Waffles

For some reason or other I had a yen for waffles a couple of weekends ago.

I have a couple of waffle irons, one for thick Belgian ones and one for thin crispy ones. Neither of them is electric, they need an external heat source. When my son was small we used quite often to make thick waffles on the fire in winter, then sit scoffing them with jam and whipped cream. Back then I used to make them with what was basically a thick crêpe mix - flour, egg, salt, milk, and melted butter. Perfectly yummy, but I wanted to see what yeasted ones were like.

I used this recipe, from La cuisine de Rosine. My French is just good enough to cope with recipes, although I sometimes have to look up the odd ingredient.

Here's the yeast (levure) with warm milk (lait tiéde) (I didn't feel like using part beer, but might try it some time in the future).

Here's the flour (farine) in a large bowl (grand saladier)

And here is is with the eggs (oeufs), soup spoon of sugar (cuiller à soupe de sucre), milk, yeast, and pinch of salt (pincée de sel):

Rosine suggests mixing the milk in little by little so as not to get lumps (at least I think that's what "grumeaux" must be), I mixed my milk in all at once, just mixing it well. 

Then the melted butter (beurre fondu)  …

… goes in:

 After it's all mixed up you leave it to rise until it's all bubbly:

Then it's time to heat up the waffle iron …

… turning it over a couple of times on a medium gas flame until it's hot enough that butter will sizzle when you pop a little bit in to grease it.

A ladleful of waffle mix goes in …

… and you shut the iron. After a little while (trial and error will tell you when), you turn over the iron so the other side of the waffle can cook.

This is the second side cooked:

And this is the first side:

It's not easy to get just the right amount of mix in so that it completely fills the iron, so the dimples on the first side are always deeper than those on the second.

Belgian waffles with butter and jam:

Yummy.

Recipe

Belgian Waffles

(Approximate translation from La cuisine de Rosine)

Ingredients:
300 ml milk (or a mix of milk and beer)
250 g flour
2 eggs
a pinch of salt
a soup spoon of sugar
75 g melted butter
15 g yeast

Method:
Warm the milk (in a bowl?), mix the yeast with a little of the warm milk.
In a big (bowl?),  something (put?) the flour, add the yeast, the eggs, the salt and the soup spoon of sugar. Mix and add the warm milk little by little so as not to make lumps(?).

When it's all been added, make sure the batter is smooth(?).

Melt the butter and add it to the mixture. Leave it so rest in a place that's not too cold, so the batter can rise.

Some people recommend beating the egg whites to (snow? Probably means stiff peaks.) and then adding delicately (one assumes this means folding in) to the batter just before cooking.

Heat the waffle iron and cook the waffles. They should be crispy on the outside and soft in the middle. Serve them with some things I can't translate. Jam and butter or jam and whipped cream is good enough for me. It also says something about adding bergamot to them if you want. Somehow or other.

French version: (for people whose French is better than mine)


    30 cl de lait ( ou moitié lait moitié bière )
    250 g de farine
    2 oeufs
    1 pincée de sel
    1 cuillère à soupe de sucre
    75 g de beurre fondu
    15 g de levure de boulanger

Faire tiédir le lait, dans un bol. Diluer la levure avec un peu de lait tiède.

Dans un grand saladier, mettre la farine, ajouter la levure , les oeufs , le sel et la cuillère à soupe de sucre. Mélanger et ajouter le lait tiède petit à petit pour ne pas former de grumeaux.

Une fois tout le lait ajouté, s'assurer que la pâte est lisse.

Faire fondre le beurre et l'ajouter à la préparation. Laisser reposer dans un endroit pas trop frais, la pâte doit monter.

Certaines personnes recommandent de battre les blancs en neige bien ferme et de les ajouter délicatement à la pâte juste avant la cuisson. Bien faire chauffer le gaufrier et faire cuire les gaufres. Elles sont légèrement croquantes à l'extérieur et moelleuses à l'intérieur. Les servir avec de la vergeoise ou du sucre glace comme dans les foires.
Si vous préférez les gaufres fourrées, allez donc voir celles de Bergamote !... à condition bien sûr de posséder le gaufrier adapté, voir ici.