Lazy Weekend Dutch Baby Pancakes
There’s something to be said for a lazy pancake breakfast on the weekend, however it’s usually lazy for everyone except the cook! Which, in my family, means me…
While everyone else in the family gets to lounge about, drinking tea and reading in bed, if there’s to be a pancake breakfast it means that I’m usually working at a flurried pace in the kitchen, trying to get everything ready before hungry stomachs decide that they can’t wait and reach for Friday night leftovers or toast instead…
Dutch baby pancakes (also called German pancakes – though this is not the same as Apfelpfannkuchen), are very different to the fluffier, cakier pancakes that are common in Western cuisine. With no leavening agent and a very different flour : egg : milk ratio, the end result is denser and eggier, but that’s not to say that they’re any less delicious!
These babies are definitely the way you should go if you want a truly lazy pancake breakfast – the hands-on preparation time is all of about 5 minutes (though you can increase that to 10 minutes if you want to serve this with a fresh fruit salad like I do), and once you pop it in the oven you can sit back and relax with the rest of the family till it’s done, at which point everyone can sit down to eat together 
Now, that’s definitely my idea of a lazy pancake breakfast!
Dutch Baby Pancake
(Slightly adapted from the recipe at About.com)
Ingredients
1/2 cup all-purpose flour, sifted
3 eggs
1/2 cup milk
2 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
1 tbsp unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/4 teaspoon salt
1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees C with a cast iron skillet (or oven-safe frying pan) inside. Break eggs into a large bowl and lightly beat together. Add the milk, melted butter and salt and beat lightly again.
2. Gradually add the sifted flour to the egg mix, beating it in lightly with a fork.
3. Take the 1tbsp unmelted buter and toss into the heated skillet in the oven and give it a few seconds to melt. Swirl it around, then pour in the batter and bake for 20-30 minutes, or till puffed high and golden
Serve however you wish! Traditionally served with lemon juice, clarified butter and sprinkled sugar, I prefer to use it as a kind of fruit bowl with chopped season fruit placed in the middle and dusted with icing sugar! Of course, to make it even more decadent, you can add a dollop of lightly whipped cream and drizzle of maple syrup…if you like
You can serve this baby in the skillet, tossing everything inside and giving everyone a fork, or if you prefer to do things in a more orderly fashion, you can pull it out of the pan (if your skillet is properly seasoned then this baby will slide straight out!) and serve everyone neat little wedges so they can enjoy it however they like
Other recipes for dutch baby pancakes/ German pancakes:
Technorati Tags: pancakes, German pancakes, Dutch Baby pancakes, breakfast, recipes
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Beautiful. I wish I didn’t see these pictures before going to bed because I am seriously craving some right now. I’m guessing a scoop of vanilla ice cream would make this a fun dessert. Thanks for the recipe.
Wow, what amazing photos, they look soooo delicious.
Great recipe, I love a pancake but it can become tedious with all the flipping, these bad boys are on the radar this weekend. Great post also, your food photography is perfect.
This looks so wonderful! The perfect breakfast. I must buy a cast iron skillet!!
@alice – Vanilla ice cream would definitely up the decadence factor and take them right into the dessert category
@Mermaid Sweets – Thank you hon
@Countrydan – Please let me know how you go, I’d love to hear what you thought of them
@Megan – Ooh yes! I was without one for years, but now I don’t know what I’d do without it!
A gorgeous treat! Your pictures are fantastic!
Cheers,
Rosa
If you don’t mind me asking but what size is that cast iron pan? That looks absolutely delicious!
And I think the application of some nutella could go well, too!
GLORIOUS! not only is the pancake perfect, but your choice of toppings are beautiful and tasty. i love it all.
This looks incredible! I might have to make these sometime very soon
Wow! This looks amazing! I think I’m going to try, we love pancakes (although being Dutch I’ve never made these Dutch pancakes…)
That first commenter is onto something with the ice cream idea…
Is the only difference in flavor between these and “regular” pancakes a bit more eggy-ness? I’d love to try these , but my fiancee isn’t a fan of egg flavor :S I’ve just gotten my cast iron skillet perfectly seasoned, too.
Such a great header, by the way.
Your baby looks great- I love those “everything in a cast iron pan” meals. Isn’t it great that strawberry season is here?
