A Puffy and fluffy German Pancake baked in the oven will bring a huge smile to your face!
How are you doing today?
Yes, you.
Are you taking care of yourself, eating well, exercising or at least taking a walk with the dog, and really, really able to make some time for YOU? All those things are important, but maybe you also need a tasty pancake in your life.
I mean…who COULDN”T use a delicious pancake? After years of just making one kind of pancake (the kind that comes from a boxed mix), I discovered through this blog project how big the world of pancakes can be. Since then, we’ve become a little obsessed with pancakes in this house. Stove top pancakes like Cinnamon Peach Pancakes and Banana Peanut Butter Chip Pancakes are favorites but I also adore a good baked pancake.
Baked German Pancake
If you’ve never had a baked pancake, you’re in for a huge treat! Instead of standing over the stove cooking and flipping individual pancakes, you pour the batter into a pan and bake it in the oven. When it’s done baking, you top with powdered sugar, slice and serve.
German Pancake is also known as “Dutch Baby” when you bake it into smaller pans as individual servings. I’m not really sure what the story is behind that name but isn’t it cute? Whatever you call it, you’re going to love this German Pancake recipe.
This Dutch Baby recipe came from my Fannie Farmer Cookbook.
{Originally posted June 2011; Recipe notes updated January 2020}
German Pancake Recipe
Scroll down for a full printable Dutch Baby recipe and guide for how to make this fluffy German Pancake!
To make a Dutch Baby Pancake, you start with a fairly basic pancake batter. After sifting flour and salt into an eggy mixture, you bake the pancake in the oven in one large skillet or several small ones. My favorite part comes at the end of baking. Powdered sugar gets sifted over top followed by a sprinkle of lemon juice.
Serve the German Pancake while hot and fluffy for breakfast, brunch or “breakfast for dinner”! There are more eggs in the batter than in a typical pancake, which helps give the Dutch Baby its puffiness and structure. The flavor is eggy like a good crepe but with amazing puffiness!
Dutch Baby Pancake Tips
- For making individual dutch babies, those mini cast iron skillets you use for cooking single eggs work perfectly! It’s so fun to pull these cute little pancakes out of the oven.
- If you’re making a single large pancake, slice it into triangles (like a pie) to serve.
- Powdered sugar and lemon juice are the traditional toppings here and I love the light lemon flavor. Maple syrup (or your other favorite pancake toppings) would be a tasty addition as well, especially if you like a sweeter pancake. The kids and I agreed that it would be really good with some fresh berries or jam on the top, too.
- This is a great dish to serve company with some fresh fruit or for a brunch, but remember it only serves four as a main dish!
More Pancake Recipes. . .
If you love this German Pancake recipe, you’ll also enjoy some of these other great pancakes.
- Lemon Poppy Seed Dutch Baby (aka German Pancake)
- Lemon Blueberry Cottage Cheese Pancakes
- Zucchini Pancakes
- Cranberry Pancakes with Orange Cream Cheese Drizzle
- Baked Apple Cinnamon Pancake
- Whole Wheat Pumpkin Pancakes
- Lemon Ricotta Pancakes with Blueberry Compote
- Patriotic Buttermilk Pancakes with Blueberries and Strawberries
- The Fluffiest Blueberry Lemon Pancakes
German Pancake
This German Pancake recipe can be made into one large pancake which is what I made or 4 6-inch Dutch babies.
German Pancake
Ingredients
- 3 eggs room temperature
- ½ cup milk
- ½ cup all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons butter melted
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- Confectioners' sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.
- Butter a 12-inch skillet or 4 small skillets (with ovenproof handles) or pans (you can use small pie pans or cake pans).
- In a medium mixing bowl, beat eggs thoroughly.
- Add milk and blend to combine.
- Sift the flour and salt together onto a square of wax paper.
- Lift the wax paper up by two opposite corners and drift it slowly into the egg mixture while whisking steadily. You can also slowly sift the flour and salt into the egg / milk while whisking to prevent lumps.
- Add melted butter and briskly mix until batter is smooth.
- Pour the batter into the pan or pans and bake for 15 minutes.
- If baking one big pancake, after the 15 minutes, reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees F. and bake for an additional 10 minutes making total baking time 25 minutes.
- Sprinkle lemon juice over the top and dust with confectioners' sugar.
- Serve while hot and puffy.
How to Make German Pancake (Dutch Baby)
Start by beating three eggs together in a bowl or stand mixer. Then add milk and whisk well to incorporate.
Instead of sifting the flour straight into a bowl, you’re going to sift the the flour and salt onto a square of wax paper.
