The name “Dutch Baby” is traced back to a family-owned restaurant in Seattle called Manca’s Café, in the early 1900s, the restaurant served a plate of small German pancakes. It’s said that, the owner’s young daughter could not pronounce the word ‘Deutsch’, which means German. So, instead, she said “Dutch.” The Manca’s Cafe claimed that it owned the trademark for Dutch babies in 1942. {History derived from Wikipedia}
I made this out of curiosity as I often do with most foreign cuisines, and over the years I kept making it the way I like it and refined it to my personal favourite and way. I also find it fascinating that Dutch babies puff up in the oven without any leaven (like baking powder) added. My recipe calls for Frangelico, which is an Italian hazelnut liqueur. If you’ve read any of my introductions, you’ll remember that I love anything nut, and Italian. However if you don’t have it you can replace it with the same amount of milk or part milk and part vanilla extract or any extract you like, even whisky will be fine.
What I love about this Dutch baby is that it is eggy and crispy on the edges, also so versatile for any topping. This recipe serves 1 to 2 people.
Andiswa’s Kitchen My Dutch Baby
Equipment
- 1 Cast iron skillet 18cm
Ingredients
- 30 g Cake Flour or All purpose
- 100 ml Milk Full Cream
- 1 Tablespoon Frangelico
- 2 Teaspoons Sugar
- 1 Egg Extra Large
- 20 g Salted Butter
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 200℃ with one 20cm round cast iron pan for 15 minutes.
- In a small bowl, beat the egg and sugar thoroughly with a whisk. Add half of the milk, then flour, whisk until there are no lumps. Add the remaining milk and frangelico, and whisk again until smooth.
- After 15 minutes, open the oven and remove the cast iron pan from the oven. Drop the butter inside it to melt then roll it around so it goes up the sides too. Then immediately pour the excess inside the Dutch Baby batter, quickly stir to mix
- Immediately pour the batter into buttered pan and return it to the oven, and turn the oven up to 220℃.
- Bake for 10 to 12 minutes to start, and then an additional of 1 to 2 minutes increments until the centre is to your satisfaction, I like mine a bit eggy and soft at the centre, with crispy edges, so I bake it for 10 minutes and sometimes for 12 minutes (See first circle above). But do what works for you, experiment and have fun.
- Transfer to a trivet, and top with whatever you like with pancakes (my toppings were, raspberry preserve, crème fraiche and fresh raspberries). These are best eaten while hot.
