Wednesday, October 15, 2014

Dutch Babies – Almost as Easy to Make as Real Babies!

I had my first "Dutch Baby" in Chicago a few years ago, and have wanted to do a video on them ever since. I’ve always been fascinated by how many different breakfast foods you can create using just milk, eggs, and flour; and this is one of the more interesting examples. Especially considering the unusual, and borderline disturbing name.

Sometimes called “German pancakes,” these have very little to do with Germany, and nothing to do with the Dutch. Apparently they were invented by German immigrants who were referred to as “Dutch;” a corruption of the word “deutsch.” So, save your emails saying they don’t have these in Germany or the Netherlands. We know.  

As I mentioned briefly in the video, I like to use a little less batter than many recipes call for. I think this provides the best crispy-to-custardy ratio. I topped mine with butter, lemon, and powdered sugar, but any and all traditional pancake toppings will work wonderfully. I hope you give these beautiful ‘babies” a try soon. Enjoy!


Ingredients for 4 small or 2 large portions:
3 large room temperature eggs
2/3 cup room temperature milk
packed 1/2 cup flour (really pack the measuring cup firmly with flour)
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp salt
3 tbsp clarified butter
- Bake at 425 F. 20-25 min
* garnish with melted butter, fresh lemon juice (Meyer if you can find it), and powdered sugar.

82 comments:

mgh said...

It is actually a very German recipe. I am German and that's exactly how I learned how to make an omelette back then. Eggs, milk, flour, salt. But then we cooked it just like an omelette, i.e. we didn't put it in the oven but kept it on the stove top. We call it either Eieromelett or Eierpfannkuchen.

rancholyn said...

OMG...totally yummy looking...curious, why clarified butter? Thanks for another winner recipe..

Unknown said...

This is almost identical to what Swedes refer to as an 'oven pancake'. My grandmother used to make these to use up milk that was on the verge of spoiling. Sure brings back memories. I used to smother mine in strawberry jam because I hated pancakes as a kid.

Rosalie Lingo said...

So when I poured the clarified butter into the pan, I apparently hit the smoke point and had a small kitchen fire. Uh oh.

Chef John said...

rancholyn, the milk solids can burn at these temps and give the pancake an off flavor.

ScienceSusan said...

That's Yorkshire pudding, but not cooked in the roast drippings. I'd let the batter fester on the counter for a coupla hours.

philogaia said...

Epiphany...um...I made and loved Dutch babies for many years until I gave up wheat for more than an occasional treat. American and all I also used to make Yorkshire puds, without ever making the connection...talk about compartmentalization! I was getting all excited about doing the occasional Dutch baby in a savory fashion but ScienceSusan reminded me that I have indeed done plenty of savory 'dutchbabies'. I will probably have to put this on my occasional treat rotation as I really loved both implementations.

BlueStarShines said...

My husband and I were planning on breakfast for dinner tonight, so this post couldn't have come at a better time. This came out AMAZING. I think tomorrow I may experiment with a savory version including chives, white cheddar and bacon. Thanks Chef John for all the inspiration!

Unknown said...

That's how the Finns do it too (no doubt due to Swedes ;<), Elaine. The looks and the texture seem to be almost exactly the same though I recall that we add sugar into the batter. It's hella good with some raspberries, blueberries and cloudberries.

Sweetie Pie said...

I love the title of this blog post ^_^

H.Sadeghi said...

That was an amazing recipe for breakfast. Mine puffed superbly and was even crispier which tells me my oven is hotter than it appears.

I took a picture of it.
http://instagram.com/chefographer

It's so much fun cooking with you chef john!

Kel said...

I don't normally keep butter at home. Can I substitute the clarify butter with grape seed oil? Thanks.

Roz said...

Once again a home run, how do you do it? I served mine with cinnamon ice cream. Yummy!

SoTxBob said...

Agreed with Susan, swap the butter for drippings and this is Yorkshire Pudding.

Jim said...

For a savory version, I'm thinking of cooking some bacon, and using the bacon fat instead of butter? And then crumbling the bacon in the batter, or just sprinkling the bacon over it after it is done? Do you think that would work?

Albert said...

Can I use regular unsalted butter and just melt it?

Unknown said...

Chef John, it would great if you could do a video demonstrating how to properly season a cast iron pan. Yours in this video looks awesome.

Chef John said...

Yes, any oil will work, but the butter gives it a great flavor.

You don't have to clarify, but you will get that stronger, nutty, smoky brown butter taste.

Chef John said...

Bacon always works, in or on!

Anonymous said...

i don't have a cast iron pan. will an oven safe frying pan work?

