Nothing says slow weekend mornings like a breakfast table laden with pancakes and all the trimmings. There is, however, just one niggling issue with them: it's not the greatest time for the person cooking them. Pancakes are best straight out of the pan, & you can generally only make one or two at a time. So the nominated pancake cook doles them out onto the plates of beaming and satisfied loved ones, who sit down to enjoy them while they're still steaming. The cook, on the other hand either eats theirs standing up or waits to the end to sit down and enjoy theirs. Those pancakes have the cook on a tight leash. Enter Oven Pancakes. They go by a few names: Dutch Puff, Dutch babies, German pancakes, Bismarck, Hooligans and Hootenannies! Personally I would like to call them Freedom Pancakes because they free the cook - they're baked in the oven as one giant pancake before being sliced into portions and topped with whatever you fancy. If, instead of standing over the stove for 30 mins, you like the idea of sitting down to leisurely enjoy a cuppa while a delicious, high & light pancake bakes in the oven, then this is the recipe for you. Makes 1 giant pancake that can be cut into 6-8 slices Serves 2-4, depending on appetite Prep time: 15 mins, Cooking time:10 mins, Total time: 25 mins Ingredients: 2 eggs ½ cup milk of choice 1 tbsp honey or maple syrup 1 tsp vanilla extract ½ cup white all-purpose/cake flour Pinch salt 2 tbsp butter Method: Place a rack in the centre of your oven. Preheat the oven to 220°c/200°c fan forced. Place the 2 tbsp butter in a 23cm to 27 cm ovenproof frypan or tin pie dish. The butter doesn't have to be spread out. Put the pan aside while the oven heats and you make your batter. In a large bowl, briskly whisk together the eggs, milk, honey or maple and vanilla. Add the flour and salt. Very gently whisk just until the flour disappears. The batter will look lumpy at this point, which is just great - good pancakes come from lumpy batter! When the oven has reached temperature, place the pan with the butter in the oven. You want this pan to get hot and the butter to melt, but don’t let the butter sputter burn. 5 mins should be ample. Carefully remove the hot frypan from the oven and swirl the melted butter around to coat the bottom and sides of the pan well. While the butter is still sizzling, pour in the batter. Return the pan to the oven and bake the pancake for 9 to 11 minutes, until it is puffy, deep golden brown at the topmost edges, and the centre is set. It will be puffed up high when you first pull it out, then settle as it cools. Dust with icing sugar. Slice and serve warm with desired toppings. To serve Top the pancake with whatever you fancy. Suggestions: icing sugar, fresh berries; stewed fruit, honey, maple syrup; jam; whipped cream; Greek yogurt. You can serve the pancake whole at the table with the toppings tumbled onto the pancake’s centre, before cutting into slices. Or you might prefer to slice the pancake first, serve the slices onto individual plates and let everyone help themselves to the toppings. Pimp My Recipe Most pancake recipes work beautifully using this baked pancake method. Cooking may vary depending on thickness and amount of batter. Apple & Cinnamon Version My favourite variation of this is to evenly distribute very thin slices of fresh apple to the batter after you pour it into the heated pan. It retains a little crunch after cooking and is just glorious, especially when you dust the whole thing with ground cinnamon and sugar. Chocolate Version Add ½ cup chocolate chips - milk, dark or white to the batter, or go for a thoroughly chocolatey experience by mixing in 1-2 tablespoons of cocoa to the batter. Lemon Version Add the juice and zest of 1 lemon to the batter. Top the naked pancake with lemon curd. Take the lemon version to the next level by adding 1 tsp dried lavender flowers to the batter, then sprinkle a little extra Lavender on top of the lemon curd to serve. Orange Version Add the juice and zest of 1 orange to the batter then top the cooked pancake with marmalade. Make it even more decadent by adding dark chocolate shavings. Use Wholewheat Flour I've used white flour in this recipe, but you can use wholewheat flour instead, or a combination of the two. Spelt and kamut flour will also work. Do keep in mind that using spelt or wholewheat flour will result in a denser texture. Comments are closed.
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