waffle my world: the classic waffle part 1.

This is the start of a personal series called Waffle my World! in which I will work my waffle iron down to its spindly little electrical wires because I know how easy it is to abandon one-use gadgets after a week of initial excitement and I'm not planning to let that happen! 

I finally got a waffle machine! I'm so excited! It took my parents a lot of convincing, but I did it! The major reason that eventually got my parents to agree was how a waffle can be used to make other stuff too, like cookies and donuts and even a cheese burger- all thanks to waffleizer.com. No, I'm not about to make burgers in a waffle iron, but I do see cakes and cookies in the near future.

But first thing's first- a waffle. A proper, back-to-basic no-frills waffle. Just for a plain version along, I've bookmarked 3 recipes- a straight batter recipe, one with egg whites whipped and a yeasted waffle. This time, I started with the quickest and easiest, being the sloth-like creature I am in the morning. It's from epicurious.com and it looked pretty promising to me.

I set the dial to 3.5 since I was worried if I pushed it to the max the waffle would burn. The waffles did come out quite crisp, but I bet I could push it to 4. Taste-wise, I thought they were a bit eggy. They were light, but not very light, like what you would get from recipes that call for whipping the egg whites. The batter was on the thick side and I had to thin it down with extra milk. Overall, they weren't that bad, but they weren't mind-blowingly good either. I would probably add some vanilla or try using just egg whites.

Even though this is far from the best waffle I've tried, I enjoyed it. Really. Waffles are strangely comforting. The idea of having a whole round to yourself, even without any toppings, is enough to satisfy. It's the kind of thing that makes you go just waffles for dinner? ooh... yes! rather than chicken for dinner? hmm... anything else? It's like having a bowl of hot soup- it can be less calorific, and much less to eat, but it beats huge dinners with all your proper food groups. By the way, I never bother with food groups. To me, there's only one important food group, and that's sugar.

I noticed that different recipes call for a variety of amounts of butter. Going by the sacred rule that butter is better, which means more butter is even better, may not be true. I realized that when eating pancakes or waffles, I do not prize their flavour on butteriness, because it would eventually be smothered in syrup. Hence I think we shouldn't be tricked by recipes which write for an alarming amount of butter, because the texture might suffer- becoming dense and heavy. But then again, this is just my speculation and the fact remains that I have not found my perfect waffle recipe.

So I would like to ask- what is your favourite waffle recipe?

Belgian Buttermilk Waffles

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups well-shaken buttermilk
• 3/4 stick (6 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted and cooled to room temperature
• 2 large eggs

Put oven rack in middle position and put a large metal cooling rack directly on it. Preheat oven to 250°F and preheat waffle iron.

Whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl.

Whisk together buttermilk, melted butter, and eggs in another bowl, then whisk into flour mixture until just combined.

Brush hot waffle iron lightly with vegetable oil and pour a slightly rounded 1/2 cup of batter into each waffle mold. Cook waffles according to manufacturer's instructions until golden and cooked through, about 3 minutes. Transfer as cooked to rack in oven to keep warm, keeping waffles in 1 layer to stay crisp. Make more waffles in same manner.


Linked to These Chicks Cooked, Sweet Treats Thursday, Sweet Tooth Friday, Sweets for a Saturday, Sweet Indulgences Sunday.