There she is again, our dear Kitchen Table Friend Yvette van Boven. For many months, we have been looking forward to her new book Home Baked that will hit the Dutch stores next week (the English and German edition will not be printed until next year, sorry). It contains over 200 recipes for baking. Last spring, Yvette shared a list with her favorite restaurants, and a list of where to shop in Paris on our blog, but right now we are proud to give you a sneak preview from her new book. It is, we now know, beautiful. An impressive 386 pages with stunning pictures, inspiring recipes, incredible handy tips for baking-nerds, of course some beautiful drawings, get the picture? We both have way too many cookbooks on baking, but they can all go as soon as we have this one in the kitchen.
Out of all the bread, cookies, cake, and pie recipes we chose one that suits us very well: an American classic, with roots in Germany, but Dutch in name. Speaking of a coincidence! Yvette: “Dutch Baby is a actually a German dish, and descends from the German Pfannkuchen (pancakes). The Pennsylvania Dutch used to make it, and they were immigrants from Germany. So, actually, it should be called ‘Deutsch’ (German) babies. Anyway, it’s a great brunch dish. The Americans serve it with icing sugar and lemon. But you could also make a savory version. One time I made it with braised leeks and some baked slices of pear. I put these on top of the batter in the pan, and sprinkled over some blue cheese (stilton) and baked it. I usually serve the sweet version with a bowl of red fruit.” We love it! Thanks dear Yvette, and congrats on your new book!
Brunch, makes 1 large pancake
Action Time: 10 minutes + 20 minutes oven time
1.75 oz/50 g sugar
grated zest of 1/2 lemon
3 large eggs, on room temperature*
5.3 oz/150 ml full fat milk
2.65 oz/75 g plain flour
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
pinch of ground cinnamon
pinch of ground nutmeg
pinch of salt
approx. 1.75 oz/50 g butter
icing sugar
lemon wedges
Extra: a large oven-proof cast iron skillet or a tarte-tatin baking pan
1. Put the empty skillet in the middle of the oven and preheat to 440 °F/225°C. Mix the sugar and the lemon zest in a small bowl.
2. With an electric mixer, whisk the eggs on high speed until you have a pale and frothy mixture. Using a normal whisk, add the milk, flour, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt and beat until you have a smooth batter. It will be a thin and runny.
3. Open the oven door, and add the butter to the hot pan. The butter will melt instantly, so swing the pan (don’t forget those oven mittens!) to make sure the butter spreads evenly. Pour all the batter in the hot pan and close the oven door. Bake the pancake until it is puffed and done; about 20 minutes. Remove from the oven, transfer to a large plate and sprinkle with some icing sugar and the lemon sugar. Serve with wedges of lemon. The Dutch Baby will fall in a bit, but that’s okay.
** Yvette uses a convection oven, do check the temperature in your own oven!
HOME BAKED by Yvette van Boven
photography by Oof Verschuren
The Dutch Edition!
386 pp, ISBN 978 90 5956 567 8
€ 29,95
Fontaine Publishers, the Netherlands.
