25 October, 2015

Big Pancake: Simple and Delicious Sunday Brunch.

Comments : 3 Posted in : Recipes, Technique on October 25, 2015 by : johnyrocko Tags: Big Pancake, Brunch, Dutch Baby, German Pancake

 

Sunday Brunch. Is there anything better? Gastronomically speaking, not much. Where else do you get to combine the best of two separate meals, with a flexible start time, and maybe a Bloody Mary or two? Throw in a New York Times and some carefully selected music and you have Sunday, the right way.

One of my favorite Brunch dishes is what we call Big Pancake, but some call it a German Pancake or “Dutch” Baby depending on where you are in the country. Mom first heard about it when she was listening to the radio.

“Back in 1970 or 71,” she told me “when we lived in Swarthmore Pennsylvania, I was listening to NPR and Craig Claiborne, who was at that time the food editor for the New York Times, was being interviewed. I wasn’t paying too much attention until I heard him talk about a recipe for a pancake which he’d enjoyed somewhere when he was traveling. The recipe, as I remember it was half a cup of flour, half a cup of milk, two eggs, a pinch of salt and some nutmeg all stirred well together. Put one stick of butter in a cast iron pan and put it in a 400° oven until butter melts. Take the hot pan from oven and pour in the pancake batter. Then put it back in the oven until it puffs up and brown slightly, approximately 15 minutes. As soon as it is removed from the oven, it begins to deflate. Cut in quarters and serve it while it’s hot with preserves, maple syrup or fresh sliced peaches. I have many times doubled the recipe. And I now only use a half a stick of butter.”

It may sound simple, because it is, well, pretty simple. You need a sturdy cast-iron skillet that can handle being in the oven. Preheat the oven to 400° and set the rack in the middle. Mix together the milk and eggs and slowly add the flour until it’s fairly smoot
h. Then add a pinch of salt and a pinch of nutmeg. I almost always double the recipe because it never goes to waste.

Heat up the pan in the oven, then add the butter and let it melt but don’t let it burn. Then add the batter. Put it back in the oven and set the timer for 15 minutes but start checking after 10 minutes or so. Depending on the pan you use, it can puff up on the sides or in the middle, but either way you want to check that it hasn’t puffed up enough to burn. It should have a golden brown color and the center should be firm and cooked through.

Now is when you want to invite your guests, if you have any, to watch as you take out the Big Pancake because otherwise you’ll miss out on some “Oooos” and Ahhhhs”. As Mom said earlier, cut it into pie-shaped pieces in the size of your choosing and top with anything from Maple Syrup to preserves and fresh fruit, or even plain (it’s that good). And keep the oven hot, because you might get requests for another one right away.

Big Pancake
ingredients:
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup flour
2 eggs
pinch of salt
pinch of nutmeg
4 tbs butter

equipment:

cast-iron or oven-proof pan