Chef John said...

You can use any of oven safe pan, or baking dish, but the cast iron just works better, because you can get it so much hotter.

Chef John said...

You can use any of oven safe pan, or baking dish, but the cast iron just works better, because you can get it so much hotter.

Chef John said...

You can use any of oven safe pan, or baking dish, but the cast iron just works better, because you can get it so much hotter.

Cléa Rathbun said...

I did it! And worked! I was so proud of myself... Thank you Chef. You are teaching me how to cook. And everybody who knows me has had serious doubts about my cooking learning skills...

Unknown said...

I can't eat dairy of any kind so I used coconut milk instead of regular milk and coconut oil instead of butter. My experience with cooking and baking with coconut milk is that it's usually a pretty fine substitute for regular milk, but in custards like this, they don't rise as well as they would with regular milk. I tried popovers once with coconut milk and they just didn't...pop. Same thing here. It still tasted great, it was just kinda flat and dense. Still really good. I brushed it with a combination of more coconut oil, orange juice, and ginger-flavored simple syrup after it came out of the oven, dusted with powdered sugar, and dolloped with coconut whipped cream. It was delicious. Quick and simple breakfast for a weekend morning. Thanks, Chef.

Monica said...

Known as a Lancashire pudding in England and served as dessert, exactly sameas aYorkshire pudding that is. Served with roast beef and lashings of gravy.

Alex Mojcher said...

Chef, any reason that using unsweetened almond milk wouldn't work? I want to give it a go with that substitution!

KBary said...

I made this tonight and it was delicious! One of my most treasured kitchen tools is my cast iron skillet, inherited from my mom and very well seasoned. I've made Yorkshire pudding with the xmas prime rib for years, but that dinner involves a lot of last minute rushing to get everything on the table at once. The "baby" was part of a much simpler meal and I got to appreciate how easy it is to make. Thanks Chef John!

Chef John said...

Never tried almond milk and this, but it might work.

Unknown said...

is there any healthier alternative to using butter and still getting amazing results with this?

Unknown said...

Hi chef John, thanks for the video. Is the oven preheated? I want to try making this tomorrow. Thanks.

Chef John said...

Yes! Always pre-heat the oven unless otherwise instructed!

Kevin said...

There was a glorious fire in my cast iron pan after pouring in the clarified butter. I put it out with flour. Any idea why that happened? Perhaps it was pre-heated a little too well.

michelle said...

I have a 12" cast iron skillet. Apparently that was the wrong size to invest in, because every recipe I'm running across has specified every size under the sun except 12"...

Can you help me convert the recipe to suit a 12" skillet?

Chef John said...

That's tough since you'd have to add another egg, and scale up the other ingredients by another 1/3. I'd just try it in the larger pan to see what happens!

Hunie said...

My mother and I tried this today and it was fantastic! Thank you very much!
We also made the Korean fried chicken with the sauce.

Hunie said...

My mother and I tried this today and it was fantastic! Thank you very much!
We also made the Korean fried chicken with the sauce.

KMPopsicle said...

Can anyone help...is this using all purpose or self rising flour? Thanks in advance for any help and will be off to whip this up as soon as I know which flour to use (I'm assuming all purpose). Don't want to mess it up by assuming lol.

LittleChef said...

Thank you Chef John! My 11 year old loves to watch your videos and we just had to make this. We used Cashew Milk and it worked fine. This was quite tasty.

Unknown said...

I made these the other day for my wife and I for breakfast. I used two 6 inch cast iron
skillets and put Blackberry compote on top It was delicious. Then last night I made these for
a dessert. I doubled the recipe and again used the 6 inch cast iron skillets only this time
used 4 of them. I also added 1/2 as much sugar as flour and they still puffed up nicely. I
didn't take any pictures, wish I had then I could have shared them with you. To serve them as
a dessert I placed a scoop of vanilla bean vanilla ice cream in the middle and drizzled some caramel on top
of that. They were a hit. Definitely a keeper.

Thank you so much Chef John you always have great recipes.

NotsureTony said...

Thanks for the recipe! We have this for breakfast Sunday mornings. The kids LOVE it and want me to cook it every day. I doubled the ingredients used a bigger pan and it works perfectly. Thanks again :)

Unknown said...

When I was younger I was a line cook in a pancake restaurant and we made these, but in several versions. Apple, cherry, and the plain Dutch, or German. If you make it with apples, add the apples to the pan before the batter, then half way through, add cinnamon sugar to the top and flip over, then finish and serve upside-down style.

suayres said...