Lift the wax paper up by two corners and let the flour slowly drift into the egg and milk, whisking steadily. This step helps get the flour incorporated without any lumps remaining. (You can also slowly sift the flour and salt directly into the egg mixture, while whisking to blend and smooth.)
Add the melted butter and mix briskly so the batter is smooth.
Pour the batter into the pan or pans and bake for 15 minutes.
If you are baking small pancakes, they will be done after 15 minutes.
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If you are baking just one big pancake, after baking at 450 degrees F. for the 15 minutes, reduce the heat to 350ºF and bake for another 10 minutes. Don’t take it out of the oven like I did, only to double check the recipe and see that you have to put it back in to the oven!
Sprinkle lemon juice over the pancake (or pancakes) and dust the top(s) with confectioners’ sugar.
The first time I made this I failed to cook the pancake for the last 15 minutes in needed to stay puffy. It still tasted amazing but I did miss the height of a classic German pancake. In the years since I’ve never forgotten that last step!
Dutch Baby Pancake
I rate all of my recipes on a scale of 1-4 with 4 being the best and this German Pancake earned 3 rolling pins. I didn’t have fresh lemons, so I used bottled lemon juice and used my fingers to sprinkle it on because I didn’t want it too concentrated in some areas and not in others.
I was really pleased with the way this tasted. It reminded me of a thick crépe. I decided to make this as an early afternoon snack. It wasn’t very filling, so I ate two pieces.
Yum!!!
Now I have the urge to make some crépes…
Happy baking!
Breakfast Recipes
Not in the mood for pancakes? Check out these other tasty breakfast ideas!
Comments & Reviews
Best looking pancakes! A must try! Saving…. you recipe 🙂 Thanks dear!
I love love dutch babies and yours looks perfect.
I think it’s actually the easiest way to make pancakes, don’t you think?
Thanks for sharing Lynne,
Happy weekend 🙂
Roxana,
I have fallen in love with them as well. I think I’ll be making one in the morning, maybe ALL for me!
Enjoy the rest of your weekend as well, and thanks for the comment!
Hello dear Lynne,
This is looks good I would like to try.
But is the all purpose flour 1/2 cup?
I guess so.
Nice blog thank you for your good work.
Cheers.
Ah, thank you! Yes, it is 1/2 cup of all-purpose flour and the cup has been added so that it now reads correctly. Thanks you for catching that!
Lynne, I love snooping around your blog, I always find something new! This looks absolutely perfect, will be making soon!
How much salt do you use?
1/2 teaspoon of salt.. I looked up the recipe in my Fannie Farmer cookbook.
You didn’t mess it up by taking it out of the oven to check it… They are supposed to fall when you take them out!
I’m now seeing this recipe and I plan to try it for brunch. It looks yummy. Surprised though that you didn’t find it filling, looks to me as if it should be.
I’ve been making these for about 30 years and we’ve always heated the skillet in the oven with about 1/4 cup butter until the butter is slightly golden then dumped in the batter into the hot pan. The edges will rise up huge, high and slightly crispy while the middle stays bubbly and soft. Yummy!!!
I like u column,and thank for sharing,please
Share more thank you n God Bless.
I’ve been making these for many years! Get the best results using the large clear glass Pyrex pie plate. Make sure to get the glass plate super hot. Melt the butterin the pan ’til it sizzles, swirl it around good, then add your batter. Deliciousness!! Try them with peaches too…. Amazing!!
Sounds very similar to what my German Aunt would make us kids some 60 odd years ago. We called them cowhorns. We put butter, cinnamon and suger on them then rolled them up. Yep, mighty tasty to my cousin and I sitting at the old farmhouse kitchen table. Aunt Celia and Uncle Gong ( Wolfgang) knew how to keep us entertained. Thanks for sharing. Sure brought back some great memories.
My Grandmother would make these on meatless Fridays. She would stew or reconstitute dried apricots and we would top them with that!
Recipe looks good. Will try. Will also take more time for me. Thanks for the reminder.
Thank you, K. Enjoy YOUR time!!
Lovely dish! add sone crispe bacon in the bottom of the pan and skipp the sugar on top to make baconpan and serve with a crisp sallad or skip the salt in the batter and seve with a fruitsallad, whipped cream and a dash of icecream. the possibilleties are nearly endless!
Ah, those tips sound perfect, Miss Mirr! Thank you!
The one modification I found that was very useful, is to put the butter in the pan while it heats up in the oven. It should be sizziling when the batter hits the ban. This will make for a flat middle of the pancake that stays moist and yellow, and high crisper sides, closer to how it comes out in a restaurant, without all the “ups and downs” in the middle that brown.