Torta di pane

Photos Courtesy of  Rum & Reason

Torta di pane | Rum & Reason

Torta di pane

Feeds an army

500g stale bread crusts
100g raisins (or other dried fruit)
100g mixed pinenuts and pistachios (or other nuts)
100g sugar
1.4liters (5.9 cups)whole milk
3 eggs

Take out your bag of crusts of the freezer during the day and leave to defrost. In the evening before you want to cook, find a big bowl or tupperware box and start tearing up the crusts into little pieces – you don’t have to be too pernickety, just make sure that the milk can get in to start softening up the bread. Add the dried fruit, nuts and sugar to the bowl and pour in milk. Mix it all up to combine well and put in the fridge overnight.

The next morning, preheat the oven to 180˚C and take out the bread mixture. Lightly beat the eggs and mix those in too.

Find a tin big enough for the cake – for 500g crusts, I use an Italian plum cake tin, which is basically a 3lb loaf tin. The torta doesn’t rise much at all, so you can go with the size that is completely filled by the mixture. Bake for 40 – 60 minutes, depending on the size of the tin, until the mix has shrunk away from the edges of the tin and a skewer comes out pretty much clean (my size with 500g took an hour in the oven this morning). Leave to cool in the tin for 15 minutes for it to settle, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool.

- Sent using Google Toolbar"

Many thanks Rum & Reason!