Dutch baby pancake

Although by name you would think this pancake has its origins somewhere in the Netherlands,  surprisingly or maybe not :), is a pancake invented in the USA, with German origins, derived from Pfannkuchen (“pancake”, in German). According to wikipedia, these pancakes first appeared sometime in 1900 in Seattle, Washington, in a restaurant called Manca`s Cafe. Although, as I said, these pancakes are of German origins, they are believed to have inherited the name “dutch” from one of the daughters of the owner, Victor Manca, who confused “deutsch” (german) with “dutch” .

Compared to a normal pancake, the dutch baby pancake is always baked in the oven,  thicker and usually for baking you need to use a cast iron or metal skillet – heat resistance in the oven.

The classic ingredients are flour, milk, sugar and eggs with a little vanilla or cinnamon, plus various toppings. It is an ideal pancake for breakfast, because it is much more consistent than a normal pancake and it is made  very quickly. It also has a spectacular component, because once it starts to bake, it will puff. 

Ingredients:

• 120g flour
  50g sugar tos
  1/2 teaspoon salt
  180ml milk
  2 teaspoons vanilla essence
  4 eggs
  2 tablespoons butter (unsalted)
  200g sour cream (12% fat)
  2 to 3 tablespoons of powdered sugar
  fruits

Method of preparation:

Bring the oven to 200ºC. Put the cast iron pan over and let it warm.

Mix  flour, sugar and salt in a bowl. Separately beat the four eggs, then over the flour mixture pour the milk, eggs and a teaspoon of vanilla.  Mix well so that you do not have any lumps, then leave the composition to rest on the countertop for 15 minutes.

With 2, 3 minutes before the 15 minutes finish, remove the pan from the oven and add a tablespoon of butter (be careful, the pan will be very hot, handle everything carefully to avoid burns).

After the butter has melted, remove the pan and add half of the composition (mix a little in the bowl) without stirring in the pan. I have a small cast iron pan, if you have one bigger, you can put the whole composition, if you have a smaller one, repeat – another tablespoon of butter and after it melts, pour the rest of the composition and you will have 2 smaller pancakes.

Leave in the oven for 20 minutes until puffs  and gets brown on the edges.

While the  pancakes bake, we can prepare the sauce – mix sour cream with powdered sugar and a teaspoon of vanilla essence. If you want it more sweet, you can add more sugar.

When the pancakes are ready, add sour cream and fruit sauce to your preference. At the end sprinkle some powdered sugar on top and serve. 

If you use a cast iron pan (especially if it is for the first time, as in my case 🙂 ) you will most likely observe that just to clean it with detergent and water it will not be enough, it will appear clean, but after few minutes, you will have rust stains everywhere.

The solution for  the pan to look  black  like it was in the beginning is the following: let the oven go to 200ºC and completely cover a tray with food foil (aluminum). Wash the pan with detergent on all sides very well, then rinse. Dry the pan with a paper towel, then put a tablespoon of olive oil in the skillet and start rubbing it with another paper towel very hard on both the inside and the bottom of the pan and the sides. You will notice that the paper towel will gather slowly the rust from the pan, insist until you see no more marks on the towel. Wipe off all the excess and put the pan into the oven for one and a half hours or so. After switching off the oven, leave the pan inside until the oven has cooled completely.

Bon appétit!

♥