I bought my wife a belgian waffle maker last Sunday. She wanted me to test it out right away. I was quite surprised at how complicated the the traditional recipe is. It is yeast based so after all of the prep work the batter needs to "rise" for an hour. It also required a whole stick of butter and beating egg whites to stiff peaks. It was late so I searched the net and found Emeril LaGasse's recipe which used baking powder for the leavening agent. The waffles were just okay. My wife wants them extra crispy and this recipe could not do that. Today I followed the traditional recipe. After all of that work and time the tasted slightly better but were no crispier than Emeril's recipe, So does any one have a recipe they like. Or a mix they can recommend? Thanks, Phil
This is what I usually use: I have a small waffle maker that makes two squares at a time and not the huge circular ones... so I don't know if it would work as well in that style 2 cups all-purpose flour 2 teaspoons baking powder 2 tablespoons white sugar 1 teaspoon salt 2 cups milk 2 eggs 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
Thanks Thanks for the replies. Etoyoc, Should your third ingredient be 2 tablespoons of sugar? Nick, Have you tried this recipe? I will give both a go. Thanks. Phil
Yup, nice and crispy. I'm a big Alton Brown fan so I may be biased. A lot of his recipe's work better as example of concept, but this one is spot on.
When preparing Waffles... don't over mix. Alton Brown went over the reasons for it... I don't recall them now; however, stir it up, but don't try to get it perfectly mixed. It is OK if the batter starts a little lumpy.
Same reason you don't overknead bread. It activates the gluten and makes the end product tough. It also takes out the little air bubbles that help make the waffle (or pancake, similar concept) light.