Dutch Pancake Recipes, Sweet and Savory

Dutch Pancake Recipes, Sweet and Savory

Call it a Bismarck, a Dutch baby or a puffy pancake. This airy, skillet-size popover is tasty any way you spin it. Try it two ways, with recipes for a sweet version topped with rhubarb-pear compote and a savory one loaded with steak and eggs

By Sarah Karnasiewicz in the Wall Street Journal

HAVE A FEW eggs on hand? Some milk? A stick of butter and a wide, sturdy pan? You're more than halfway to a Dutch pancake. The name notwithstanding, this dish is less a conventional pancake and more like the love child of a crêpe and a soufflé. Think: crisp edges and a soft, improbably airy center.

Depending on where you're from, you might have encountered the dish under the aliases Bismarck, puffy pancake or Dutch baby. Its lineage is likely German (that's Dutch as in deutsch). Strew it with lemon juice and a sprinkling of sugar, or load it with seasonal fruit and softly whipped cream, and call it whatever you want. One of the charms of this breakfast is its versatility.

A blender or food processor can come in handy for making the batter—the more vigorously it's whipped, the loftier the results will be. But lacking one, a good strong arm can certainly do the trick. In fact, with an ingredient list comprised of kitchen staples and a method that's more or less gadgetry-free, this is one of those recipes that's perfect to pull out of your back pocket when you find your vacation rental stocked with little more than a cast-iron pan and a measuring cup. Just make sure your audience is assembled when you pull the pancake from the oven: As with a soufflé, its puff has a limited life span.

‘It's less a pancake and more like the love child of a crêpe and a soufflé, with crisp edges and an improbably airy center.’

Next comes dressing it up. At this time of year, when all the summer produce is enough to make your head spin, one tactic is to treat the pancake like a pie crust. Fill its center with a simple compote of whatever's at its peak. Berries are a no-brainer, but in June, while rhubarb is still around, I grab a bouquet of rosy stalks, slice them into chunks and simmer them into silky submission along with a pear, a little sugar and a split vanilla bean. Pretty and pink, but with a nice sharp edge, the results make the perfect complement to the pancake's eggy richness. A bonus: Leftover rhubarb-pear compote is delightful slathered on toast, too.

Still, though sweet toppings are customary for Dutch pancakes, if I had to pick a favorite version, it would be a recipe that tacks toward the savory. One came to me recently, in a moment of Anglophilic inspiration. I thought of Yorkshire pudding, the traditional companion to a British Sunday roast. What is this popover, I reasoned, but a mini–Dutch pancake?

So, what would I get if I nixed the sugar from my usual recipe and, instead of making a hulking roast beef, just piled the pancake high with some soft-scrambled eggs, scallions and juicy slices of seared flank steak? An irresistible variation on steak and eggs, that's what.

DUTCH PANCAKE WITH RHUBARB-PEAR COMPOTE

Total Time: 45 minutes Serves: 4

For the compote:

• 1 large pear (such as Anjou or Bosc), peeled, cored and cut into ½-inch dice
• 2 medium stalks rhubarb, trimmed, halved lengthwise and cut into ¾-inch slices
• 1 vanilla bean
• ⅓ cup sugar
• Splash of water
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

For the Dutch pancake:

• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 4 large eggs
• 1 cup whole milk
• 1 cup flour
• 2 teaspoons sugar

1. Make rhubarb-pear compote: In a small saucepan, combine pears and rhubarb. Slice vanilla bean lengthwise and scrape seeds into saucepan. Stir in vanilla bean, ⅓ cup sugar and water. Bring to a gentle simmer over low heat and cook until fruit is soft and compote is a rosy pink, 20-25 minutes. Off heat, stir in lemon juice. Set compote aside to cool.

2. Make Dutch pancake: Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Add butter to a 12-inch ovenproof dish or cast-iron skillet and place in oven until skillet is hot and butter melts, about 3 minutes. Meanwhile, in a blender or food processor, combine eggs, milk, flour and 2 teaspoons sugar on medium-high speed until batter is smooth. (It will look wetter than typical pancake batter.) Remove skillet from oven, swirl melted butter until bottom of pan is thoroughly coated, then quickly pour batter into pan and return pan to oven. Bake until sides have puffed up 2-3 inches and turned golden and center is tender and custardy, about 22 minutes. (Don't open oven door during cooking—this can cause the pancake to fall.)

3. Spoon pear-rhubarb compote into center of pancake and serve immediately.

DUTCH PANCAKE, STEAK-AND-EGGS-STYLE

Total Time: 45 minutes Serves: 4

For the steak and eggs:

• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• 5 large eggs
• 4 tablespoons half and half
• 1 (1-pound) flank steak
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 bunch scallions, trimmed

For the Dutch pancake:

• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 4 large eggs
• 1 cup whole milk
• 1 cup flour
• 1 teaspoon salt

1. Prepare eggs: Melt butter in a small, lidded saucepan over lowest heat. In a small bowl, vigorously whisk eggs and half-and-half until well combined. (Mixture should be a uniform golden yellow, not streaky.) Pour eggs into saucepan and stir gently. Cook, stirring mixture every couple of minutes, until eggs are gently cooked, still creamy and a bit loose, 12-15 minutes. Remove saucepan from heat and cover. (Should you need to keep eggs warm a bit longer, make a double boiler by filling a large saucepan with ½-inch water. Bring water to a simmer, then set small, covered saucepan containing eggs inside larger pan, making sure bottom of small saucepan does not touch water.)

2. Prepare steak: Turn on broiler. Season both sides of steak generously with salt and pepper, then place on a small baking sheet. Scatter scallions on top of and around steak and place under broiler. After 3 minutes, remove scallions and set aside. Flip steak, place back under broiler and cook 3 minutes more. Remove steak from broiler and let rest about 10 minutes before slicing thinly, against the grain. Reserve drippings from pan.

3. Meanwhile, prepare Dutch pancake: Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Add butter to a 12-inch ovenproof dish or cast-iron skillet and place in oven until skillet is hot and butter melts, about 3 minutes. In a blender or food processor, combine eggs, milk, flour and salt on medium-high speed until batter is smooth. Remove warm skillet from oven, swirl melted butter until bottom of pan is thoroughly coated, then quickly pour batter into pan and return pan to oven. Bake until sides have puffed up 2-3 inches and turned golden and center is tender and custardy, about 22 minutes. (Don't open the oven door during cooking—this can cause the pancake to fall.)

4. Spoon scrambled eggs into center of pancake, top with slices of steak, drippings from broiler pan and scallions. Season with salt and pepper and serve immediately.