Dutch Baby (German Pancakes)

WOW your family this weekend with this dramatic yet super simple breakfast idea… Dutch Baby!! They are not your regular pancakes.

Very similar to German pancakes, this skillet pancake puffs tall with crispy rims, and has small mounds and valleys and a soft, custardy center. All sound good? Sprinkle some powder sugar and top it with your favorite berries…

Voila.. One gorgeous, fancy looking breakfast or brunch ready for your friends and family. This baby can be whipped up with just 5 minutes of hands-on prep time with a few pantry staple ingredients, and then popped in oven for the rest of the magic.

Breakfast or brunch is such a happy time, when the whole family gathers for the first meal of the day. We have some fantastic breakfast ideas for everybody to enjoy on GypsyPlate. Our Breakfast Tacos, Shakshuka and Crustless Quiche are sumptuous and delicious.

When Hurricane Nicole hit us dead on here on Hutchinson Island, we were fearing we might loose power and wanted to treat ourself with some delicious treat before possibly going on pre-made hurricane food.

This puffy one skillet pancake, aka Dutch Baby, loaded with berries sounded like a great idea…

You will Love Dutch Baby, cos…

1. It has a BIG wow factor as soon as you take this sizzling pancake out of the oven, with its raised rims and dramatic appearance. It looks absolutely stunning with just a little sprinkling of powdered sugar and any topping of your choice.

2. It’s one of the easiest breakfasts you will cook for your family. It’s just a matter of starting the oven, mixing the batter and baking it.

3. This is the product of simple and every day pantry staple ingredients.

4. This would take the taste and flavor of whatever toppings you put on top, sweet or savory. It’s your choice, making it highly customizable and can be different in flavor every single time.

5. It can feed the crowd if you increase the size of pan, or make it in a big casserole instead of a regular cast iron skillet.

What is Dutch Baby

Dutch Babies are oven baked pancakes, and sometimes are also known as German Pancakes, Dutch Puffs or Puff Pancakes.

They’re almost similar to Yorkshire pudding or American popovers. Unlike most pancakes, Dutch babies are baked in the oven, rather than being fried on a griddle. They get puffier and thicker than most pancakes, and contain no leavening ingredients like baking powder.

They can be sweet or savory, and can be served as any meal from breakfast to bruch to even a breakfast for dinner idea.

Dutch babies taste like a cross between a crêpe and a pancake. However, they are much lighter than pancakes, and their appearance, texture, and taste are very similar to a popover or Yorkshire pudding.

Contrary to the name, it’s not Dutch but actually German in origin. The idea of a Dutch baby pancake may have come from the German Pancake, Pfannkuchen, but it’s believed that Dutch babies originated in the US in the early 1900’s.

As the story goes, the name “Dutch baby” came from a famous Seattle cafe called Manca’s. The owner’s daughter incorrectly pronounced Deutsch, (the German word for German) as Dutch. The “baby” came from the restaurant serving mini versions of the pancake.

The whole idea is pretty basic. A well stirred batter of flour, egg, and milk is simply poured into a sizzling hot skillet and baked. It will rise and puff up, like a popover, and then will fall a little after being removed from the oven. But no worries. Just take this skillet straight to the table and garnish it with your desired toppings.

No need to make individual pancakes for the crowd, just make one giant Dutch Baby and cut it straight in the pan for individual portions.

Tips for Making the Best Dutch Baby

1. Use room temperature ingredients like milk and eggs for a puffy appearance of dutch baby.
2. Use the blender or hand mixer to whip up the batter. This adds more air bubbles in the batter, aiding it to be puffier. In its absence simply, stir vigorously, until you get smooth, bubbly batter.
3. Rest the batter at least 20 minutes.
4. Properly preheat your skillet in the oven. High heat and a piping hot baking vessel are secrets to the puffiest Dutch baby.

What Makes a Dutch Baby Rise?

Dutch baby pancakes don’t include any leaveners, yet rise dramatically. When you bake room temperature milk and eggs in a very hot skillet, it creates and traps steam while baking.

Using a pre heated skillet helps the stem to form very quickly, and this trapped steam makes the Dutch baby puff with high tall edges curving up from the sides.

Dutch Baby Ingredients

• Eggs – At room temperature. (To quickly bring eggs to room temperature, place in a bowl of warm water for 5 minutes)
• Flour – We used all purpose flour.
• Milk – Again, at room temperature. (To bring milk to room temperature, microwave for 15 seconds)
• Sugar
• Vanilla extract
• Salt – just a pinch.
• Butter – softened.
• For Toppings – Berries of your choice, powdered sugar and maple syrup.

How to Make Dutch Baby Pancakes

1. Preheat cast iron skillet in the oven: Place the cast iron skillet in a cold oven, then preheat to 425°F. We used a 10-inch cast iron skillet (a deep sided pie dish would work too). Preheating the skillet produces lot of hot surface, so the pancake will rice and puff quickly without overcooking.

