In serch of the best Waffle-Sheryl's yeast waffle

After the first try, I was obsessesed with the idea of hunting down the best waffle. The second and third batch were yeast waffle recipes. Thank you Sheryl's for sharing. Begain waffle indeed superior in texture and taste. The recipe calls for overnight rest in the fridge but it sure gives you a full flavor. I was happy that the yeast gives the pleasant aroma rather than yeasty smell (imagine red wine?).

Prep time is short but you've got to plan ahead. I made two batches, one with egg added right to the batter at night, the other with egg white to be added right before cooking.


The following morning, after 7-hr rest in the fridge, the batter poofed up a bit, less than twice of last night's volumn. I could see some bubbles on surface.

Recipe adaped from Sheryl's website. I added up the sugar and cut down some butter.

Easier Belgian Waffle
2 cups flour
1-1/2 tsp instant yeast
1 stick melted butter (or less, I deducted 2 table spoon off of this)
2 cups warm milk (heated to about 110 degrees)
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
3 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt

The night before: Combine and whisk together the dry ingredients in a large bowl: flour, yeast, sugar and salt. Combine the melted butter and milk. Add the mixture to the dry ingredients. Whisk eggs and vanilla together in a separate small bowl. Add the egg-vanilla mixture to the other mixture, and whisk until well-combined. Cover with plastic wrap and stick in the fridge until tomorrow morning.

The next morning: Prepare waffle iron. Stir the batter to deflate it (it should be puffy and frothy). The recipies mentioned that this batter will rise more than batters that use baking powder instead of yeast.

The below recipies is different that it added whipped eggwhite later (egg york added at night together with other wet ingredients). It makes sense to add 1/4 C more flour as I found out the batter is runny than the first batch.

1 tsp. instant yeast (Not to be confused with active dry yeast. Make sure it says "Instant")
2-1/4 cups flour
4 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 stick butter (8 tbsp) , melted, then cooled (or less, I deducted 2 table spoon off of this)
2 cups warm whole milk (about 110 degrees)
2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 eggs, separated

This is the batch with egg-white added last night. The dough consistency is thicker , see below photo. The other batch, I whipped egg white to soft peak, then fold into batter and it seemed the batter is a bit thinner. The problem with thin batter is that sometimes it doesn't rise up to the upper griddles and you would end up having scars on waffle surface. While , with thicker batter, the batter hold up its shape and jiggling while you pour it in. With more or sufficient amout of batter being added in the griddle, it rises and fills up to upper griddle and form nice and even brown crust. I didn't greasd , the recipe contains quite an amout of butter and it comes out from griddle easily.

After a few minutes, beside light indicator on waffle maker goes off, you can open up after all the steam disappears. Don't ever think about a sneak peak when it's not ready as half of uncooked batter will stick to the top and the other half to the botom. That way, of course , waffle structure is torn apart and won't be able to rebuilt after you turn the griddle back on. Here is the finish product. The left corner is a bit overcooked. I cannot reduce cooking time as this is to make up with the right lower corner being well-cooked.

I would say, Sheryl, you are right. Belgian waffle is the winner. Once you made this, you can never go back to baking powder waffle (if you don't mind resting batter overnighte). I recommend to put waffles in medium-heated oven, around 150 C just to keep them warm and crisp until you serve.

Amazingly, the waffle remains very soft and fork-tender after 1 hr sitting in my kitchen counter. Unlike american waffles made with baking soda that they are best eaten immediately as they turn chewy once cold, say after 15 min...and after 30 min, they become nice-looking bricks.

Waffle

Waffle is one of my goodies when I was a child. xxx years ago, while I was in grade 4, I always sneaked out after school to A&W outlet and had a piece of waffle with vanilla ice cream. Oh my...oh my....that was the happiest moment of my everyday life back then. I said "sneaked" because I studied in convent school and the nuns were so against students hanging round fast food outlets, let alone I was just 10 years old.

