Dutch Baby Pancakes

I made this for breakfast this morning and you should too.  My whole family practically applauded when I took this out of the oven and it was demolished within a couple of minutes.  Even my husband who is generally not a fan of sweet things was impressed. Not only was it delicious, it was stupidly easy to make.  Whip up the batter in a couple of minutes, throw it in the oven, and 20 minutes later, you are eating heaven.

At the breakfast table, we pondered the name of this dish. After a quick google search,  what it comes down to is that it has more or less nothing to do with the Dutch or babies.  It seems to have been dubbed this name by an American restaurant and the name stuck. However, it is really just a big popover, which is in turn a slightly sweetened Yorkshire pudding.

I was inspired to make this today because suddenly I kept seeing recipes for it everywhere.  Smitten Kitchen did this version in chocolate.  The Guardian had this lemony version.  My recipe is loosely based on this version.  The differences are mainly in the amount of eggs and the flavorings.  I went for a 3 egg version.  Lots of recipes have you rest the batter, but that requires more planning than I can manage and with no evidence at all, I doubt that it makes any significant difference.  Having said that, if you are the organized sort, it seems obvious that you could whip up the batter the night before, which means that in the morning you could just heat the oven and dump the batter in.  It won't save you much time since you still have to heat up the oven, but it does mean that if your brain is not yet functioning without your cup of coffee, you won't mess up with the measurements.

Eat this with whatever pancake accompaniments you might like.  I personally prefer powdered sugar and lemon.  Any kind of berries thrown on top would be delicious.  Jam and/or maple syrup are also obvious candidates.

Recipe feeds 2 to 4 persons.

Batter:
3 large eggs
2/3 cup milk
2/3 cup flour
1/3 cup sugar
pinch salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon vanilla

For the pan:
50 grams (1/4 cup) butter

Pre-heat your oven to 210C or 450F.  Put a medium cast iron pan or oven proof dish in the middle of the oven while it preheats.  In a large bowl, whisk up all the batter ingredients, until smooth.  It can have a few small lumps of flour.

When the oven is heated, open the oven door and plop the butter in the hot pan.  Close the door and let the butter melt.  When it is melted, open the door and pull out the rack so that you have better access to the pan and swish around the butter so that it covers the bottom and sides of the pan.  Pour the batter in the pan.  Push the rack back in and close the oven door.  Bake the pancake for 18 to 25 minutes until the sides have risen high, the middle is puffy, and the whole thing is golden brown and your mouth is watering.

Right before it is ready, gather your eaters around the table.  Whisk the hot pan from the oven onto a trivet on the table.  Let everyone ooh and aah.  Take a bow.  Civilized people might cut it into pieces but my family just tore off pieces with their hands.  Sprinkle with lemon and powdered sugar or your preferred topping and devour.

Plättar (Little Swedish Pancakes)

Earlier this year I discovered an iron pan with seven round shallow depressions in my father-in-law's cupboard, a plättjärn.  I love old fashioned Swedish cooking, so I immediately started looking up recipes for little pancakes.  Of course, my beloved Mannerström came up trumps.  He had a perfect recipe.  
These little pancakes are extremely tender and delicate, with a lovely slightly crispy exterior.  Do cook these on a cast iron pan.  If you try to cook them on a regular pan, the pan will not get hot enough to make the lovely exterior.  



In Sweden, these would be dessert, not breakfast.  I like them for both dessert and breakfast.  My friend Aiai and I made these pancakes this summer and the kids lined up.  They are served with whipped cream and jam.

Serves 3 to 4

3 eggs
1.5 dl flour
2 dl cream
1 dl water
50 grams butter
1 tablespoon sugar
a pinch of salt

Melt the butter in the microwave or in a small pot on the stove.  Set aside to cool.  In a medium bowl, beat the 3 eggs.  Add the flour and sitr until mixed.  Add the cream water, sugar and salt and stir until you have a smooth batter.  Add the butter and stir until the butter is fully incorporated into the batter.

Heat a cast iron pan on medium heat, preferably a Swedish plättjärn.  Melt a little butter onto the pan and pour in enough batter to just fill the pancake depressions.  Alternatively, you can make little pancakes using about a tablespoon of batter.  Cook until golden brown and then flip and cook on the other side.  Serve with jam and whipped cream.

Paris, crêpes, and Mary

The family and I went to Paris to start out our summer vacation this year.  It was really fun to see Paris through the kids' eyes and to have an excuse to be a tourist.  The kids loved the Louvre and Eiffel Tower and even wanted to climb up the Arc de Triomph. They were unimpressed with the beauty of the avenues and prefered to sleep in taxis rather than admire the view.  They did not want to sit in a cafe all day (what?!) but loved the food markets, fresh crusty baguettes and eating Vietnamese pho noodles for the first time.  And as all good tourists do, we had several crêpes for snacks in between seeing sites. 

Which led us to understand that we really needed a râteau en bois to take home.  Yes, that's right.  A 

wooden crêpe batter spreader thingy. The ultimate Paris souvenir. You heard it here first folks!

Mary and I cooking together.

So, today we tried making crêpe with our rateau.  The recipe I use now is from my friend Mary, so I always think of her whenever I make crêpes.  Mary was an amazing cook and the last time I saw her, we made a huge pile of crêpes together for a party.  We made the crêpes in advance during the day.  To serve, we just reheated them in the oven, wrapped in foil.  We had a big bowl of whipped cream, another huge bowl of berries, and some chocolate sauce. Guests filled their own crêpe and we had a long line of very happy customers.  I am so privileged that my last memory of Mary was such a happy one, full of laughter and good food.  I think Mary would have approved of the râteau.  She probably would have been better at using it than me!

To be honest, it wasn't that much easier to use the râteau than to just swirl the batter in the pan. It takes a light touch on the rateau not to tear the delicate batter and it took a few tries before we managed to make a good looking crêpe.  The main thing that is better with the râteau is that you don't have to be in such a hurry, like you do when you swirl the batter.  In fact, you need to wait a few seconds after you have poured in the batter before you spread it with the râteau. So the process is a bit calmer.  Whether you decide to swirl or use a râteau, the crêpes will taste good all the same!

You can put almost anything on your crêpes.  My personal favorite is the simplest, just a sprinkle of sugar and lemon onto the hot crepe.

Mary's Crêpe Recipe

Makes  about 10 crêpes:

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 tbsp sugar

1/4 tsp salt

1 cup milk

1/3 cup water

3 eggs

3 tbsps butter, melted

1.       Combine the flour, sugar, and salt in a food processor and process briefly.

2.       With the motor running, add the milk, water, and eggs,  through the feed tube.  Process until smooth.  Alternatively, you can beat the batter with a whisk by hand.

3. Pour the batter into a bowl and then add the melted butter slowly, whisking all the time.

3.       Heat a heavy 7-inch nonstick skillet (mine is a 9-inch) until quite hot.  Pour in 3 tbsps (I use a 1/4 cup) of the batter, then quickly tilt the pan so the batter spreads evenly, forming a crepe.  

4.  If using a râteau, pour in the batter in the center of the pan.  Wait a few seconds and then gently use the rateau to swirl the batter around to the edges of the pan.

5. Cook until lightly brown, 30 to 45 seconds; then turn and cook another 15 seconds.

6.       Repeat, using up all the batter.  As you finish the crêpe, stack them between sheets of waxed paper to prevent them from sticking or serve them at once, hot from the pan.  If making crêpes for later, wrap the stacked crêpes in plastic wrap.  They will keep in the refrigerator for 2 days.  To re-heat, simply wrap them in foil and heat them in the oven.