-Siri
Wow – this looks absolutely amazing!
I’m always amazed at how you get my mouth watering. I love this dish.
How deep is your pan that you used to bake? I’m planning on making this for my mom on Mother’s Day :]
mmmmmmmmm. looks delicious!:)
Sadly, I somehow ended up with Dutch Baby Failcakes.
I got no lift so I doused it liberally with powdered sugar and covered it with fruit and whipped cream to hide the failcakes. XD
mm I want to try this recipe now! It looks really good
It’s like an instant bread bowl for fresh fruits and stuff. You are brave for taking picture so close to the oven
It compliments for the blog is beautifulst
Oh that pancake looks stunning!
So I went out and bought a cast iron skillet just for this. Wasn’t too expensive and seems like I could use it in the future so I figured this was the perfect excuse!
Not sure if this image will work but here it goes:
@Rosa – Thanks hon
@Amber – Oooh, nutella would be fabulous! The pan is 20cm in diameter
@grace – Thanks sweetie
@Meriel – I hope you give it a try, it’s quite a fabulous dish!
@Baking Soda – Hehe, they’re actually German
From reading, it appears they came to be called Dutch from the word Deustch 
@Ashley – They are a very different texture to regular Western pancakes, quite dense and chewy in texture, though you can’t taste the egginess…especially if served with lovely toppings
@siri – Thanks hon
And alas, I’m in Australia so we’re well out of strawberry season, but thankfully I can still get them (though at ridiculous prices!)
@Madam Chow – Thanks!
@Eathan – Thanks hon
@Melinda – I think that a 3-4cm deep pan would be ample
@amy – Thanks Amy
@Amber – I’m sorry to hear about that
@Heleny – Thanks!
@Jude – Pretty much! And thankfully I have a lens with a long focal length so while it looks close, I was actually about a meter away
@Donatella – Thanks!
@Trisha – Thanks!
@The Happy Cat – I can’t figure out why the image didn’t work, but I checked out the link and it looks like the recipe worked out well for you! Thanks for letting me know how it went
i made this reciepe this weekend and i LOVE IT! so perfect, i am the only cook in my family and i always get stuck making sunday morning breakfast. this was so light, so amazing i definalty will be making it again. i dont have a cast iron skillet so i just used a glass pie pan and it came out perfect! i love ur blog, i love ur pics!
@nommers – Thanks hon
And I’m so glad that it turned out well and that you enjoyed the recipe 
I also ended up with unrisen failcakes, it just looks like I got some kind of eggy skin on the pan
To everybody that tried this recipe and received non-rising failcakes (as I just did) I found another recipe, with a temperature of 450 and upped my oven temp immediately.
Low and behold, I now have perfectly risen dutch oven pancakes.
Hopefully this helps.
p.s. Bake for about 12-16 min at 450 degrees.
@Selig – Not quite sure what happened, to be honest.
@Vanessa – I think it depends on how well your oven circulates heat – when I tried baking at higher temperatures, the pancake rose, but sank immediately as soon as it came out of the oven. Using 180 degrees C, I have repeatedly gotten beautifully puffed pancakes that have had minimal sinking after baking.
Delicious, will be making them for breakfast tomorrow
I don’t even know how this lasted long enough for you to take a picture of it. I would have just gobbled it up and given my lens no love.
My family has always called them puffy pancakes. I’ve always wondered about where the recipe came from, thanks!
Hi Ellie,
Can you please tell me the size of your skillet? thanks. It looks delicious.
@Lou – I hope you enjoyed them
@Carrie – Hehehe, I have to admit that this was my third time making them…the first two times, they were gobbled up by the family almost the moment they came out of the oven
@Si – My pleasure
@Lochy – My skillet is about 18-20cm in diameter…not sure what that is in inches, sorry!
Oh wow yum. Just yum.
Hi Ellie, I happened upon your blog and your recipe while in search of Dutch Baby Pancakes for a Pancake Week post I did this morning. You have been in my personal search engine for a while and I was delighted to find these and your gorgeous pictures and instructions. I hope you don’t mind that I included your link in my post today. Thank you so much for sharing…Louise
@Tanya – That about sums it up
@Louise – Thanks for the link hon