Bread and butter pudding with brandy caramel sauce

You should soak your pudding in its creamy custard for at least an hour, though if it's more convenient, you can leave it for up to four hours. Then all you have to do in the middle of the feasting bonanza is pop it in the oven. The sauce can be made a day ahead and warmed over a low heat before serving. If you have any sauce left over, it's fantastic over ice-cream. Serves eight to 10. 90g sultanas 200ml Somerset cider brandy (or other brandy) 100g unsalted butter, softened Roughly 600g slightly stale, good white bread (a brioche-style loaf would be particularly luxurious, as would a panettone or pandoro) 1 vanilla pod 600ml double cream 200ml whole milk 3 eggs, plus 2 egg yolks 125g caster sugar For the sauce 220g caster sugar 125ml water 200ml double cream 60g unsalted butter, cut into cubes 1 good pinch flaky sea salt Soak the sultanas overnight in the cider brandy. Preheat the oven to 170C/ 325F/gas mark 3. Grease an ovenproof dish, around 30cm x 30cm x 7cm in size, with a little of the butter. Remove the crusts from the bread (if using brioche, panettone or pandoro, you don't need to do this), cut into thick slices and spread each slice thinly with butter on both sides. Split the vanilla pod lengthways and put it in a pan with the cream and milk. Bring almost to a boil, remove from the heat and leave to infuse for 10 minutes. In a bowl, whisk the whole eggs, egg yolks and caster sugar until blended. Remove the pod from the cream, then, whisking the whole time, slowly pour into the egg mix to make a thin, smooth custard. Arrange half the buttered bread in the greased dish, if necessary cutting some slices to fill any gaps. Drain the sultanas, saving the brandy, then scatter over the bread. Arrange the remaining bread on top, then pour the custard through a sieve over the top, making sure it seeps into all the slices and oozes into gaps. If it looks as if it'll flood over the sides of the dish, wait a few minutes for it to soak in before adding more. In any case, leave the pudding to soak for an hour, and up to four, before cooking. Bake for 35-40 minutes, until the top is goldenbrown and the custard set but slightly wobbly. Leave to cool for a few minutes before serving. While the pudding is cooking, make the sauce. Heat the sugar and water in a saucepan over a low heat, stirring, until the sugar dissolves. Increase the heat and boil, without stirring, until you have a deep, golden-brown syrup - you can swirl the pan about a couple of times, but don't stir. This should take about 10-15 minutes. Remove from the heat, add the cream, butter, three tablespoons of the reserved sultana-soaking brandy and salt (it will bubble up quite a bit), and stir until the butter has melted. Return to the heat and simmer gently until slightly thickened. Serve some trickled over the pudding and pour the rest into a warmed jug to pass around.