The best Dutch baby pancake recipe from The Vanilla Bean Baking Book by Sarah Kieffer. This Dutch Baby is easy to make and rises beautifully in the oven into the most impressive pancake. This recipe works well, even if you don't have a cast-iron skillet! You can bake it in a regular non-stick fry pan! This is a fantastic, easy recipe to make for weekend brunch or breakfast.
If you have ever asked yourself, "Can you make pancakes in the oven?", this Dutch Baby pancake recipe is the answer to your question: it's a big, puffy pancake cooked in a skillet in the oven. This recipe is easy and takes a lot of the stress out of serving pancakes for brunch!
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Why It's Called A Dutch Baby
The Dutch Baby is quite different from my usual Greek yogurt pancakes or spiced pancakes we've all made before. The Dutch Baby reminds me of a giant Yorkshire pudding, to be honest. It's also known as a Bismarck or a German pancake. Dutch probably refers to the word Deutsch, meaning German. The Dutch Baby is made from a batter of eggs, flour, milk, and a little sugar, baked in a skillet.
Substitutions And Variations
- non-dairy: replace the butter with a vegetable oil like canola oil or coconut oil, and replace the milk with a non-dairy alternative like almond milk or soy milk
Toppings And Serving Suggestions
In terms of toppings, you have many options. I like to top them or serve them with fresh fruit, especially berries. Sautéed apple would work great, as well as poached quince or roasted rhubarb. I can imagine filling a Dutch baby pancake with sliced bananas and chocolate sauce too. The Dutch baby is just a base that you can get very creative with when it comes time to serve it.
Serve it with lightly sweetened whipped cream, maple whipped cream, homemade lemon curd, or homemade caramel sauce. You can also serve it with scoops of ice cream, such as this cardamom ice cream, which pairs really nicely with berries.
Dutch Baby Pancake Making FAQs
If you add too much flour, your Dutch Baby will not rise properly. Just like popovers and Yorkshire puddings, too much flour makes the batter too heavy, and impedes the rise of the Dutch Baby pancake, creating a dense, more gummy result. If possible, weigh your flour to avoid overloading the batter.
It's normal for a Dutch Baby to collapse in the middle. Like Yorkshire puddings, the Dutch Baby will rise more around the edges and collapse inward as it cools. To reduce collapsing, you can bake the Dutch Baby pancake longer, but this will result in a drier pancake.
If you tried this recipe for the best Dutch Baby pancake (or any other recipe on my website), please leave a ⭐ star rating and let me know how it went in the comments below. I love hearing from you!
📖 Recipe
Dutch Baby Pancake
Equipment
Ingredients
- 142 grams bleached all-purpose flour
- 30 mL cornstarch
- 5 mL granulated sugar
- 2.5 mL Diamond Crystal fine kosher salt
- 5 mL pure vanilla extract
- 4 large egg(s)
- 250 mL whole milk (3.25 % fat)
- 57 grams unsalted butter
Instructions
- Make sure one of the oven racks is set in the middle, then preheat the oven to 450ºF (230 °C).
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cornstarch, sugar, and salt.
- In a large measuring cup, whisk together the milk, eggs, and vanilla extract.
- Whisk one third of the wet mixture into the flour mixture until it's smooth, then slowly add the rest of the wet mixture, whisking until smooth.
- Place the butter in a 10 inch cast iron skillet (see note!) and place it into the oven for 3 to 4 minutes or until the butter has melted and starts to sizzle.
- Remove the cast iron skillet from the oven (watch out because the handle is burning hot so make sure to wear oven mitts) and pour the batter into the pan. Immediately return the skillet to the oven and bake for 16 to 20 minutes, until the edges are golden brown and crisp, and the pancake has puffed all around.
- Remove the skillet from the oven and dust the Dutch Baby pancake with powdered sugar. Serve, cut into wedges, with berries, sliced citrus, bananas, whatever you like. Serve with maple syrup.
Notes
- Though Sarah Kieffer recommends using a seasoned cast-iron pan, I used a non-stick Cuisinart fry pan that is ovenproof. This worked beautifully and every Dutch Baby I made in my fry pan rose tall and puffed beautifully. You can check out the pan I used on Amazon.
- This recipe calls for Diamond Crystal fine Kosher salt. If using regular table salt, add half the amount or the recipe may be too salty!
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