A Dutch baby pancake, sometimes called a German pancake, a Bismarck, a Dutch puff, or a Hootenanny, is a large American popover. A Dutch baby is similar to a large Yorkshire pudding. Unlike most

pancake A pancake (or hotcake, griddlecake, or flapjack) is a flat cake, often thin and round, prepared from a starch-based batter that may contain eggs, milk and butter and cooked on a hot surface such as a griddle or frying pan, often frying wit ...

s, Dutch babies are baked in the oven, rather than being fried. They are generally thicker than most pancakes and contain no chemical leavening ingredients such as

baking powder Baking powder is a dry chemical leavening agent, a mixture of a carbonate or bicarbonate and a weak acid. The base and acid are prevented from reacting prematurely by the inclusion of a buffer such as cornstarch. Baking powder is used to incre ...

. They can be sweet or savory and can be served at any meal. The idea of a Dutch baby pancake may have been derived from the German '' Pfannkuchen'', but the current form originated in the US in the early 1900s.

Ingredients and preparation

It is made with eggs,

flour Flour is a powder made by grinding raw grains, roots, beans, nuts, or seeds. Flours are used to make many different foods. Cereal flour, particularly wheat flour, is the main ingredient of bread, which is a staple food for many c ...

, sugar and

milk Milk is a white liquid food produced by the mammary glands of mammals. It is the primary source of nutrition for young mammals (including breastfed human infants) before they are able to digest solid food. Immune factors and immune-modulati ...

, and usually seasoned with

vanilla Vanilla is a spice derived from orchids of the genus ''Vanilla (genus), Vanilla'', primarily obtained from pods of the Mexican species, flat-leaved vanilla (''Vanilla planifolia, V. planifolia''). Pollination is required to make the p ...

and

cinnamon Cinnamon is a spice obtained from the inner bark of several tree species from the genus '' Cinnamomum''. Cinnamon is used mainly as an aromatic condiment and flavouring additive in a wide variety of cuisines, sweet and savoury dishes, brea ...

, although occasionally fruit or another flavoring is also added. A basic batter incorporates a third of a cup of flour and a third of a cup of milk per egg. It is baked in a hot

cast iron Cast iron is a class of iron– carbon alloys with a carbon content more than 2%. Its usefulness derives from its relatively low melting temperature. The alloy constituents affect its color when fractured: white cast iron has carbide impu ...

or metal pan and falls (deflates) soon after being removed from the oven. It is generally served with fresh squeezed lemon, butter, and

powdered sugar Powdered sugar, also called confectioners' sugar, or icing sugar, is a finely ground sugar produced by milling granulated sugar into a powdered state. It usually contains between 2% and 5% of an anti-caking agent – such as corn starch, p ...

, fruit toppings or

syrup In cooking, a syrup (less commonly sirup; from ar, شراب; , beverage, wine and la, sirupus) is a condiment that is a thick, viscous liquid consisting primarily of a solution of sugar in water, containing a large amount of dissolved suga ...

Serving

It can be served for breakfast,

brunch Brunch is a meal eaten between 10:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m., sometimes accompanied by alcoholic drinks (typically champagne or a cocktail). The meal originated in the British hunt breakfast. The word ''brunch'' is a portmanteau of '' breakfas ...

, lunch or dessert, or even for "brinner" (breakfast for dinner). Dutch baby pancakes are generally served immediately upon removal from the oven. The Dutch baby is a specialty of some

diner A diner is a small, inexpensive restaurant found across the United States, as well as in Canada and parts of Western Europe. Diners offer a wide range of foods, mostly American cuisine, a casual atmosphere, and, characteristically, a co ...

s and chains that specialize in breakfast dishes, such as the

Oregon Oregon () is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of its eastern boundary with Idah ...

-founded The Original Pancake House or the

New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian province ...

-based chain Bickford's, which makes both a plain Dutch baby and a similar pancake known as the Baby Apple, which contains apple slices embedded in the pancake.

History

According to ''Sunset'' magazine, Dutch babies were introduced in the first half of the 1900s at Manca's Cafe, a family-run restaurant that was located in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a port, seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the county seat, seat of King County, Washington, King County, Washington (state), Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in bo ...

, Washington and that was owned by Victor Manca. While these pancakes are derived from the German pancake dish, it is said that the name Dutch baby was coined by one of Victor Manca's daughters, where "Dutch" perhaps was her corruption of the German autonym ''deutsch''. Manca's Cafe claimed that it owned the trademark for Dutch babies in 1942.

Similar dishes

A Dutch baby is a type of popover, although popovers are generally baked as smaller, individual pieces, approximately the size of a muffin. A Dutch baby is very similar to a Yorkshire pudding, with a few differences: the Yorkshire pudding is more likely to be baked in individual servings, the pan is usually greased with beef drippings, and the result is rarely sweet. Dutch babies are larger, use butter rather than beef fat, and are frequently sweet. They use more eggs than a Yorkshire pudding and normally have sugar and vanilla and, unlike a Yorkshire pudding, are normally cooked in a cast iron frying pan.

David Eyre's pancake

A David Eyre's pancake is a variation on the Dutch baby pancake named after the American writer and editor David W. Eyre (1912–2008). The recipe was published by ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' Food Editor

Craig Claiborne Craig Claiborne (September 4, 1920 January 22, 2000) was an American restaurant critic, food journalist and book author. A long-time food editor and restaurant critic for '' The New York Times'', he was also the author of numerous cookbooks a ...

in an April 10, 1966, Times article entitled "Pancake Nonpareil"; in addition to generally regularizing quantities and temperatures for modern use, it omitted sugar and salt from the batter. In the article, Claiborne recounted discovering the dish at a breakfast prepared by Eyre, then the editor of ''Honolulu'' magazine, while Claiborne was visiting Eyre's Honolulu home. Eyre's version of the pancake was based on a recipe for Dutch baby pancakes from

Victor Hirtzler Victor Hirtzler (ca. 1875, Strasbourg – February 9, 1931, Strasbourg) was a French chef who was head chef of San Francisco, California's St. Francis Hotel from its opening in 1904 until 1926. One of America's first celebrity chefs, he publicize ...

's ''Hotel St. Francis Cookbook''—the best-known 1919 edition—with slight alteration. The recipe also appears in ''

The Essential New York Times Cookbook ''The Essential New York Times Cookbook'' is a cookbook published by W. W. Norton & Company and authored by former '' The New York Times'' food editor Amanda Hesser. The book was originally published in October 2010 and contains over 1,400 recip ...

'', whose author, longtime food writer

Amanda Hesser Amanda Hesser (born 1971) is an American food writer, editor, cookbook author and entrepreneur. Most notably, she was the food editor of '' The New York Times Magazine'', the editor of ''T Living'', a quarterly publication of '' The New York Times' ...

, counts it among her favorites. She names it as one of the top five recipes recommended to her for inclusion when she set out to write the book.

References

External links

Alton Brown's recipe for Dutch Baby pancake

* ttps://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/25/magazine/25food.txt.html New York Times recipe for David Eyre's pancake
Amanda Hesser demonstrates cooking a David Eyre's pancake
{{Puddings Puddings Pennsylvania Dutch cuisine American pancakes Custard desserts