Welcome to the ‘Breakfast Series’.
I never really liked traditional Continental breakfasts. To be quite honest, I never really liked breakfasts in general, but I was always fascinated to discover what breakfast meant for different cultures. Through my travels and cultural interactions, I adopted a continuous understanding of the benefits of a thoughtfully-prepared breakfast, and how imperative it is for improving one’s health. This series is something I put together to motivate not just myself, but others to mindfully and deliciously break-fast.
Sweet Dutch Baby Pancakes
Despite the name, Dutch baby pancakes originated in the 1900s in Seattle by a man named, Victor Manca. He owned a restaurant called “Manca Cafe”, and it may have been his interpretation of the German pancake or ‘Pfannkuchen‘. It’s said that his daughter had a hard time pronouncing “Deutsche” and said “Dutch” instead, so Dutch it became.
I don’t know about you, but I always loved watching bread rise in the oven and this aspect is something that immediately drew me to the Dutch baby pancake (along with how simple it is to make). The ingredients are pretty much the same as a regular pancake — you just need a bit of patience.
Yields 2-4
Ingredients
½ cup all-purpose flour
½ cup whole milk
2-3 tablespoons of unsalted butter
3 large eggs
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
½ teaspoon of fine salt
Optional
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Powdered sugar for dusting, jams, fruit, or syrups to serve
Tools
Whisk, fork, hand blender, or food processor
Bowl
9″ or 10″ iron or oven-safe skillet
Spatula
Oven mitts
The Batter.
1. In a bowl (or food processor), pour the flour, milk, eggs, sugar, salt, and optional vanilla extract and whisk (or blend) until there are no more lumps. The batter will be thin and runny, so don’t worry.
2. After you’ve whisked or blended until there are no lumps, let the batter rest for about 25 minutes so that everything settles and is combined well.
Baking.
3. Preheat the oven to 425°F and place your iron or oven-safe skillet in the oven while the oven is preheating — it is crucial for the skillet to be hot for this to work and you’ll also get some nice crispiness to the edges this way as well.
4. When your batter has been well-rested, your oven is ready, and your skillet is hot, carefully take your skillet out of the oven and coat the whole skillet with your butter.
5. Once the skillet is well coated, add your batter. Be sure to cover the skillet thoroughly with your mixture. You may want to tilt your skillet so the edges are also covered properly. Then, place it in the oven for about 12 minutes and then an additional 1 or 2-minute increments to get a nice golden brown on the edges.
Serving.
6. To serve, I like to add berries or spiced caramelized apples and dust a generous amount of powdered sugar over top. For a bit of added sweetness, I also like to drizzle some of my favourite maple syrup as well. Anything goes! Enjoy!
What I also love about Dutch baby pancakes are that they are so versatile. If you’re thinking of making it a savoury one, the recipe essentially stays the same save for a bit of tweaks and takeaways. If you need some inspiration for topping ideas, I’ve shared a few variations that I enjoy.
