History

The Berliner Pfannkuchen took its modern form in Prussia in the 18th century, reportedly invented by a Berlin sugar baker conscripted by Friedrich the Great who, unable to bake field bread, fried small round balls of dough in fat over a campfire. The Silvester (New Year's Eve) tradition of eating Berliner dates to the 1900s; one in a tray may be filled with mustard as a prank. The dish is called Berliner only outside Berlin (within the city it is Pfannkuchen). After 1990, the East-German Pfannkuchen-with-rosehip-jam variant returned to Berlin alongside the Western plum-jam standard. Berlin's bakeries (Brotgarten, Zeit fuer Brot) fry batches daily from October through Silvester.

Common allergens: Gluten, Dairy, Egg

Make it at home

Yield Makes 16Hands-on 45 minTotal 3 hrDifficulty Intermediate

Ingredients

  • 500g strong white bread flour
  • 60g caster sugar
  • 10g fine sea salt
  • 10g instant yeast
  • 250ml whole milk, warm to the touch
  • 2 large eggs
  • 80g unsalted butter, soft
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract; zest of half a lemon
  • 2L sunflower oil for deep-frying
  • 400g plum or rosehip jam (passed through a sieve to remove skin)
  • 150g icing sugar for dusting

Method

  1. In a stand mixer with dough hook, combine flour, sugar, salt, yeast, warm milk, eggs, vanilla and lemon zest. Knead 5 minutes on low.
  2. Add the soft butter a tablespoon at a time, knead 10 more minutes until silky and elastic.
  3. Cover, prove at room temperature for 90 minutes until doubled.
  4. Roll out to 1.5cm thick on a floured surface, cut 16 rounds with an 8cm cutter, place on floured baking paper. Prove again 30 minutes.
  5. Heat oil to 170C. Fry 4 at a time, 2 minutes per side until deep gold. Drain on kitchen paper.
  6. Cool 10 minutes. Fill a piping bag with the smooth jam, push the nozzle into each side, pipe 30g of jam in. Dust thickly with icing sugar to serve.

Tip from the editors. Fry at 170C, not hotter; higher heat browns the outside before the inside cooks, leaving raw dough at the centre.

This is the TableJourney editorial recipe, modelled on the canonical bistro / counter version. The first place to try the dish in its city of origin is below.

Where to eat berliner

Berliner in Berlin

Zeit fuer Brot ★ 4.5

prenzlauer-bergMon-Sat 07:00-19:00, Sun 08:00-19:00Walk-in onlySourdough breads and cinnamon rolls

Zeit fuer Brot on Berlin's Alte Schoenhauser Strasse has baked organic sourdough loaves and the city's most cited Zimtschnecke since 2009; the queue runs deep at 09:00 weekends.

Tip: Saturday queue is 30 minutes deep from 09:00; weekday mornings have walk-up service from 07:00.

Worth the queue: Zimtschnecke (cinnamon roll)

Alte Schoenhauser Strasse 4, 10119 Berlin

Brotgarten ★ 4.4

charlottenburgMon-Fri 06:30-18:30, Sat 07:00-13:00Walk-in onlyOrganic German breads and rolls

Brotgarten on Berlin's Seelingstrasse in Charlottenburg has baked organic German breads, rolls and Pfannkuchen since 1986; the New Year's Eve Pfannkuchen queue is a city ritual.

Tip: Closed Sunday. The Pfannkuchen from October through Silvester is the seasonal headline; bake out by 12:00.

Worth the queue: Berliner Pfannkuchen

Seelingstrasse 30, 14059 Berlin

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