brunch rotation: dutch baby
Give a girl a baby and she’ll just want another one tomorrow. Teach a girl how to make a baby and, well, babies for brekkie EVERY DAY bwahaha! In all seriousness, the give a man a fish adage is *unequitable - see note below - and I will happily feed you and/or walk you through these rich morning treats anytime.
And by anytime I mean once it’s safe and we can be in each others’ homes again and share the love that is cooking for one another somewhere over the rainbow way up high. Btw, I don’t think pancakes come close in ease or taste but this is just where I am today, in this moment, half-challenging you to send me your favorite and most delectable pancake recipes (did I hear lemon blueberry ricotta pancakes?). Ok. Moving on…
The first dutch baby I ever put in my mouth was made by my beautiful friend Lisa and her hubby. Some friends and I made the trek to Jersey City to see her soon after giving birth to the most perfect baby girl and we were treated with drinks and dutch babies and fruit and more drinks… it was the best day. It wasn’t again until we were all stuck at home I even remembered dutch babies were a thing I, too, could make and that I should have been making all along.
The above picture is from my very first quarantine baby circa early April. I’d started with the NYT Cooking recipe by Florence Fabricant. It’s basic, it’s simple, and it’s very adaptable. You’ll want room-temp ingredients or may run into trouble with pouf-age. You’ll also want an oven thermometer to make sure your oven is actually at the temp intended (so many lessons learned in my 20’s I want to save you from). If you have one, I highly recommend using a cast iron pan. For my oven, the suggested 425• is a wee bit high and I end up with a more well-done baby than I prefer. I’ve made several around 400• and just under and been quite happy with the results. The key is to know thine oven.
If clicking links is tedious, here’s how to fish:
3 eggs - room temperature
½ cup or 65 grams all purpose flour
½ cup or 4 fl. oz milk
1 tablespoon sugar
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
optional pinch of nutmeg, cinnamon, cardamom, and/or splash of your favorite extract
Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
Combine eggs, flour, milk, sugar and nutmeg using a blender or immersion mixer and blend until smooth. Batter may be mixed by hand.
Place butter in a heavy 10-inch skillet or baking dish and place in the oven. As soon as the butter has melted (watch it so it does not burn) add the batter to the pan, return pan to the oven and bake for 20 minutes, until the pancake is puffed and golden. Lower oven temperature to 300 degrees and bake five minutes longer.
Remove pancake from oven, cut into wedges and serve at once topped with syrup, preserves, confectioners' sugar, cinnamon sugar, or favorite toppings.
Earlier I mentioned adaptability. Take a look in the fridge/pantry or check out what’s in season at the market and have fun. For sweet versions I’ve used berries, peaches, bananas, a touch of powdered sugar, or apple sauce. Savory babies have included bacon, veggies, whatever leftover meat I have in the fridge, poached eggs… the point is to use what you have and what you love.
I hope you’ll try dutch babies at home. A friend recently pointed out they’ve paid upwards of $20 for this dish at some fancy-ass-hipster-bullshit spot in * insert any L.A. or Brooklyn hot spot * and it wasn’t nearly as good. Don’t go out for this dish. Don’t spend $20 on pancakes. You now know how to fish. Someday come over and we’ll fish together.
xo, ~sharon
*It implies we all have access to fish and fishing supplies, and live anywhere near water, and are allowed to go into the water, and know how to survive once in the water, and have the language to ask for help to catch and cook or even sell the fish, and we aren’t allergic to the fish, and even want fish to begin with, and… I will be writing the word and a lot on this blog… and I hope you know what I’m after here.
