This is one of those family recipes that has never been written down, but has been passed down from mother to daughter; my Oma taught my mother, who inadvertently taught me (but that is another story), and now I am teaching my son. In fact, this is sort of a post for him so he always has access to the instruction. This is also one of those recipes that is done the old way, by sight and feel. So lets see if I can describe this well enough so you can make it too.
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German Pfannekuchen
Pfannecuchen
This German word, literally, means pan + cake, or pancake. BettyCrocker wrote that the first record of “pancake” dates to 600 BCE in Greece. This makes sense to me, considering it is a flour with milk batter fried in a skillet. The difference between pancake and a flat bread is that the flat bread is stiffer, so it has a less liquidly batter.
The Bavarian Pfannekuchen is really a German pancake that resembles a French crêpe. But our version is thicker and generally smaller, although I tend to make them larger than a plate.
Honestly, I have never eaten these anyplace but at home, when my Oma or mother would make them. Growing upy we did not eat them for breakfast per se, we mostly ate them as a brunch or lunch item when I was young. Now, however, I do make them for breakfast whenever my son is visiting.
As with many old recipes, there are variations.
The Dutch Baby
The ”dutch baby” is more a sweet-filled pastry or popover cooked mainly in the oven, and was created in Seattle. It is called ”dutch” because someone could not say ”Deutsch”, the German word for “German” (1). Many people consider this a German Pancake, but it is not, although the batter is similar.
Berliner Pfannkuchen
Likewise, the “Berliner Pfannkuchen” is not what I would consider a pancake, as it is more a donut pastry than a pancake. People who know, tend to say that in Berlin, pancakes are known as “Eierkuchen”, or egg-cales.
The Pfannecuchen Recipe Steps
Making Bavarian Pfannekuchen (pancakes) in my house starts with Mise en Place. So here are the equipment you will need.
- A light weight skillet with rounded edges, so flipping the pancake is easy and smooth and it helps make the pancake shape.
- Consider a wide spatula, to help turn the pancake over.
- A hand mixer of some sort.
- Large mixing bowl.
- And a tablespoon.
Even if a family makes the proper Pfannekuchen, they may make it differently that I do for there are regional variations. To my mind, if ever you see the addition of baking soda, which many online recipes seem to have, know that is not an authentic recipe according to my family. Likewise, I have been told that some families add sparkling water to their batter, and reduce the amount of milk, but I do not as my family did not.
So with that in mind, growing up in Bavaria, these were the only ingredients to use.
- Eggs (I always use 6 to make 6-8 pancakes)
- White All-Purpose flour
- Pinch of salt (kosher or table salt)
- Teaspoon of vanilla powder or a packet of Vanillezucker
- Olive oil
- Milk (any type will do, my mother use whole milk, I use non-fat milk)
Egg is Base Ingredient
I break the six eggs, add a pinch of salt, and a heaping teaspoon of vanilla powder (not extract). My Oma would break and add the eggs to the big bowl, whereas my mother would break the eggs into a different small bowl, and dump that egg into the bigger bowl, one at a time. When asked one day, she indicated it was to prevent any shell pieces from getting into the batter. So I figured Oma had a shell accident once, and my mother bit into the part of the pancake with that shell piece.
Dry Ingredients
The salt is added to help the flavors express themselves. Salt is known by cooks as a universal flavor improver, because at low concentrations it reduces bitterness, but increases sweet, sour and umami flavors. In this egg-flour batter it will help increase the sweetness of the ingredients.
I happen to use Seattle’s Market Vanilla Powder as it is always perfect, but have used some German Vanillezucker as well. And then blended this and the salt with the eggs until the mixture is a bit frothy as shown in the bowl above.
Photo by PattyCooks.
Then I add heaping tablespoons of flour, one at a time, mixing in-between these additions until the consistency of the batter is just right. It is important that there be no flour clumps in the batter.
Milk Ingredient
So what happens is that I keep adding flour to the eggs until the liquid becomes thick like a paste. Then I turn to add milk to dilute the pasty-mixture, to make a batter with a honey-like consistency that is not as thick as American pancake mixes. This process, of creating a paste then a liquidity batter, helps prevent flour clumps.
I am looking for a slightly thick, wet batter that coats the spoon as it runs off like I show above. To get this level of thickly-liquid batter, I add milk or flour until it looks right.
Then I heat the skillet on the stove, add the oil, and only then add about a small ladle full of the batter to the heated oil, generally in the center of the skillet. The batter should sizzle upon hitting the skillet. Then, I swirl the batter in the skillet to help spread the batter all around the skillet, sometimes even up the sides a bit.
The heat will firm up the batter to it is thinly spread across the pan and as it cooks it spreads out a bit further, including up the sides a bit. The pancake should be round, adding more batter if needed, as it is swirled.
What I am looking for, before I flip the pancake, is for the batter to set and not be runny. Then I will flip, cook until there are brown spotting or swirls on the pancake. It should look dry with air holes as shown below. Then flip.
In between pancakes I drizzle in more oil, as I like to have the edges a bit crispy and want a nice splotchy brown on the pancake itself.
From my experience, the first one is always rough, sometimes it tears, and is not perfectly round, as the heat is still getting to the right place. The heat is so crucial, that after the first one, you just have to keep going until all the batter is gone. So I keep a plate nearby to finish one and start the other immediately.
Sometimes I have the oven on low and put the pancakes into the oven to stay warm if everyone will be eating at the same time. But my family enjoys these too much to wait, so people can come in and grab their next pancake, or as they are done cooking I go to the table and serve them right off the skillet, before making another.
Photo by PattyCooks.
Above you see the first one on the plate, and now can tell how the second is more round and better looking and has the brownish swirls more consistent on the pancake. You can also see how it has cooked up the rounded edges of the skillet as well.
Serving Pfannekuchen
Then there is eating the pancake. Growing up, I was raised using a sugar-cinnamon mixture or a bit of jam with sliced fruit. We did not add butter or syrup to our pancakes. But my spouse and son have their own way of making and eating them, so here is a list of our household’s ‘fixins.
- I add sugar + cinnamon and roll up the pancake.
- Sometimes I will add a bit of jam and sliced fruit.
- My spouse adds butter and fruit.
- My son adds butter, fruit sometimes, rolls it up and pours Maple syrup over the pancakes.
For a savory version, Oma would add cooked asparagus with a white sauce over it. That was very good too.
Leftover Pfannekuchen
My mother would slice leftover Pfannekuchen and use them like noodles in a beef broth soup, topped with chives. As kids we loved this soup and would slurp it all up with pleasure.
This pancake soup is called Flädlesuppe, and the way to make it is to roll up leftover Pfannekuchen, then slice as thin or thick as you like, place in a bowl and pour the hot broth over the “noodles”, topped with diced chives. The heat of the soup would warm the “noodles”.
But do not store the sliced Pfannekuchen with the broth for the pancake will expand and become mush.
- This soup really needs a good German broth, homemade from beef bones (oxtails are okay), leek, carrots, onion, and celeriac.
Sometimes she would slice apples, fry them in butter and add the sliced Pfannekuchen to the skillet. Then top with sugar and cinnamon and serve. That was always appreciated by us kids.
Better would be when she would take the sliced apples and dip them in the Pfannekuchen batter and fry those. Or just add the apples to the Pfannekuchen in the pan.
Salutation
So here you go, I have shared with the world my family’s recipe for Pfannekuchen. My siblings and I loved this pancake when we were growing up, my spouse and son love this pancake now, as do guests when I make it. I hope my son passes it on and serves it to his family and friends so it continues to be shared into the future.
—Patty
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