It’s all well and good until someone has to stand in front of the stove and flip the pancakes.
It’s a thankless job and I wouldn’t wish pancake flipping onto anyone’s relaxed weekend.
Luckily, where there are a few eggs, a bit of flour and milk, and a big ol’ handful of berries…. there is a Dutch Baby. Pancake sans flip.
Dutch Babies exist in the delicious land between pancake and popover. They’re tender and eggy, light and crunchy. They’re also quite a spectacle coming out of the oven. They’re show-offs. It’s cool. Breakfast can be dramatic.
A simple mixture of cinnamon and sugar will work wonders for this breakfast.
Eggs do all of the heavy lifting in a Dutch Baby. There’s no leavening from baking powder or baking soda. It’s all whipped egg! Eggs are whipped until pale and frothy.
An electric hand-mixer works wonders for a task like this.
Once the eggs are whipped to a frenzy… milk, flour, cinnamon, and salt are added. So sugar in the batter, if you can believe that. All of the sugar gets sprinkled on top!
The rather thin batter is poured into the rather hot, butter laden skillet.
The batter is immediately placed in a very hot oven to puff like whoa!
I like to take the 20 minutes it takes to cook a Dutch Baby to do the following things:
– stir a bit of cinnamon sugar into the sliced berries.
– pour the orange juice.
– quickly gather everyone around the oven for the big, puffed, dramatic, browned Dutch Baby reveal! Seriously… gather round. The puff only lasts a few minutes.
Pancake charm with not a single flip! This feels pretty great.
Cinnamon sugar adds a jolt of sweetness and a tiny bit of crunch from the sugar. The butter keeps the Dutch Baby from sticking and also adds… you know, awesome buttery flavor! Berries are bursting into season, and any excuse to shovel them onto breakfast food I’m all for!
This Dutch Baby is best served hot from the oven, sprinkled with cinnamon sugar, piled with sweet berries, and eaten gathered around the skillet with forks and orange juice. Well… at least that’s how I did it.
Triple Berry Dutch Baby
makes 10-inch pancake, serves 4
adapted slightly from Epicurious
For the Dutch Baby:
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3 large eggs, at room temperature for 30 minutes
2/3 cup whole milk, at room temperature
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
For the Berries:
2 cups fresh berries (I used sliced strawberries, fresh raspberries, and fresh blueberries)
Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
In a small bowl, stir together sugar and cinnamon. Set aside.
Beat eggs with an electric beater or mixer on medium-high until pale and frothy, about 3 to 5 minutes . Beat in the milk, flour, cinnamon, and salt. Beat until thoroughly combined. The batter will be very thin.
Place a 10-inch cast iron (or oven safe) skillet on the stovetop over medium heat. Melt the butter in the skillet. Remove from heat and immediately pour the batter into the pan. Immediately place the pan in the oven and bake for 18 to 22 minutes or until golden-brown and puffed.
While the dutch baby bakes, add a few spoonfuls of the cinnamon sugar mixture to the fresh berries. Stir and let rest until ready to serve.
Remove the baked and puffed dutch baby from the oven and immediately sprinkle generously with cinnamon and sugar. Add the berries. Slice and serve. Dutch babies are best served just after it comes out of the oven.
