Flour pudding with pear compote

Ingredients for 8 servings:

• 625 g flour
• 200 g margarine or butter
• 125 g sugar
• 175 g raisins
• 1 cube of yeast
• 3 large eggs
• 1 pinch of salt
• 250 ml milk
• ½ tsp nutmeg
• 1 lemon(s), grated peel

Instructions

Working time approx. 30 minutes; Cooking/baking time approx. 2 hours; Total time approx. 2 hours 30 minutes

Let the yeast prove in some of the lukewarm milk with some of the sugar. Rinse the raisins and soak them in warm water for a while. Warm the margarine until it is soft or semi-liquid. Put the flour, sugar, eggs, salt, grated lemon zest, and nutmeg in a bowl and mix (this works best in a food processor with a dough hook). Add the milk and yeast and mix well. The dough should not be too stiff (it should come away from the wooden spoon in strips). Finally, mix in the raisins. Transfer the dough to a greased and breadcrumb-coated pudding dish/double boiler (the dish must be large enough, 2.5 l) with a lid. Place the dish in a lidded saucepan and submerge it halfway in warm water and heat the water. Once the water boils, reduce the heat so that it is just simmering. Leave on the stove for 2 hours. Then remove from the water bath, remove the lid from the dish, and turn the pudding out onto a plate. Serve the warm pudding with plenty of pear compote. I always use two cans of pears, which I briefly boil on the stovetop, season with lemon juice, cinnamon, and sugar if desired, and then thicken slightly with cornstarch. The pudding can be stored easily by inverting the dish over the rest. Heat it briefly in the microwave later, and it tastes almost as good as freshly made. Soup makes a good starter.