Oops, it happened again. The pile of greenmarket peaches ripened quicker than I could eat them, and I was left with two handfuls of too-juicy, too-mushy peaches. What to do, what to do? An English summer pudding, I suppose.

Unlike the thick creamy American dessert called pudding, English puddings are a whole different animal. An English summer pudding is a molded, uncooked concoction that calls on sliced bread and a whole mess of fruit. And you just have to love those English desserts: Hasty Puddings, Spotted Dogs, Roly Polies, Syllabubs, Flummeries, Fools and Trifles.

I have wanted to play around with some gluten-free desserts and thought this might be a good place since the texture of gluten-free bread, which sometimes leaves me wanting, wouldn’t have the same issues here. For my peaches, I poached them first to get them just right. This is great vegan dessert recipe too, just swap the dairy garnish with a nice vegan ice cream.

INGREDIENTS
1 loaf of light gluten-free bread
4 ripe peaches
1 1/2 cups white wine
1 cup fresh orange juice
2 vanilla beans
1/4 cup Sucanat (or natural sweetener of your choice)

1. Score bottom of peaches with an “X” and combine wine, juice, sweetener and vanilla beans in a sauce pan and heat until heated but not yet simmering. Add peaches, stem-side down, cover pot and poach for ten minutes over medium heat, allowing mixture to simmer but not boil.

2. Remove the lid and flip peaches over, recover pan and cook for another five minutes. Remove from heat and let peaches soak for another 10 minutes. Remove to plate and allow peaches to cool.

3. Pit and slice peaches, reserving any juices that escape while slicing.

4. Line a 1 1/2 quart souffle dish with plastic wrap. (This is the way a molded pudding is usually done, but I’m a bit skittish about extended contact between plastic and food–if you are the same, skip the plastic, it just won’t look as tidy when you unmold it.)

5. Remove crust from bread and line bottom and sides of dish with bread slices. Add one third of the peaches and cover with another layer of bread, and repeat two more times.

6. Press plastic wrap over the top (or not) and cover with a cake pan that fits snugly inside the mold. Place the dish on a larger plate (in case of spillage) and set a heavy weight on top to press the pudding into the mold. Refrigerate for 12 to 24 hours.

7. When ready to serve, remove weight and cake pan. Place a serving dish face down on the pudding, flip the pudding over, and shimmy it onto the serving dish.

8. Serve with whipped cream or greek yogurt.