2. Blend batter: While you are preheating the skillet and oven, add all ingredients for the batter (eggs, milk, flour, sugar, vanilla and salt) in a blender and blend until smooth. You can use a hand blender, too.

3. Melt the butter: Once oven is preheated, remove the skillet carefully and melt softened butter in the skillet and make sure it covers the sides of the skillet.

4. Add batter: Pour the batter into the center of the skillet.

5. Bake: Immediately return the skillet back to the oven and bake 15-16 minutes, until puffed and browned at the edges. Don’t open the oven, just keep an eye on it from outside.

6. Add the toppings: Sprinkle the powdered sugar, add in the berries and drizzle maple syrup.

How to Serve Dutch Baby

This can be served with such a variety of toppings. Here are some of our favorite ideas:

• Sprinkle with powdered sugar and add fruits as toppings, like different berries, banana, or mangoes.
• Top it with whipped cream, a dollop of butter and maple syrup.
• How about some caramelized apples? Yum.
• Spread jams, preserves, Nutella or chocolate syrup.
• Top with smoked salmon and capers with a little bit of cream cheese.
• A topping of runny fried eggs is awesome for savory Dutch Baby.
• Ham, prosciutto or Tomato Confit would go great with this German Pancake-like Dutch Baby.

Dutch Baby Variations

1. For a sweeter Dutch Baby, increase the sugar to 2 tablespoons.
2. Use nutmeg or cinnamon, or a combination of the two. A little goes a long way with these spices, so you don’t need much, just a few pinches.
3. Try adding lemon juice and/or lemon zest to the pancake batter for a lemon Dutch Baby.
4. Savory Dutch Baby: For a savory pancake, omit the sugar. You can mix in different types of cheese and chives. Use toppings like smoked salmon, fresh herbs, sliced ham, prosciutto, fried or poached eggs, sliced avocado, shredded cheese or tomato confit.

Can I Make Dutch Baby in Advance?

Absolutely! You can make the batter the night before and let it rest in the fridge overnight. When you wake up in the morning, preheat the oven with the skillet.

Bring the cold liquid to room temperature while the oven is preheating.  Give the batter quick whisk just before pouring it in the hot skillet.

Doubling the Dutch Baby Recipe

You can double the recipe for larger crowds. Preheat the oven to 425˚F and preheat a 13×9 casserole dish. Remove the hot casserole and add 4 Tbsp melted butter, brushing the bottom and sides with butter. Pour in the batter and bake 20-23 minutes, or until puffed and browned at the edges.

If you have not yet tried Dutch Babies, it’s about time to make this easy and delicious pancake for your family. Try this new way to make this German Pancake, and you won’t spend hours over the stove flipping those regular pancakes.

Just stir, pour and bake… Dutch Baby is one stunning baby for your breakfast or brunch table. Have fun with it, all sprinkled Snow White like with powdered sugar, and with those delicious berries on top…

Dutch Baby, on our Gypsy Plate… enjoy!

Try these other breakfast and brunch ideas!
Biscuits and Gravy
Eggs Cochon
Denver Omelette
Shrimp and Grits
Pesto Eggs
Eggs Bhurji
Loco Moco

Dutch Baby (German Pancakes)

Yield: 4 servings

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes

Additional Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 20 minutes

This Dutch Baby, or German Pancake, is a super tasty breakfast or brunch you can whip up with pantry staples. And the topping options are endless!

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Ingredients

• 3 eggs
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 Tbsp sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 4 Tbsp butter, softened

Instructions

1. Use a blender, hand mixer or whisk to mix together the eggs, flour, milk, sugar, salt and vanilla extract. Mix until well combined and air bubbles have formed in the mixture. Allow batter to rest at least 20 minutes.
2. Place 10 inch oven safe skillet (such as cast iron) in a cold oven. Preheat oven to 425°F.
3. Once oven is preheated, carefully remove the skillet from the oven. Add butter and swirl the skillet around such that the butter is well distributed.
4. Pour in batter. Return skillet to oven and bake `16-18 minutes.
5. Top dutch baby with your choice of syrup, fruits and confectioners sugar. Serve immediately.

Nutrition Information

Yield 4 Serving Size 1
Amount Per Serving Calories 243Total Fat 16gSaturated Fat 9gTrans Fat 1gUnsaturated Fat 6gCholesterol 172mgSodium 305mgCarbohydrates 17gFiber 0gSugar 5gProtein 7g

Nutrition information calculated by Nutritionix.

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Welcome to GypsyPlate! I'm Alpana, former wordwide tour manager and professional caterer, now full time blogger. I love exploring cuisines from around the world, and my recipes have been featured on sites such as MSN, Parade, Brit + Co, CNET and AOL. You can explore my entire collection of sortable recipes in my Recipe Index or learn more about me here.