Dutch Baby, in a Dutch Oven
I’m Dutch, both side of my family came from the Netherlands, so I’ll tell you up front there’s not much that’s Dutch about this desert. This is really a German pancake – the Dutch name comes from the word Deutsch, which is the German word for German. The cast iron oven is called a Dutch Oven because of the casting process (using sand) which the Dutch developed for casting brass pots, but then the English figured out how to use the process for cast iron. So it’s really a German pancake in an English cast iron oven. That’s probably more than you wanted to know.
The recipe itself is both light and thick, both chewy and soft, with a custard like texture and subtle flavors. It’s also a beautiful dish. It’s also kind of tricky – it took me three attempts to come up with a good one. The trick is getting it hot enough to brown; the coals tend to run out too soon so I used more coals to create more heat that lasts.
Dutch Baby, in a Dutch Oven
Ingredients
- 6 large eggs, allow to come up to room temp
- 1 Tbsp vanilla
- 1 lemon
- 1 cup whole milk, room temperature
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- ¼ cup powdered sugar
- ½ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp nutmeg
- 1 stick butter
- 4 cups of fresh berries
- Other optional toppings, if berries aren’t available: preserves, powdered sugar, cinnamon sugar, or syrup.
Instructions
- Start 36 charcoal briquettes and let them burn until white.
- Crack the eggs into a large bowl and beat until smooth.
- Add the vanilla and the zest of the lemon and stir through.
- Add the flour, sugar, nutmeg & salt and mix thoroughly.
- Add the milk, a little at a time, and beat until frothy.
- Set your Dutch oven over 8 of the coals and add the butter to the Dutch oven to melt. Use a brush or tip the oven to cover the bottom and up the sides with the melted butter.
- Pour the batter into the Dutch Oven and cover with the lid.
- Move 24 coals to the lid.
- Rotate the lid a ¼ turn every 10 minutes, and cook until set, 30-40 minutes total.
- When it’s done, add the berries and squeeze the lemon over the berries. Place the lid back on for a few minutes to let the berries warm up.
- Dust with powdered sugar.