Dutch Baby – an easy oven pancake with endless variations

Dutch Baby is a fun and tasty dish that can be served in dozens of ways. Keep it simple or get creative. It’s delicious either way!

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A dutch baby is an oven pancake or puff pancake that can be eaten simply with a sprinkling of powdered sugar, but it lends itself to countless variations. It can also be served in individual dishes like pop-overs or yorkshire puddings.

If you haven’t ever tried dutch babies, you’ll just have to make this recipe! It’s so simple and so very good! And you can use it in dozens of ways from sweet to savory. It’s the perfect blank canvas for your creative ideas. So if this is your first time, you might want to just keep it simple and experience it in its purest form. And it’s so good that way, you might never want it any other way.

But I think once you try it, you will start coming up with all sorts of new ideas to dress it up. I’ll get you started with some of mine, but don’t stop there.

Jump to Dutch Babies Recipe

Dutch Babies is what’s for breakfast, and lunch, and dinner, and …

When my kids were little, people still read the daily newspaper to stay informed. Internet was still pretty new and I knew many people who didn’t even have a computer or a cell phone. Can you imagine?

Those were the days when the newspaper boy or girl (myself included) came on a bicycle and threw a paper on your doorstep. And each day I eagerly leafed through that paper to find the recipe section to see if there was anything new and exciting worth trying and to add to my boxes of clipped recipes.

That is how I found this recipe. One of the featured recipes was so simple that I decided to try it right away. It was called “Dutch Babies”. And boy, was it an instant hit with the kids. In fact whenever there was a sleepover at our house thereafter, this is what they ordered for breakfast, so they could wow their friends.

Everybody loved it! And they still do. The dramatic, and then again humble, dutch baby keeps collecting new fans as time continues on.

Dutch babies, despite the name, is actually an American dish. I wonder if it was inspired by the english Yorkshire puddings, as it is very similar. However, German pancake dough is also similar, but a little bit thicker in consistency while the pancakes are much thinner.

I have not thought about it in a while, but when I posted my cajeta recipe today and mentioned those pancakes to serve it with, suddenly it popped back in my mind and I decided to share it with you all. And eat some topped with my fresh, delicious cajeta. So here goes the recipe:

Dutch Babies Recipe

Equipment:

A heavy 10″ frying pan – I prefer my cast iron pan for any cooking, it’s non-toxic, oven-proof, cooks evenly and lasts probably forever? I’ve had mine for at least 35 years. For this recipe it is perfect and it looks rustic and appropriate as a serving dish. (Keep a sleeve on the handle so no-one gets burnt accidentally!).

You could also use a quiche pan or something of that sort, or maybe a casserole dish. If you want to get fancy and make this for individual servings, you can use muffin tins, or ramekins. Serve the dutch babies right inside the ramekins on a small plate.

A bowl – big enough for mixing your batter

A mixer or whisk – Many recipes recommend a blender, and while you can certainly use that, I’ve always just used a hand mixer or a whisk. Works just fine I think. I actually used my egg beater today.

A sifter or sieve – You can use a sieve with fine holes or one of those flour sifters, that are made for this purpose. They are great to have for evenly sifting the power sugar over your dutch baby.

Ingredients at room temperature:

You can easily scale this recipe using a basic formula: per 1 egg, use 1/4 cup flour, 1/4 cup milk and a pinch of salt, with 1 tbsp of butter for the pan. I like to add a couple of extra eggs when I make a pan-sized batch, since I like it “eggy”.

Eggs – Use 6 large eggs for the posted recipe. If you like your dutch baby less eggy, use 5. Frozen or water glass eggs work great for this.

Flour – All purpose flour is what I’ve always used, but I found that some people prefer bread flour, claiming that it gives the pancake more puff. You can try that if you have bread flour in the house. Let me know if that makes a difference!

Milk

Salt

Butter

Powdered sugar or finely ground cane sugar – I don’t ever have powdered sugar at home and don’t like the grocery kind at all, so I use organic evaporated cane juice crystals and grind them in my coffee grinder until it is very fine.

Toppings – see the variations section below to get ideas for all sorts toppings. But the classics are powdered sugar and a squeeze of fresh lemon juice. But even without the lemon juice it’s delicious.

Steps to make Dutch Babies:

This works best with room temperature ingredients.

02. Make the batter:

Whisk the eggs and salt until smooth, add the flour and whisk until it’s well combined.

Slowly add the milk and keep whisking until you have a smooth, thin batter. 

02. Preheat the frying pan and oven:

Place your frying pan in the oven. Turn on the oven and set it at 450℉. If you’re cooking on a grill, I recommend covering a part of that big opening in the back, to keep the heat in. I set my pan on a cake ring that I actually bought for that purpose.

