Chef Coles Dutch Baby 16-Feb-2012

Another version of the Dutch Baby.

From Williams-Sonoma catalog:

Chef Cole Dickinson, Michael Voltaggio’s sous chef at the restaurant Ink in Los Angeles, shared with us his recipe for a Dutch Baby modeled after one from his childhood. “My mother was a single mom raising three kids,” he says. “She made Dutch babies because they were affordable, and always made us feel special. Today, they’re something we all associate with special occasions and happy times.”

A Dutch baby is a cross between a soufflé and an omelette. It is oven-baked in a hot fry pan rather than cooked on the stovetop, ensuring a light, fluffy rise with a deliciously crisp edge. Dickinson’s version is topped with a bacon-maple syrup and dollop of whipped cream.

Ingredients

  • 3 eggs
  • 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
  • 3/4 cup milk
  • 3/4 tsp. vanilla extract
  • 4 Tbs. (1/2 stick) unsalted butter

  • confectioner’s sugar for dusting

Directions

  1. Put an 11-inch French skillet or ovenproof sauté pan in a cold oven. Preheat the oven to 475&degF;.

  2. Put the eggs, flour, milk and vanilla in a blender. Blend on high until frothy, about 30 seconds, stopping the blender to scrape down the sides as needed.

  3. When the oven is heated, put the butter in the hot skillet. Return it to the oven until the butter melts and browns, 2 to 3 minutes.

  4. Carefully pour the batter into the hot skillet. Bake until the Dutch baby is lightly browned and the sides have risen, 17 to 19 minutes.

  5. Remove the skillet from the oven and let the Dutch baby cool for 3 to 4 minutes.

  6. Cut the Dutch baby into wedges and dust with confectioners’ sugar. Serve immediately.

The original recipe calls for heavy cream and confectioner’s sugar to make whipped cream. Not really part of the recipe proper, but whipped cream is a nice thing to have on the dutch baby.

The recipe also called for bacon and a maple syrup reduction. Omitted this as well as being a bit trop.

Putting a squeeze of lemon juice on the serving and dusting with confectioner’s sugar is the usual way I eat these.