Waffles!!!

So I don’t imagine that it takes too much to figure out that a central theme here is breakfast/brunch. Each time when I’m finalizing a post I’m always trying to nudge the post on the just-beside side of brunch. At times I’ve stretched it a bit too much (i.e. pulled pork for brunch, but brunch is something that is wonderfully flexible and nearly pan justifiable. Savory and sweet are equally at home for brunch like at no other time of the day. Sure you can have breakfast for dinner, but that’s such a novelty that you can’t rightfully call it breakfast or dinner hence the rather cumbersome nomenclature of breakfast for dinner. Brunch is the only meal elegant enough to not only combine the ideals of savory and sweet, but to combine them at the lexical level as well, brunch. It’s beauty and wonderfully dialectical nature is there in plain sight before us during the meal and each time we say it.

Well now after fawning over the delectable combo of the savory and and the sweet, I’m gonna go ahead and relinquish complete devotion to the combination and for this post concentrate on the sweet side of  brunch, waffles. Now that is not to say of course that waffles cannot be savory (fried chicken and waffles and here anyone?), in fact one of my favorite combos is a nice fresh chevre dolloped over a waffle with some honey drizzled over it. Try it, don’t ask why… just try it.

So waffles of course you need to have some sort of a gridiron or waffle maker to go and have you some waffles and I just so happen to have two of them. For comparison’s sake I put one up against the other. Now one should have the clear advantage as it’s a waring pro, stainless (which doesn’t actually improve the quality per se (unless you’re counting it’s higher efficiency in conducting heat, which by the way, I’m not) and it flips over! The other is a handmedown that I came into having thanks to my fervor for making waffles a number of years ago. It’s round, florally decorated and as af in an homage to the 70s, is a vaguely interesting combo of beige and yellow. The main difference between the two in how they make the waffles is…

‘Belgian’ Waffle Recipe (note this can be infinitely varied with different flours/grains fillings etc. Just remember to keep the proportions of wet to dry the same):

2 1/4 tsp yeast (or alternately add 3 tsp baking powder and 1/2 tsp baking soda)

1/4 c warm milk

3 large egg yolks

12 tbs (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter melted and cooled to lukewarm

1/2 c sugar

1 1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp vanilla

4 cups all-purpose flour

2 1/2 cups warm milk

3 large egg whites.

As a side note, this recipe is fairly large the yield is 12 waffles so unless you are entertaining or plan on freezing a number of these (which I highly recommend) you might want to half the recipe.

1. Combine the yeast with the warm milk and let it sit for about 5 minutes.

2. Whisk the egg yolks 1/4 cup of milk and the butter in a large bowl.

3. Whisk in the yeast mixture to the bowl along with 1/2 cup of sugar, 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, 2 teaspoons vanilla.

4. Then in three parts add 4 cups of all-purpose flour, alternating this addition with 2 1/2 cups of warm milk.

5. Break 3 egg whites into a bowl and then beat until soft peaks form. Fold this into the batter and let rise in a warm place until it peaks and then falls back on itself (about an hour).

6. Stir to deflate your batter and pour half a cup or as directed per your waffle iron into your preheated iron.

7. Remove as necessary.

If you want to keep some warm while the others are baking, preheat your oven to 200 and arrange the waffles on a single layer. Also don’t be afraid to wrap some in aluminum foil (wait until they’ve cooled), freeze em’ and enjoy them at some later date. They’ll stay good for at least 1 month and probably more. Nearly any baked good will do extremely well in the freezer.

So what was the difference in the waffle irons? Well the waring pro tended to make waffles that are softer and less crisp than the handmedown. The most notable difference that I was hinting at above is in the feel or let’s say the surface structure of the waffle. The waring has four separate compartments (triangular squares if that makes any sense) and results in those nice creases that I tend to associate with Belgian waffles, and waffles in general. The handmedown bakes a little faster, but is a remarkable sturdy appliance and is probably the more fun of the two to use as you can see as the waffle rises inside of this little guy. It doesn’t lock down and allow for expansion like the waring, it just sort of folds on itself and rises in proportion to the rising of the waffle. So which one wins? Well neither obviously (I say obviously because other than those wonderful people at cooks illustrated, nobody really ever takes a side in these comparisons, which to my mind just begs the question: so why should I ?). Well enjoy if you will and top it as you please! Although I must admit that that whipped cream and fruit is always always a good option.

Прятного Аппетита!!!