My maiden name was Ayres (Susannah Ayres, Susannah for short), & coincidentally, I was introduced to this recipe by my favorite aunt as "David Ayres Pancake". They've become a family tradition, and it 's a well-loved one. Anyway, our favored family topping is "fried apples". To make, use one or two apples per person, depending on appetites; Granny Smith or Northern Spy apples are especially good in this recipe. . After peeling and coring the apples, slice them into thin wedges. Place 1 tablespoon of butter per apple in a suitable skillet. For each Apple, ass 2 tablespoons of maple syrup and two packed tablespoons of brown sugar. Season with cinnamon to taste, and cook apples until tender and caramelized. Delicious on a Dutch Baby, or waffles, or ice cream, or...? Bon Appetit! To quote the late, grande dame, Julia Child.

pat said...

cloudberries...? What are they and where can I get them?

Jamie said...

I found Meyer lemons at my fancy grocery store! According to the package, a lemon and a Mandarin orange got together and had a baby.

Unknown said...

Just made it and it was so good. Thank you Chef John. This is one of many of your recipes I have made.

Anonymous said...

Hi Chef John,

I have now made this several times and love that sound too! I keep envisioning filling those puffy little spaces with some kind of almond / cheesy flavor, sort of like a Dutch Baby / Cheese Croissant...
i tried putting Almond paste in the batter (grated it), but it lacked something. Do you have any ideas of how I can do this and what you would suggest I use for the flavor? BTW, I am already substituting Almond
Extract for the Vanilla Extract...
Thank you so much for your great videos––this is my go-to easy-peasy breakfast / brunch highlight for guests.

T-M O'S.

Gripper99 said...

Wow. Another spectacular winner! I had brunch for 8 this morning. I quadrupled the wet ingredients, added 2 tbsp. sugar, used the milk solids from the clarified butter in addition to using whole milk, and blended in packed 1/2 cup fulls of flour until my batter was a thick crèpe/thin pancake consistency. I did let the batter rest about 30 min. I gave it a 30 second blend at the last minute. I used three enameled cast iron pans, 13", 12", and 10" and adjusted the amounts of batter to each pan to cover the bottoms. I have a very large gas oven and baked all three pans at 425 with the convection mode. They were (all three!) picture perfect at 22 min. or so and served 8 folks all at once. Thank you Chef John!

Unknown said...

Hi Chef John,

Is it possible to use cake flour?

Thank You.

Unknown said...

Chef John, are you also a computer programmer? There is another man on YouTube who makes computer videos who sounds just like you! :)

Özgün said...

Came out very good. Tip: use a ribbed cast iron skillet for added waffle-like crunch at the bottom.

Puneet Gupta said...

hi chef! could you tell us what size cast iron you used for this recipe? i'm afraid if I use something too small the pastry would not cook properly, and if I use something too large the pastry would get overcooked.

Unknown said...

just saw this this morning and made it this evening. My husband vacuumed it down and asked if there was more. sadly all gone but gonna make another tomorrow.

Unknown said...

Terrible question... Can almond milk be substituted?

Unknown said...

Chef John, I just want to thank you for this amazingly easy recipe for Dutch Babies! Not only did it work for me, it came out perfect and SO delicious! And I have been trying to make this for several years now, using different recipes including Martha Stewart's! But they would never come out the way this one did using your recipe! It looked just like the one in your video! Every time I made it in the past, it would only puff up on the edges, but never in the middle! I will never use another recipe again! <3

Unknown said...

Thank you so much Chef John. Just made this as breakfast for bae and she loved it. I made the original lemon butter recipe, no extra toppings.

Tana said...

I made these paleo, dairy free and grain free. Same proportions as yours and they came out perfect. For anyone interested about the substitutions, I used coconut milk and a combination of almond and tapioca flour. They puffed up great and tasted like the original. Great recipe, thanks!

Unknown said...

Hey Chef John, would whole-wheat flour work for this recipe?

Unknown said...

I've made this successfully so many times and it's great! On one occasion it didn't puff up at all for me, what could have gone wrong?

Unknown said...

I've made this successfully so many times and it's great! On one occasion it didn't puff up at all for me, what could have gone wrong?

Phil said...

An amazing receipe - did it for the first time but for sure not for the last time.
For the rest of the world, here the metric translation:
Ingredients for 4 small or 2 large portions:
3 large room temperature eggs
80 grams room temperature milk
165 grams flour
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp salt
3 tbsp clarified butter
Use a 25 cm iron cast pan
- Bake at 220° C. 20-25 min
* garnish with melted butter, fresh lemon juice

giantskittle said...

