A favorite comfort food in our house is ‘breakfast for dinner.’ and, ‘pannenkoeken’ (pronounced: panni-cookin) is delicious for breakfast, lunch, dinner, or dessert. Madison had it first at the Keefe’s house a few years ago, and when she described it to me, I said, ‘Oh! A Dutch baby! I love those!’
Are you wondering why some people call it a Dutch Baby, and others a German Pancake? Apparently, the young daughter of a German restauranteur in Seattle couldn’t pronounce the word “Deutsch,” and instead said “Dutch.” And so this classic German pancake came to be known as a Dutch baby. (You say ‘tomato,’ I say ‘ta-mah-toe.’)
I love reading recipes almost as much as trying out new ones, and I first made a Dutch baby after seeing the recipe in a Williams-Sonoma catalog in 1995. Whatever you call it, this will quickly become a favorite, and you will love the many, many ways it can be tweaked. Look for the gluten-free recipe below.
“A pannekoek or pannenkoek[1] (plural pannenkoeken) or Dutch Pancake is a style of pancake with origins in the Netherlands and Belgium.[2] Pannekoeken are usually larger (up to a foot in diameter) and much thinner than their American or Scotch pancake counterparts. They may incorporate slices of bacon,apples, cheese, or raisins. Plain ones are often eaten with treacle (syrup made of sugar beets), appelstroop (an unspiced Dutch variety of apple butter) or (powdered) sugar and are sometimes rolled up to be eaten by hand or with cutlery.
Basic ingredients are flour (plain, self-rising or both), milk, salt, and eggs. Milk can be replaced with soy milk without changing the end result; the other ingredients are essential.
The ingredients are beaten into a batter of a fairly liquid consistency. A ladle of batter is then pan fried in butter or oil. Once the top of the pannekoek is dry and the edges start to brown, it can be flipped over. The first one is often less than perfect. At home a stack of pannekoeken can be made in advance so everyone can eat at the same time, or people can take turns at the stove.
Pannekoeken can be, and often are, eaten as a main course, served warm, in winter pannekoeken are sometimes eaten after snert in a two course meal. Pannenkoeken are a popular choice for a child’s birthday meal in the Netherlands and Belgium. Specialised pannekoeken restaurants are common in the Netherlands and Belgium. They often offer a very wide range of toppings and ingredients, traditional and modern (e.g. cheese, oregano and salami on a pizza-pannekoek).”
Nicole Hunn can make any recipe a gluten-free recipe, and Gluten-Free on a Shoestring is a fantastic GF resource. This is her recipe, and these are her hints and tips for an amazing Dutch Baby.
Nicole’s helpful hints begin here: ‘As is especially the case with a super simple recipe like this one, there are a few tricks of the trade. You must select and prepare the few necessary ingredients carefully (not just any flour blend will do, and your eggs and milk must be at room temperature). And your pan must be hot from the oven when you pour in the batter. That’s what gives rise to that gorgeous, puffy pancake and the even browning.
As with many things, there’s something special about baking it in a cast iron skillet, as it holds heat so well and heats so evenly. But I have made this gluten free Dutch baby successfully in a 9-inch cake pan. If you can, try to avoid making it in a Pyrex pan, as glass bakes very hot and the pancake is much more likely to burn before it browns.’
Prep time: 3 minutes Cook time: 17 minutes Yield: 1 9-inch pancake
INGREDIENTS
1 1/2 tablespoons (21 g) unsalted butter
3/4 cup (6 fluid ounces) milk, at room temperature (any kind, just not nonfat)
3 eggs (150 g, weighed out of shell) at room temperature
3/4 cup (105 g) basic gum-free gluten free flour blend (69 g superfine white rice flour + 23 g potato starch + 13 g tapioca starch/flour)
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
Photos courtesy of Gluten-Free on a Shoestring
DIRECTIONS
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Preheat your oven to 375°F. In a 9-inch cast iron skillet or heavy-bottom 9-inch cake pan, place the butter. Place the pan with the butter in it in the preheated oven just until the butter is melted, while you make the batter.
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In a blender, place the milk, eggs, flour blend and salt, and blend just until smooth. You do not need a high-speed blender for this task. The batter will be thin. Remove the hot pan with the melted butter from the oven, and pour off excess butter, leaving just a coating on the pan. Working quickly, pour the batter into the hot pan and return to the oven. Bake for 12 minutes. Rotate the pan 180° and continue to bake until the pancake is puffed and golden brown all over (about another 5 minutes). Remove from the oven.
- The pancake should release easily from the pan. If it seems stuck on any sides, loosen it with a knife and slide it out of the pan onto a wire rack. This will ensure that the bottom of the pancake doesn’t become soggy as it cools. Allow to cool briefly before slicing into wedges and serving warm garnished with fruit, a light dusting of confectioners’ sugar and maybe a dollop of whipped cream (in the winter, I like to serve it with citrus, in the summer with berries).
- Any leftover wedges can be stored at room temperature for about 4 hours, or even wrapped tightly and stored in the refrigerator for at least 1 day. Reheat gently in the microwave before serving. This recipe can be doubled easily, and baked in two batches.
Source: http://glutenfreeonashoestring.com/gluten-free-dutch-baby/
SHOPPING LIST
1 1/2 tablespoons (21 g) unsalted butter
3/4 cup (6 fluid ounces) milk (any kind, just not nonfat)
3 eggs
3/4 cup (105 g) basic gum-free gluten free flour blend (69 g superfine white rice flour + 23 g potato starch + 13 g tapioca starch/flour)
kosher salt
My Kitchen Romance 