butter. Leave the saucepan on a very low heat, stirring now and then, until the crumbs have swollen and thickened the sauce – about 15 minutes. Now replace the clove-studded onion, the bay leaf and the peppercorns and again leave the pan in a warm place until the sauce is needed.

Just before serving, remove the onion and spices. Reheat gently then beat in the remaining butter and the cream and taste to check the seasoning. Pour into a warm serving jug.