This recipe makes 6 - 100g waffles, each containing about 305 calories with ~70g of fat. They are very close to the real thing – as close to the waffles that are served on the streets of Brussels as I have ever come (and getting closer at every iteration - and this is Rev #13). The secret ingredient is pearl sugar or an adequate substitute. You will need a mixer that can handle a soft dough (I use an old Kitchen Aid K45) and a Belgian Waffle iron. The one I have is a very old Nordic Ware Belgian Waffler, cast aluminum with a non-stick coating and little bi-metal thermometers built in to each plate (I am told that the new ones don’t have the built-in thermometers).

The original recipe was found without attribution on the web in Dutch and the poster was asking for a translation from Danish. It has morphed somewhat with translation and adaptation. The following recipe is sized for ½ stick of butter, substitutes instant yeast for the fresh yeast, substitutes vanilla extract for vanilla sugar, adds some sugar to substitute for the vanilla sugar as a yeast accelerator, and increases the liquid by a little to account for the moisture that would be in the fresh yeast and the fact that one extra large egg is not quite big enough to stand in for 1 egg + 2/3 yoke. I have increased the flour by 10% (from 213 g to 234 g) to produce a chewier product that more closely replicates what I remember of the Brussels street waffles. The original recipe calls for butter or margarine and also a pinch of salt so the butter is intended to be salted butter (since margarine always comes salted) but it wants to have just a little more salt. If you use unsalted butter increase the salt to ½ t.

234 g bread flour
82 g warm milk or water (110°F)
1/2 tsp granulated sugar (to feed the yeast)
2 tsp instant yeast
1 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp salt
1 extra large egg
67 g (1/2 stick) room temperature salted butter or margarine cut into 8 to 10 pieces (for a higher fat version: use a whole stick of salted butter and delete the 1/4t salt)
142 g pearl sugar (now available at some IKEA locations) or a substitute (Billington's All Natural Sugar Crystals - available at Whole Foods), or (C&H Washed Raw Sugar - available more widely)

Weigh the sugar and set aside. Dissolve yeast in the warm milk to which you have added ½ t sugar. Let this sit for five minutes to get the yeast started. Put the flour, cinnamon, egg, vanilla, salt, yeast mixture into the mixing bowl and mix on medium speed until fully combined. It will be stiff dough at this point.

Cover the mixing bowl with plastic wrap and let rest in a warm place for 30 min.

Beat in the butter piece by piece; you do not have to wait for the prior piece to be fully incorporated before adding the next. At this point (for all purpose flour) the dough will be a stiff paste that coats the mixing bowl. Scrape the sides of the bowl and mix on medium speed for another two minutes. If using bread flour, the dough will behave just like brioche, just mix at medium speed for another two minutes. The dough should clean the bowl after about a minute but will continue to develop for another minute.

Incorporate the pearl sugar, or sugar crystals, or raw sugar just enough to get it evenly distributed. With all purpose flour you can stir the sugar in, but if you use bread flour you will have to knead it in.

Using a little flour if necessary, divide into six equal pieces, form into balls.

Proof on a piece of plastic wrap on a cutting board in a warm place (100°F) for 15 min while you heat the waffle iron. [Set a gas burner on Medium and preheat the waffle iron until the built-in thermometers point to the high side of the “Cook” zone – about 9-12 min., flipping it over every 30 sec - or use an IR thermometer check the temp, it should be about 405°F]

Cook in preheated waffle iron for 3 minutes turning it over every 30 sec You can do two at a time in diagonally opposed pockets but they will take a little longer to cook, and they will not be as dark brown as a single waffle cooked in the middle of the iron unless you turn up the heat a little, and you will get an accumulation of caramelized/burnt sugar in the middle of the iron where there is heat but no dough. With four at a time (filling all four cells in the iron) you need to turn up the heat quite a bit and/or extend the cooking time.

Date User Comment

Wed 05/14/08 00:04:58 DocDougherty Initial entry of recipe.