Waffle Irons

[SethG]

Yeast-raised waffles are awfully good, especially if you can get a hold of some pearl sugar.

 

Now this sounds interesting. Do you have a link?

[SethG]

Something like this?

 

Or this?

[SethG]

Here's Alton Brown's basic waffle recipe, which is raised with baking powder and does not involve whipping the egg whites.

[SLBunge]

I've a recipe Matthew Amster-Burton's posted long ago at eGullet (since taken down I think). He claimed it was adapted from A real American Breakfast.

 

10oz AP flour

1 T sugar

1 t instant yeast

3/4 t salt

1 stick butter, melted and cooled to warm

2 c warm milk

1 t vanilla extract

2 lg eggs, separated

 

Night before: Mix flour, sugar, yeast, salt in large bowl. Add butter and stir until well combined. Stir in milk and vanilla. Cover with foil or plastic and leave overnight at room temp.

 

Morning: Batter should have a creamy head. Stir in egg yolks. Whip whites to stiff peaks and gently fold into batter.

 

Ladle onto a prepped waffle iron.

 

--

I remember these being pretty spectacular but it has been four or five years since I've made them.

 

 

[SethG]

That looks basically like the Cunningham recipe, just made more modern with instant yeast, and no proofing of the yeast with water. (Of course, you don't need to proof today's active dried yeast either, but that's a different discussion...)

 

I can see why either recipe would be beloved, given the whole stick of butter!

[prasantrin]

Matthew Amster-Burton's is, I think, a Brussels-style waffle which is always good, especially with maple syrup and whipped cream. I was thinking of the Liège-style one which is perfect on its own, or dipped in some melted chocolate. I'm a sucker for anything with crunchy caramelised sugar.

 

I haven't tried these recipes for either the Brussels or Liège waffles, but they both look really good. The Brussels one uses brown sugar! How good would that be?

 

Forgot, Liège waffles use a different iron, but you could try using a regular waffle iron, anyway.

[SethG]

My wife managed to break my new waffle iron already. She left the power cord over a burner on the stove and melted it. I'm going to get an $800 replacement just to show her!

[splinky]

I'm going to try that recipe gluten free. I have 2 days left to finish up 1.5 dozen eggs

[fentona]

The most recent issue of Cook's Illustrated has a waffle recipe that uses powdered buttermilk and, instead of whipped egg whites, seltzer water. I tried them this weekend and, while they were fine, weren't any better than my standard recipe (which includes a whole stick of butter, to be sure.)

[SethG]

I replaced the waffle iron and the little lady of the house actually made waffles this past weekend. She used a standard recipe (Bittman's), but she didn't want to use the mixer so she whipped the whites by hand until they were frothy but not peaky. The waffles came out great, I thought, better than the ultralight stiff peak/cornstarch-crispy ones I made a couple weeks ago.

[Suzanne F]

I replaced the waffle iron and the little lady of the house actually made waffles this past weekend. She used a standard recipe (Bittman's), but she didn't want to use the mixer so she whipped the whites by hand until they were frothy but not peaky. The waffles came out great, I thought, better than the ultralight stiff peak/cornstarch-crispy ones I made a couple weeks ago.

You mean your daughter?

 

But really, other than undercooked ones, is there such a thing as a not-so-good waffle?

[prasantrin]

I replaced the waffle iron and the little lady of the house actually made waffles this past weekend. She used a standard recipe (Bittman's), but she didn't want to use the mixer so she whipped the whites by hand until they were frothy but not peaky. The waffles came out great, I thought, better than the ultralight stiff peak/cornstarch-crispy ones I made a couple weeks ago.

You mean your daughter?

 

But really, other than undercooked ones, is there such a thing as a not-so-good waffle?

 

Really really burnt ones are bad, too. My mother made ones like that once. It was very unfortunate. But the ones that are really burnt on the outside and undercooked on the inside are the worst!

[SethG]

I replaced the waffle iron and the little lady of the house actually made waffles this past weekend. She used a standard recipe (Bittman's), but she didn't want to use the mixer so she whipped the whites by hand until they were frothy but not peaky. The waffles came out great, I thought, better than the ultralight stiff peak/cornstarch-crispy ones I made a couple weeks ago.

You mean your daughter?

 

 

Suzanne, you've met my wife, so I'm sure you can appreciate the tongue in my cheek when I described her as the "little lady of the house..."

[splinky]

I replaced the waffle iron and the little lady of the house actually made waffles this past weekend. She used a standard recipe (Bittman's), but she didn't want to use the mixer so she whipped the whites by hand until they were frothy but not peaky. The waffles came out great, I thought, better than the ultralight stiff peak/cornstarch-crispy ones I made a couple weeks ago.

You mean your daughter?

 

 

Suzanne, you've met my wife, so I'm sure you can appreciate the tongue in my cheek when I described her as the "little lady of the house..."

 

that's the key to sethg's heart she's wearing

[fantasty]

We evolved this from the King Arthur Baker's Companion's Classic Buttermilk Waffle recipe. It's very forgiving and works well with any combination of flours or brans (or even wheat germ). This is the combo we like best:

 

3/4 C all-purpose flour

1/4 C buckwheat flour

1/4 C oat or wheat bran

1/4 C freshly ground flax seeds

1/4 C freshly ground wheat berries (or whole wheat flour)

1/4 C ground pecans

2 t baking powder

1 t baking soda

1 t salt

cinnamon to taste (probably 1/2 t); a dash of cardamom, too, if you feel like it

1 3/4 cup buttermilk

2 eggs

1/2 cup melted butter

 

Combine all and mix. Or, if you want to get fancy, mix dry and wet ingredients separately, then combine. Keeps in the fridge for up to a week, if it lasts that long.