Oat & Apricot Dutch Baby with Rose-Scented Whipped Cream
{an easy gluten-free recipe + option for regular flour}
I’ve been leaning into gluten-free baking as most of you know, and the pantry is fully tricked out with an assortment of non-wheat-based flours to make my bread and chocolate chip cookie dreams come true. Thankfully, not every recipe requires reinventing when avoiding wheat, and such is the case with making a Dutch baby.
I first started making Dutch babies about 15 years ago, for my own little half Dutch babies.
While I talk extensively about being Italian, my father was actually Flemish and Finnish, though I know almost nothing about my dad’s heritage. My grandfather, his father, was born in Antwerp in 1899 and came to America shortly after World War I. From ship manifest records I found on Ellis Island’s website, it looks like he became a naturalized citizen in 1922 and made a voyage back to Belgium to bring his mother, my great-grandmother to the U.S. in 1934.
That is the extent I know of my father’s family history because my grandfather didn’t like talking about his childhood which is understandable having grown up during a war but unfortunate for me having so many questions and no answers to a whole part of my own history.
But that is all neither here nor there because none of it has anything to do with making a Dutch baby except I fell down a rabbit hole and took you all along for the journey, so please excuse that digression. What is a Dutch baby is a question some of you might be wondering? It’s simply a pancake baked in a very hot oven, and quite easy to make even though its impressive appearance might suggest otherwise.
I will admit, they were not always my first choice to make because while they look gorgeous all puffed up in the oven, that dramatic appearance deflates once out of the oven into a very thin pancake. They just never felt substantial enough when I would make them for our family of four back then. For that reason, I now choose to make my Dutch baby in a slightly smaller skillet than most recipes would direct. This results in the deflated pancake being slightly thicker, about ½-inch thick, instead of thin like an omelet. I’m giving you the choice of two pan sizes, and will let you decide for yourself. I would even suggest making it both ways so you can compare which thinness you like.
Making a gluten-free version was an easy swap of oat flour for regular flour, with a little tapioca starch added. It is a little difference in appearance compared to regular flour which creates a thin crispy ring around the edge, a signature feature of a Dutch baby but this oat flour version is still just as satisfying. A few rogue recipes online add baking powder which is a hard no in my book. The wonder of a Dutch baby is adding an impossibly thin batter to a hot skillet and then letting a hot oven work magic without any leavener.
I’ve given directions for whisking the batter and also mentioned you can use a stand blender or immersion blender. Nowadays I prefer the blender to really whip up the batter but have made it just as many times with a whisk–it all depends on your mood, I guess.
I hope the week has been a gentle one. I know I say that every week but I truly mean it. There’s so much bombarding us from every direction, so remember to be kind.
–xo, j.