Filling Tummies with Dutch Baby Pancakes

When I went to listen to Cyndi O'Meara speak last year I was a little shocked by her very strong stance on breakfast cereals. I have always known that cocoa pops, fruit loops and the like were basically rubbish, but I really wasn't aware that good ol' weetbix wasn't a good nutritional option. It took me a little while to remove weetbix from our family diet as although we weren't overly fond of it, finding a quick and healthy replacement wasn't easy. Now there is certainly no going back to breakfast from a box though and we love our enormous glass of thick fruit juice and our whole grain, naturally sweetened crumpet or muffin.

Occasionally though we really like a treat for breakfast and along the way Sunday mornings have somehow become our regular pancake morning. There are currently three pancake recipes that we really like and rotate between. These are:

1) Brown rice and almond pancakes

These are so easy and yummy. I still can't believe they are made with brown rice.

2) Crepes

I use the Everyday Cookbook recipe and substitute white spelt flour instead of the wheat (adding about 20g extra flour). These are a real treat as I don't often use white flour solely in cooking anymore. We serve them with chopped fresh fruit (usually banana and strawberry) and homemade caramel sauce. I bought a little crepe pan recently and they are so easy to make now.

3) Dutch Baby Cakes

I found this amazingly easy recipe on Lindsay's Passionate Homemaking Blog. I really love it because it has the goodness of soaked grains, butter and eggs, but most of all I love it because it is oven baked. No standing at the stove pouring and flipping pancakes - hooray!!!

The texture is a little different to normal pancakes and it has had some mixed reviews, but we are definite fans (although my eldest son still loudly protests that these aren't his most favourite pancakes). I will jot the recipe down here in TMX format in case you would like to give it a try. I have reduced the amounts slightly to fit the pancake into my standard sized pyrex lasagne dish, but I am on the lookout for another square 8x8 glass pyrex dish a two smaller dishes would probably work better.

Dutch Baby Pancakes

Ingredients:

130g spelt, wheat or khorasan grain
210g milk of your choice (I use non-homogenised dairy)
1 tbsp of organic apple cider vinegar
75g butter (small cubes)
3 large eggs (or 4 medium)
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Method:

Mill grain on speed 9 for 1 minute and 30 seconds. Pour into a jug or bowl and sit on TMX lid. Weigh in milk and measure in vinegar. mix well and leave to soak for 12-24 hours.

After the soaking period preheat your oven to 250 degrees.

Place your glass dish on top of your TMX lid and weigh in the butter. Throw in several pieces at a time so the weight will register properly. Scatter the pieces over the bottom of the dish and then place the dish in the heating oven for 2-3 minutes or until melted.

Add the eggs to the TMX bowl and whisk for 30 seconds on speed 5.

Add the soaked mixture and vanilla extract and beat for 1 minute on speed 3.

Carefully and slowly pour the batter over the butter in the pan. Cover the entire base of the dish. It doesn't matter if a little butter ends up on top.

Bake for 15-20 minutes until light brown and fluffy. Slice and serve with your choice of toppings. I like lemon juice and rapadura and my boys all like homemade jam. :-)