Few things are ever new again, especially as it relates to breakfast, and I, for one, think that’s beautiful. When making breakfast for a crowd and looking a low-effort dish, try a Dutch Baby! This giant baked pancake combines beautiful presentation with a low amount of effort or technical skill for a delicious treat at breakfast or brunch. While the recipe is a little particular, if you follow it as written you’ll quickly get the hang of this Seattle favorite.
What is a Dutch Baby?
A dutch baby is a big pancake baked in a cast iron skillet. Bring the ingredients up to room temperature to encourage them to puff up in the oven, and mix together in a blender (much like crepes) for a quick, smooth batter. You serve a it cut into wedges with traditional pancake toppings like syrup, powdered sugar, and fruit.
I’ll be honest – I heard about Dutch Babies thanks to the season 4 Christmas episode of Bob’s Burgers. These fluffy creations as we know them first showed up at Manca’s Cafe in Seattle in the early 1900s. The name likely comes from a mispronunciation of “Deutsch Pancakes” – or pfannkuchen. German (or Deutsch) pancakes are baked like a Dutch Baby. The folks at Manca’s claimed to have a patent on Dutch Babies in the 1940s, but you can find these pancake doppelgängers at diners all over the US.
Tips for a Successful Dutch Baby
Temperature counts
Making sure your ingredients are at room temperature helps the pancake puff up more. I’ve found that in a really hot kitchen you don’t need to spend extra time warming up ingredients, just blend the ingredients and let them sit as the oven preheats and the temp will naturally rise. In a colder kitchen, set your ingredients on top of the oven as it preheats to speed up the process.
Before baking, make sure your oven temperature reading is accurate. Some ovens have cold spots or have gauges that read out just plain wrong. Unless you have a reliable oven, use an oven thermometer to make sure you set the temperature correctly.
Hands off
This recipe requires very little hands-on time with the product. There’s no kneading or even advanced stirring! After melting the butter, simply pour batter from your blender into the hot buttery pan, then bake as directed. Much like a basque cheesecake, the rustic look of a Dutch Baby is part of the appeal.
How to Make a Dutch Baby
Dutch Baby
Equipment
- 10-inch cast iron skillet seasoned
- Blender optional
- Measuring cups & spoons
- rubber spatula
Ingredients
- 3 large eggs room temperature
- ½ c all-purpose flour
- ½ c whole milk room temperature
- 1 tbsp sugar
- Pinch nutmeg
- 4 tbsp butter
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425℉.
- Add the ingredients in this order to a blender: eggs, flour, sugar, nutmeg, and milk. Blend them together until totally smooth. (You can also do this by hand using a whisk, but a blender makes it way faster). Use a rubber spatula to ensure no flour has sunk near the blade of the blender, and blend another 5-10 seconds if you find clumps of flour.
- Add the butter to a 10-inch oven safe skillet, and put it into your oven to melt. Take the hot skillet out of the oven as soon as the butter has totally melted – you don't want it to get too brown.
- Pour the batter into the hot buttery pan – DO NOT mix any more. (The butter will naturally swirl around the batter.)
- Bake for 20 minutes, then turn the oven down to 300℉ and bake another 5 minutes.
- Remove the Dutch Baby from oven. Let it rest a few minutes to shrink away from the pan, then remove with a large spatula.
- Cut into 8 wedges (like a pizza) and serve right away with your favorite pancake toppings like syrup, powdered sugar, fresh berries, and whipped cream.
Leave a Reply