Just made this for breakfast this morning! The most perfect Dutch baby recipe - we've tried a few different recipes before with flat results. This one puffed up nicely and did NOT collapse before we ate it, even though my cast iron pan probably wasn't hot enough when I poured in the batter. Perfectly crispy on the edges and top and eggy and soft in the middle. Thank you for a winner, Chef John!

Dani said...

AMAZING!
I added almond extract (ran out of vanilla, so why not?), cinnamon, and (freshly grated!) nutmeg. Topped with lemon juice, powdered sugar, and plum jam. WOW. Thanks, Chef!

Unknown said...

With a bit of modification this will make a wonderful deflategate-themed dish... if that ever comes in handy.
Thanks Chef John!

Unknown said...

Hello Chef John! Can you (or someone) please convert the ingredients if I'm using a 12 inch cast iron skillet? I need this so badly!! This is a life and death situation :P

Elyse said...

Thank you for this recipe. I love these things and it has been so long since I've made them that I've forgotten the measurements. Now, I can make them and they'll be cheaper than the local restaurants.

hawthorne said...

Love the way you talk! So, I will definitely make this pancake. Thank you for posting.

TiKo said...

While that DB looks absolutely scrumpdillyicious,I'm equally impressed with the seasoning of the skillet. Surely that's not factory. What did you use to acquire that slick finish?

Unknown said...

For I gluten free version, I use a handful of hazelnuts or some buckwheat flour. I also add cocoa powder and thrown on some sliced strawberries and pine nuts. Very delicious and versatile!

Barbara said...

Just made this for Sunday morning breakfast. O.M.G. Instantly in regular rotation from now on. It came out perfect. Looooove!

Unknown said...

Thanks John!!
Served ours w home made peach butter.
Fantastic Recipe!! And so easy!! ❤️❤️

Unknown said...

Easy and Sooo Delicious!!
Served w Homemade Peach Butter.
Thank you John ❤️

bburkie55 said...

Chef John, how about using commercially available Ghee? It's expensive to purchase but saves one the time and hassle of making their own clarified butter.

hotmudbath said...

I'm interested in trying this because - this recipe is about the exact same one I use to make what I call Swedish pancakes. The only difference is that I cook them in a frying pan on top of the stove, sort of like crepes. I don't turn them over, just roll them up. This recipe would make a handful. So, same recipe, but yours is all poured into the pan at the same time and baked. I'll have to try it!

Natalia W said...

Hi chef.. is it possible to cook it on the stove only (without oven)? Maybe.. just cover the pan with a lid so the heat will get even? If yes, is it with low heat?
Thanks

Unknown said...

For the rest of the world, here the correctmetric translation:

3 large room temperature eggs
160 grams room temperature milk
80 grams flour

Picking up on a previous comment… if you inverse amount of flour for milk you'll end up with a pizza dough. Believe me!

Laura said...

The Pennsylvania Dutch are actually Germans. I know, as this is my heritage. So it makes total sense to me that they could be called either Dutch or German.

Daemonpun said...

Hello this is not chef Brendan not from foodwishes.com with Dutch baby! That's right this wonderful quasi dessert I made with all the wrong items and it still came out amazing. used rose wine, butter, sugar, and jumbo eggs in the batter-- all cold. then i had butter and a hot pan and a cold oven. the rest was a brown buttered sweet eggy and crispy goodness.

Unknown said...

Jesus what's with the German's on this post. Very protective over their Dutch babies :') simmer down. Wanted to say to the og poster.. if it's a pfannkuchen it's not a bloody omelette then is it ya numpty!? You don't see anyone else running around claiming it's Yorkshire pudding without the flower. Good old German manners lol... Weeell aaaactually!!
Ps I grew up in dem rhineland, trust me it's a Dutch baby. Much love to you from England Chef. Keep up the good work, nailing it every time x

Unknown said...

Jesus what's with the German's on this post Very protective over their Dutch babies :') simmer down. Just wanted to say to the og poster... If it's a pfannkuchen then it's not a bloody omelette then is it ya numpty!? You don't see any one else running around claiming it's Yorkshire pudding without the flower lol. Good old German manners... Weeell aaaactually! Ps I grew up in dem rhineland, trust me it's a Dutch baby. Much love from England Chef. Keep up the good work nailing it everytime x

Unknown said...

The recipe worked extremely well. Thanks.
Two notes: Using Ghee as substitute for clarified butter worked great.
Reduced cooking time in hot oven to 15 minutes, I think it could be even less in my fan-forced oven

retheesh said...

Use genuine and organic Kerala Spices, make it more tasty and flavour.
https://thottamfarmfresh.com/spices