Pancake breakfast bake bread pudding

Instructions

1. Heat the oven to 350°F conventional or 325°F convection. Butter the baking dish. Cut the leftover pancake bake into roughly 1-inch pieces and measure loosely. Put the pieces in a large bowl. Remove any big dollops of yogurt cream before measuring; a little compote or topping clinging to the pieces is fine.
2. Whisk the eggs, milk, brown sugar, vanilla, cinnamon and salt until smooth. For plain pancake pieces, pour all of this custard over them. For pieces already moist with compote or yogurt, start with three-quarters of the mixed custard and reserve the rest.
3. Fold gently and let soak for 15 minutes, turning once halfway through. Break open a piece: the inside should be moist, with no dry, pale core. If dry, add reserved custard first, then milk 2 tablespoons at a time, and wait another 5 minutes. Stop when the pieces are saturated and a little custard collects when you gently press them. They should not float in a deep pool. Do not force in reserved custard once the mixture is already wet enough.
4. Transfer to the prepared dish and spread evenly without packing down hard. Keep the mixture no deeper than about 1 1/2 inches, with at least 1/2 inch of headroom. Use a second buttered dish if needed. Stir together the topping ingredients and dot the mixture across the surface.
5. Bake uncovered, checking at 25 minutes. Expect about 30 to 40 minutes for the 8-inch dish. The top should be golden, the edges set and the center softly set, with no liquid custard when gently pressed. Check the center with a thermometer: it must reach at least 165°F. If the top browns early, cover loosely with foil. Pull it as soon as the center is set; extra baking dries it out.
6. Rest for 10 minutes, then scoop and serve warm.

Scale to your leftovers

Measure the pancake pieces before adding custard. Cup measures are intentionally loose: do not mash the leftovers into the cup. Moisture varies, so use the soak check even when you follow the ratio.

• 2 cups pancake pieces: 1 egg, 3/4 cup milk, 1 tablespoon brown sugar, 1/2 teaspoon vanilla, 1/8 teaspoon cinnamon and a tiny pinch of salt. Halve the topping. Use a shallow 1-quart baking dish and start checking at 20 minutes; roughly 25 to 35 minutes is a guide.
• 4 cups pancake pieces: use the full recipe above in an 8-inch square dish.
• 6 cups pancake pieces: 3 eggs, 2 1/4 cups milk, 3 tablespoons brown sugar, 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla, 3/8 teaspoon cinnamon and a generous pinch of salt. Use 1 1/2 times the topping in a 9-inch square dish at least 2 inches deep. Start checking at 30 minutes; roughly 35 to 45 minutes is a guide.
• For other amounts, use 1 egg and 3/4 cup milk per 2 loosely filled cups of pancake pieces. Beat an egg before measuring a partial egg; half a large egg is about 25 grams or 1 1/2 tablespoons. Keep the same shallow depth rather than making a deeper pudding. Extra quantity does not mean multiplying the baking time.