Fat free waybread with currants

I've been making this bread pudding-like thing since I invented it a few years ago. I didn't really have a name for it, but recently my daughter has been taking it to school as a satisfying treat between her mock exams, and just seeing her put it in her pocket as she leaves for the journey to school has got me referring to it as "waybread" lately, so I suppose that's as good a name as any!

It's a sort of something-for-nothing recipe, using mostly things you've always got in the cupboard and things you'd otherwise throw away.

It starts with the crusty ends off your loaves of bread, and any bits that don't slice right - I just keep them in a bag in the freezer until I have enough to make a mush out of. When you've got a fair amount (usually the offcuts from a week's worth of bread make enough for us), break it up into small bits like this:

Then you need to soak it in milk - I use skimmed because of my dodgy gallbladder, which keeps this a fat free cake effectively - about a pint is usually enough. What I do is just splash a bit in then stir the bread around, adding more until it's all coated and mostly sits beneath the liquid level if you mush it well down. Then leave it to soak for at least an hour with a teatowel over it.

Once it's had a good soak, get your minion to mash it with a fork until the crusty bits are all broken up and it's properly gooey - thus:

Then I shake in some sugar - sorry, I never measure any of this, though I keep meaning to, but I always forget as I'm usually pretty busy doing loads of things at once when I'm doing this. It depends how sweet you want it of course, and you could use sugar, golden syrup or honey, whichever has the flavour you prefer. As a ballpark figure I'd say to start with about 100g of sugar or 3tbsp of honey/syrup, and see how you go. Unrefined (brown, golden granulated etc) sugar is always best, but any will do. If you have them, traditional cake spices like cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg go well in it, so I usually put in half a teaspoon of each. But it still tastes good when I forget to!

At this stage, your mixture is likely to be too runny, so use porridge oats to thicken it. I usually add them a handful at a time, mixing in and giving it time to soak up some of the liquid before adding more, until it reaches a stodgy consistency that can be pressed into a baking dish (as opposed to poured). 

Then if I have any, I mix in a couple of handfuls of dried fruit. I've been looking into cutting down the food miles on cake ingredients and just like the almonds that usually come from California, you can get perfectly good European currants and raisins. I got 3kg of organic ones, grown in Greece, for £22.35, which I make as equivalent to paying £3.72 for your average half kilo pack at the supermarket.

I know the "super value" type is probably about a third of that price, but getting the largest volume for the smallest price is not what this project is all about. It's about learning the true cost of things, being willing to pay a fair price for responsibly produced and sourced products and to adjust your lifestyle in accordance with what this teaches you as regards what are life's necessities and luxuries. If sultanas at £2 per kilo mean huge volumes of them flying over the Atlantic constantly while supply lines by freight train across Europe puts the price up (no doubt thanks to some dirty dealings at the WTO which in reality only "liberalises" trade in one direction!), then I can live with not eating as many raisins for a clearer conscience!

Here's the stodgy stuff in its dish (greased!), ready to go into the oven at 150°C for about an hour:

And when it comes out, let it cool down and it should just fall out of the dish when you turn it upside down. Then you can chop it up into treat size squares and enjoy it with a nice cuppa! Kept in the fridge it'll last about a week, and travels well as it's pretty squash/break/crumble resistant.

One variation I sometimes do is when I have a bit of leftover marzipan from something else, brush your favourite jam over the top while it's still warm out of the oven and stick the rolled out marzipan on it for a bit of added sweetie goodness!

That's genuine crap photography there, an endangered species as phone cameras are doing all but make the tea nowadays! Apple will have my attention when they start doing that! ;)