A Dutch baby pancake, sometimes called a German pancake, a Bismarck, or a Dutch puff, is a large American popover. A Dutch baby pancake is similar to a large Yorkshire pudding. Compared to a typical pancake, a Dutch baby is always baked in the oven, rather than being fried on both sides on the stove top, it is generally thicker than most pancakes, and it contains no chemical leavening ingredients, such as baking powder. 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, sugar and milk, and usually seasoned with vanilla and cinnamon, 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 or metal pan and falls soon after being removed from the oven. It is generally served with fresh squeezed lemon, butter, and powdered sugar, fruit toppings or syrup.
Serving
It can be served for breakfast, brunch, lunch or dessert. Dutch baby pancakes are generally served immediately upon removal from the oven. The Dutch baby is a specialty of some diners and chains that specialize in breakfast dishes, such as the Oregon-founded The Original Pancake House or the New England-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, 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 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. Popovers may be savory, such as when cheese is added. 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. The recipe was published by The New York Times Food Editor Craig Claiborne 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 it, 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's Hotel St. Francis Cookbook best known 1919 edition, with slight alteration. The recipe also appears in The EssentialNew York Times Cookbook, whose author, longtime food writerAmanda Hesser, 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.
