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Clean recipe · cooking.nytimes.com

German Pancake

This large-format pancake puffs up at the perimeter, creating light airy edges, while the center remains denser and almost custard-like. It’s the combination of these two textures that makes the German pancake special — that, and the ease of being able to whip up pancakes for six without being tethered to the griddle. What’s the difference between a Dutch baby and a German pancake, you may wonder? Semantics, really. The origin of this giant baked pancake is commonly attributed not to a Dutch or German dish, but to a Seattle restaurant called Manca’s that began serving the dish in the 1940s. The inspiration and name for this uniquely puffy pancake may have come from some variation of pfannkuchen (the German word for pancakes) and the word Deutsch (German) pronounced in American English eventually morphing into “Dutch.” While many German pancake recipes call for a cast-iron skillet, this recipe uses a 9-by-13-inch rectangular baking pan to create one gargantuan pancake with plenty of crisp edges. How you serve the pancake is up to you: Fill it with berries and maple syrup and a dusting of powdered sugar, or cut it into individual squares and let everyone top the pancakes to their liking.

Original recipe: cooking.nytimes.com

Yield:
4 servings
Prep:
5 min
Cook:
25 min
Total:
30 min
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Ingredients

  1. 1 cup/130 grams all-purpose flour
  2. 1 cup/240 milliliters whole milk, at room temperature
  3. 5 large eggs, at room temperature
  4. 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
  5. 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  6. ½ teaspoon kosher salt (such as Diamond Crystal)
  7. 4 tablespoons/57 grams unsalted butter
  8. Powdered sugar, maple syrup and berries, for serving

Instructions

  1. Heat the oven to 425 degrees and place a 9-by-13-inch metal pan in the oven.
  2. Prepare the pancake batter: To a blender, add the flour, milk, eggs, sugar, vanilla and salt, and blend on high speed for 10 to 15 seconds, until smooth, pausing to scrape down the side with a spatula if necessary.
  3. Add the butter to the heated pan in the oven and cook until melted and sizzling, 1 to 2 minutes.
  4. Working quickly, carefully tilt the pan so the butter is evenly distributed, then pour the batter into the center of the pan.
  5. Bake for 16 to 20 minutes, until the edges are puffed and browned and the center is just starting to take on color. Cut into squares and serve hot with powdered sugar, maple syrup and fresh berries. (The pancake will deflate as it sits.)