Slices of buttered bread scattered with raisins are layered in an oven dish, covered with an egg custard mixture seasoned with nutmeg, vanilla, cinnamon or other spices, then baked.

Sometimes raspberry, strawberry, blackberry or mixed fruit jam, marmalade, or other sweet preserves will be spread upon the bread, along with the butter.

One of the earliest published recipes for a bread and butter pudding so named is found in Eliza Smith's The Compleat Housewife of 1728.

[4] Some recipes call for a simple meringue to be made from the leftover egg whites and sugar which is spread over a layer of jam or preserves on the top of the pudding after it has come from the oven.

In 1845, Eliza Acton suggests giving "a good flavour of lemon-rind and bitter almonds, or of cinnamon, if preferred, to a pint of new milk", then adding cream and sugar, thickened with beaten eggs.