Welcome to the second part of my ode to waffles!

I confess this post did in fact start as part of my post on Gaufres Grand Mère (Almost Toronto Waffles) but I realised there was no way I could make one post with three recipes in it, so it’s been broken into parts. Haha, you say: this is post two, and you said you had three recipes! There is another post on the way!

So I was talking about my general love of buttery fluffy waffles. This is the one true waffle love that I had before I first went to Japan. I know, this is a weird country to be referencing in a post about waffles… But in the train station in Okanawa, I discovered a shop called Manneken which does Liege waffles in a whole world of flavours. Choc chip, matcha, cinnamon …. And fresh strawberry.

I ate about five in the two days I was in town. The waffle ante had just been upped.

If you’ve never met them, liege waffles are yeasted and have pearl sugar in them which caramelizes when the waffles are cooked. They are nothing short of unbelievable. Thick, a little chewy and doughy like brioche. You can see the pile of pearl sugar going into the mixture above. Its from Belgium and you can find it in good speciality food stores, like Essential Ingredient in Melbourne and Farro in Auckalnd.

Naturally I had to conquer them. And have my whole house smell like caramelized sugar and butter.

Liege waffles, you are now mine. I also own a kilo of pearl sugar. The perils of being a cakeophile. These are the most time consuming of my waffle recipes, but honestly, they are worth every second of the making. Because Liege Waffles are yeasted, they need time to let the yeast do its thing. This takes an hour or two, or leave the mixture in the fridge overnight, ready to make for breakfast in the morning. 

Liege Waffles

Makes about 12

ingredients

1 packet of dry yeast
1/3 cup water, lukewar
1 1/2 tbsp sugar
1/8 tsp salt
2 cups flour
3 eggs
220g unsalted butter, softened
1 cup of pearl sugar

mixing

Combine the yeast, water and sugar Together in a small bowl and set aside for about 15 minutes to let the mixture develop.

Place the flour and salt into a large bowl or into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook. Pour in the yeast mixture. Knead the mixture until it starts to come together, then add the eggs, one at a time. Add the butter about 2 tablespoons at a time, mixing until each addition is incorporated. The dough will be sticky and very soft.

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and allow the dough to rise until it doubles in size.

Just before you are ready to bake the waffles, mix in the pearl sugar. Let the dough rest for 15 minutes.

Heat your wafffle iron. Take scoops of dough about 1/3 of a cup in size and gently form rough balls. Place on the waffle iron plate, and cook the waffles for about 5 minutes, until golden brown. The pearl sugar will be caramelized. Be careful not to overcook, all that sugar will burn quickly.

Eat while still warm, or reheat gently for a short time in a toaster.

Enjoy!xxx