Since I mentioned my recent Bread Bible Studies, it’s probably a good time to show you what I was able to do with Miss Rose’s help. But I’m going to keep my oohing and aahing to a minimum because it’s one long ass recipe.
To summarize, I chose Christmas morning to resume my Bread Bible Studies. All I can say is that this apple filled dutch baby was a Christmas miracle. And it was just as good as a cold snack late on Christmas night as it was piping hot for breakfast that morning.
Rose’s Apple Filled Dutch Baby
Adapted from Rose Levy Beranbum’s The Bread Bible
BAH Note: The most important thing about this recipe is to remember that the batter has to rest for at least an hour. If you don’t like long delays in getting apple filled goodness into your belly, make the batter the night before. I honestly don’t know if the flour in my container was bleached or unbleached. I’m sure RLB has her reasons for specifying bleached but I was perfectly happy with the results I got with my King Arthur All Purpose.
RLB’s headnote for this recipe says her “goal was for a Dutch baby that had crisp, puffy sides but a tender, almost custardy bottom (as opposed to an eggy/rubbery one).” I can not provide a more accurate, enticing description than that.
Batter
- 142 grams (1 cup) bleached all purpose flour
- 37 grams (3 tablespoons) sugar
- 1.7 grams (1/4 teaspoon) salt
- 56 grams (4 tablespoons) melted butter, divided
- 242 grams (1 cup) whole milk
- 2 large eggs
- 2 large egg whites
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Place the flour, sugar, and salt in a food processor and pulse a few times to combine. Add 2 tablespoons of the melted butter and process until the mixture resembles tiny peas, approximately 20 seconds. Scrape down the sides of the workbowl. With the food processor running, add the milk, eggs, egg whites, and vanilla and process until the batter is smooth, about 20 seconds.
Allow the batter to sit for an hour at room temperature or refrigerate for up to 24 hours. If you refrigerate overnight, allow the batter to come to room temperature and whisk it lightly.
30 minutes before baking, place a rack in the bottom third of the oven and heat your oven to 400 degrees. When ready to bake, remelt the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter and add it to a 12 inch, oven safe frying pan (I used a stainless steel pan because I don’t know that my Calphalon nonstick is safe to 400 degrees). Use a pastry brush to coat the bottom and sides completely with the butter. Place the empty pan in the oven for 3 minutes until the butter is hot and bubbling.
Carefully remove the hot pan from the oven and pour the batter over the hot butter. Bake for 15 minutes then lower the heat to 350 degrees and continue to cook until it is puffed around the edges above the sides of the pan and has a golden brown color, approximately 30 minutes. Approximately 15 minutes before the end of the cooking time, quickly make 3 small slits in the center of the Dutch baby to release steam and allow the center to dry more.
While the Dutch baby is in the oven, make the apple filling.
Apple Filling
- 63 grams (4 1/2 tablespoons) butter, softened
- 717 grams (2 pounds) granny smith apples, peeled, cored, and sliced 1/4 thick
- zest and juice of 1 lemon
- 40 grams (3 tablespoons) brown sugar
- 38 grams (3 tablespoons) granulated sugar
- 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
Melt the butter in a large frying pan set over medium heat. When the bubbling subsides, add all the ingredients. Cook for approximately 15 minutes until the apples are tender and glazed. Turn off the heat and cover the pan to keep warm.
Once the Dutch baby is removed from the oven, carefully transfer it to a large plate or platter and fill it with the spiced apples.
Bon Appetit Hon 
Nice photo. I could just eat that right off my screen. I’ve heard that cast iron is a good vehicle for Dutch babies and I’ve been meaning to give it a whirl ever since I got my cast iron skillet. Which was, ummm, probably 6 years ago or so…
Jennifer, I think it’s high time that your cast iron skillet became acquainted with a Dutch Baby.
I’ve been working with RLB’s Bread Bible too! How did I miss this one?
I can just imagine that crispy bottom. Looks awesome!
Jan, I’ll be brutally honest…this isn’t a recipe you can decide to make on the fly. It needs time. But then, most of the recipes in the Bread Bible are like that. But it’s worth all the work and waiting.
ok, seriously, all her recipes are SO LONGWINDED & detailed. but have mercy, the results are usually so good, like this one. i can’t tell you how excited i am that you are bread baking, even tho i am not.
Lan, the Bread Bible recipes are quite exacting and do take commitment. But the ends do tend to justify the means.
I don’t think I even knew what a dutch baby was before reading this post. It looks delish. And why on earth would a recipe call for bleached flour?
Beth, this Dutch Baby wants to be your friend. I think The Usual Suspects need to adopt it.
They sell Dutch Babies at a pancake restaurant in Falls Church but I don’t get out there often and haven’t had a chance to try one.
Looking at your picture, I’m definitely okay waiting the hour (or more but let’s be honest here) for the batter to do its thing. Pass that Dutch Baby to the left hand side.
Ali, thank you for that Musical Youth reference. Totally made my day.
Looking at your picture, I’m definitely okay waiting the hour (or more but let’s be honest here) for the batter to do its thing. Pass that Dutch Baby to the left hand side.
So I’d never really heard of a Dutch baby before until a couple months ago. It’s still a food that’s shrouded in mystery to me. Is is a dessert? A breakfast food? Or so good that it doesn’t need a category?
Jenna, Dutch Baby defies categorization. We enjoyed it both as a hot breakfast and a cold late night snack.
Oh, yum! I think I will have to make a Dutch baby for breakfast this weekend.
Jen, I can’t tell you how much I wish I had one of these right now. I’ve got scrambled eggs on the menu for Friday’s dinner. Maybe I need to do this instead.
I love these things…so do my kids. I recently did a post about ‘dutch babies’ which my German grandparents always called German Pancakes. Seems dutch was the dastardized spelling of Deutsch or German for..of all things the word German. 🙂
And Jennifer…I bought a cast iron skillet just to make them. My mom had one, both of my grandmothers too; how I survived all these years without is beyond me!
Barbara, at the risk of having my food blogger card taken away, I am sans cast iron. I had one, and grew up seeing my grandmother use hers, but it just never seemed to work as well as my Calphalon non stick.
I’ve never heard of a dutch baby, but this sounds like a delicious dessert for a gray, rainy day like today. I bet it would be amazing with peaches and blueberries in summer too.
Jen, there is no wrong time to enjoy a Dutch Baby. Now you’ve got me thinking of peaches. And summertime.
That looks like the perfect thing to eat on Christmas morning!
Elizabeth, it truly was a Christmas Miracle morning!
That might be worth giving up the cinnamon roll tradition for.
I could accidentally make a double batch of the apples that would turn up elsewhere.
Oma, I can not condone abandoning cinnamon rolls. I am nothing if not loyal to tradition. However, if you were so inclined to expand your breakfast tradition to include Rose’s Dutch Baby, I would not see that as being disloyal.
Dude, those apples go with everything.