First Off, What Is A Belgian Waffle?
Belgian waffles are waffles, but better in every single way. The main differences are that Belgian waffles are lighter and airy compared to their standard counterparts, and have larger squares that are deeper, which is useful for containing syrups, sauces and other toppings.
What Do I Need To Make One?
You will need:
- 1 waffle iron
- 1 large bowl
- 2 medium bowls
Ingredients:
- 2 ¼ Cups of flour
- 1 Tablespoon of baking powder
- 3 Tablespoons of sugar
- ½ Teaspoon of salt
- 1 Teaspoon of Cinnamon
- 2 Separated large eggs
- ½ Cup of vegetable oil
- 2 Cups of milk
- 1 Teaspoon of vanilla extract
How Do I Make One?
First things first, preheat your waffle iron, spray it with nonstick cooking spray and then set it aside. This is key to making the waffles crispy, so make sure to do it.
After that? Take your large bowl and whisk the flour, baking powder, sugar, salt and cinnamon all together.
Next, grab a medium bowl and beat the egg whites with a hand mixer until stiff peaks form, then set it aside for now.
And we’re already halfway through all the steps! Now, grab your second medium bowl and start mixing together the egg yolks, vegetable oil, milk and vanilla extract.
Then, add the egg yolk mixture to the dry ingredients inside the large bowl and mix well.
Afterwards, fold in the egg whites
Following that, pour the batter onto your waffle iron and cook according to the manufacturer’s directions
Finally, serve immediately with butter, syrup, sugar or any other toppings, and enjoy!
Some Extra Tips And Ideas:
Now that you have made yourself a Belgian waffle, you’ll be wanting to try to perfect it and make it your own, so here are some ideas perfect for personalising and perfecting your waffle:
Before we started using baking soda as a raising agent, we used yeast. Although it is an older method, it doesn’t make it a worse method, in fact, many people prefer it, as it’s generally more fluffy, crusty and has a slightly different taste. However, the main drawback and the main reason baking soda is used instead, is that yeast takes time to rise, but an hour is plenty good and overnight turns it into waffle gold.
One small tip some people swear by is raising the eggs to room temperature, this helps the eggs mix evenly with the other ingredients and helps to create a smoother batter that will rise easily. One quick and easy method to heat the eggs up is to run warm water over the eggs until they are no longer cool to the touch
Another tip is to add melted butter to the batter in order to add a rich and savoury-sweet taste to the waffles, as well as improve the soft, airy and spongy interior.
Want to keep the waffles hot for later consumption? The well-known trick is to keep them in an oven at 200 degrees Fahrenheit until you’re hungry, but you can go one step further and make the waffle crispier by setting the heat to 300 degrees.
Try melted buttermilk. To really add some flavour you can add buttermilk to the mix to really make it delicious, with or without toppings. Note, however, that this method won’t work with the yeast, due to the buttermilk’s acidity.
By Bernard de Laguiche