03. Add the butter to the hot pan in the oven. 

04. Pour the batter into the hot butter

When the butter is completely melted and sizzling, use a thick glove or potholder to take the pan out of the oven and place it on the stove top. Working quickly but carefully, pour the batter into the pan and immediately place it back into the oven on the middle shelf. Close the oven door and don’t open it till it’s done in 20-25 minutes. If you have a glass oven door, awesome. Be sure to watch! And get your kids to watch the dramatic show! It will puff up like a huge pop-over.

After 20-25 minutes it is done. It should have dark golden crispy edges and a light golden top. If at any point it’s getting dark on top before 20 minutes are up, turn off the oven and leave it for another 5 minutes or so. But don’t overcook it or it will get dry. Take the pan out of the oven and you’ll find that your puffed pancake will deflate and settle down.

05. Serving and Variations:

So sprinkle some powdered sugar or finely ground evaporated cane sugar (I use my coffee grinder), over the pancake. Cut into wedges and serve.

This is the simplest and traditional way to serve it, but don’t stop there. While it’s truly delicious this way, it’s so much fun to mess with it and pile on the toppings. Here are a few suggestions on how to spruce it up. It lends itself to fancifying in countless ways, from simple, to hearty, to ultra-fancy. 

• Serve with slices of a lemon to squeeze over it!
• Add a variety of berries, then sprinkle the powder sugar over it. It looks really cool that way for just a moment, like a dusting of fresh snow!
• Drizzle maple syrup over it.
• Try a swirling of melted dark chocolate.
• How about some jam!
• Or honey!
• Or cajeta!
• Ok, now try some combinations like peanut butter and maple syrup. 
• Cajeta and chocolate.
• Maple syrup and sour cream or just sour cream if you’re not into sweets.
• Blended queso fresco, or ricotta cheese with jam, fruit, cajeta, or caramel sauce.
• Bananas, kiwi or pinapple pieces for a tropical topping. Maybe pair with Greek yogurt.
• How about leftover cranberry sauce from Thanksgiving dinner!
• Lemon curd!
• Apple pie filling!

Now think of it as a savory lunch or dinner and top it with

• Grated cheese.
• Sour cream and herbs.
• Salsa and Sour cream.
• Fried bacon and onions.
• Sauteed mushrooms, garlic and onions.
• Sauteed leeks in a creamy bechamel sauce.
• Crumbled sausage or hamburger, with a sauce made of grated cheddar cheese and a cup of milk or chevre, a sprinkle of cumin, a quarter cup of chopped tomatoes and jalapenos.
• ….

Alright, I think you get the idea and most likely have lots of your own. Now it’s your turn! Don’t be shy and tell me what you like best with your dutch babies in the comments below! 

There is never a time that is not a good time for this versatile dish. Here is another thought: If you have a muffin pan, try making personal dutch babies. Or use Ramekin forms (arranged on a baking sheet and preheated). Then provide a few of your favorite toppings for your guests to choose from. If they will be sweet, sprinkle with powder sugar before serving, it just looks super classy that way. Or omit the sugar and serve with your roast beef.

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More recipes to try

Cajeta – Make this ultra-delicious, uniquely flavored, goat’s milk based Mexican caramel to use as a topping for ice cream, pancakes, cheese cake, waffels and more. Or use to stuff sandwich cookies, or make frosting!

Preserve Eggs In Lime Water – Store fresh eggs for a year or longer in a lime water solution and use them like fresh eggs even after a year.

The Ideal Homestead Chicken – Learn about my experiences with my new favorite dual purpose chicken breed and what I think is an ideal homestead chicken. Find you why and how you can raise American Bresse Chicken.

Make your own chevre cheese from scratch – How to make super versatile creamy, spreadable cheese that can be used as a dip, or spread, for baking, for savory or sweet shakes, fresh or aged. Replace store bought cream cheese with this healthy version!

Bonnyclabber – What is clabber milk and its uses Learn to make bonnyclabber, the original cheese. This is nature’s way of preserving milk. I love turning it into a tasty kind of cream cheese that makes a really good frosting for einkorn zucchini bread and other sweet breads.

Natural cheese making process – Make your own mesophilic and thermophilic cheese starter and use it to make cheese the natural way. You can also make yogurt from scratch with your own homemade starter too.

Queso Fresco cheese recipe – The quickest, easiest cheese you’ll ever make and so versatile!

Hearty Mushroom Chowder – A delicious, rich and flavorful chowder that can easily be adapted to any ingredients you have in your pantry!

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Cast iron pan
Pan handle sleeve
Ramekins
Blender
Hand mixer
Egg beater
Sifter
Evaporated cane juice crystals