Dutch Baby

I love breakfast. Actually, it might be my favourite meal of the day. It’s too bad though that during the week, it’s hard for me to have a proper breakfast since I’m always such in a hurry. Okay, you could tell me that I should wake up a little earlier, which would leave me plenty of time to have a healthy breakfast. I would totally agree, but you know, who doesn’t need some extra sleep? In short, I only get the chance to grab a quick bite during the week, which might explain why to me, weekend is synonymous to decadent breakfast.

One of my favourite breakfast items are pancakes. It could be thin Brittany crepes, slightly thicker French-Canadian crepes, thick curly pancakes cooked in fat, American pancakes, you name it. Last weekend, I decided to try something new: a dutch baby. For those who are not familiar with it, it’s sort of in between a pancake and a Yorkshire pudding. It is sometimes served in individual portions, sometimes family-style and it is usually dusted with powdered sugar and accompanied with lemon wedges.

A little history about the dutch baby… According to the article available on Wikipedia, this dish that is so famous is America isn’t dutch at all. In fact, it apparently originated from Germany, and people twisted the word “deutsch” in a way that it became “dutch”. It’s that simple!

I’m really happy with this discovery, which adds to my pancake repertoire! I sprinkled the dutch baby with powdered sugar, squeezed some lemon on it, and ate it with fresh berries. It was very good this way but I couldn’t help myself and drowned it in maple syrup… Delicious!!!

Recipe (Adapted from Alton Brown)

Ingredients

40 g of butter, melted

½ cup of flour

3 tbsps of powdered sugar, plus extra for serving

½ tsp of salt

½ cup of milk, at room temperature

2 large eggs, at room temperature

1 lemon

Preheat oven to 375°F.

Place 2 tbsps of the melted butter into a 25 cm cast iron skillet and place in the oven. Wait about 10 minutes before assembling the other ingredients: the skillet must be very hot when adding the mixture, just like when you make a Yorkshire pudding.

Mix the flour, sugar, salt, milk, eggs and remaining butter into the bowl of a food processor and process for 30 seconds. Carefully pour the batter into the preheated skillet. Bake on the middle rack of the oven for 30 to 35 minutes or until the edges are puffed and brown.

Sprinkle with additional powdered sugar and serve with lemon wedges. Bon appétit!