Up until now, far beyond the word 'child' or 'teen', I love waffle still. My first love after A&W's crush was dated back a few years in Hua Hin (Thailand), at JW Mariotte Hotel. The brunch there was really a decent one. The waffle was....SUPERB. It was soft and light, I could smell it from afar as it was made fresh from the griddles. With the hope of making this goodie at home, I asked hotel staff how these were made out of. And yes, the lady was kind enough to tell that egg/flour/butter/sugar were involved. Thanks! (with disappointing face) :-( Of course , I was desperated to get the recipe. No matter how much I praised her, she would not let a word out. The hotel staff were trained very well, I confirm.

The recipe I followed is of Alton brown, my kitchen hero. The batter was thicker than I thought but it came out fine. It was best eaten afresh once pulled out from griddles. And yes, I couldn't resist having a bite while I was photographing it. The one showed above was gone by the time I tucked my SLR camara back in the cover.



This recipe is not sweet. It goes well with maple syrup or honey or just butter. A scoop of vanilla ice cream on top would make your day. This is however cannot match with my second love at JW Mariotte's. (sorry alton).

Basic Waffle - By Alton Brown

4 3/4 ounces all-purpose flour, approximately 1 cup

4 3/4 ounces whole-wheat flour, approximately 1 cup

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

3 tablespoons sugar

3 whole eggs, beaten

2 ounces unsalted butter, melted

16 ounces buttermilk, room temperature Vegetable spray, for waffle iron

Preheat waffle iron according to manufacturer's directions. In a medium bowl whisk together dry ingredients. In another bowl beat together wet ones. Add the wets to the drys and stir until "just" combined. And this is important, just until it comes together. You can see some green-pea-size lumps but they'll disappear when cooked. Rest batter for 5 minutes.

Ladle the recommended amount of waffle batter onto the iron according to the manufacturer's recommendations. Some people always grase the griddles even though they are non-stick but I prefer not to. Also , be careful not to over pour. I made a mess on my counter top last time while the batter was bubbling out. Close iron top and cook until the waffle is golden on both sides. Serve immediately or keep warm in a 200 degree F oven until ready to serve.

Strawberry Crepe Cake

Making crepe is easy but you need patience and dedication. Thanks to kitchen temparature of 8 C, the creme didn't easily melt and mess up my kitchen. Once done, you've got to be patient and chill it for hours until set. Otherwise, layers will collapse and that would definitely break your heart.


I should call it a heart-breaker. You know why? I cut it right after I finished the top layer and..... Dah!!! Things can't be un-done (not with the ctrl + z ). Patience is indeed a virtue.

Pancakes

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Nov 5, 2015 : I would like to add some notes.
- Here the baking powder and baking soda creates the fluffiness. The baking powder acts twice (which is why it's called double-acting baking powder) when 1) it's humidified (i.e. mixed with milk/ water) 2) when it's heated up.
- So, when you mix dried and wet ingredients and let the batter sit for 15 minutes, it will bubble up.  Leaving it for a hour won't be a problem for me, but I notice leaving it for 8 hours wouldn't be as good as freshly-made batter because baking powder keeps reacting with humidity while the batter sitting on the working table. It loses power.
- Baking powder will reacts the again when the batter is popped into the oven. So, if your wet ingredients are hot, baking powder will reacts while you mix the batter too, and that's not good.
- The question is , if you want to prep for a party, you can do this ahead of time by prepare the wet in one bowl and the dries in another. Let them sit at room temp before you are ready to mix it.
- Mixing bananas and berries are good idea, it sticks to the griddle sometimes even when I use non-stick pan, dah ??!! . For those who dont', you need lots of butter on the pan. :-) Real butter is not gonna kill you, I guarantee.
- The last point here, Alton brown looks even better when he grows older. He still my culinary hero. Love him.
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Thanks to Alton Brown, these pancakes are awesome. Fluffy and light. I don't need to explain as you can see from the photo. I have manuka honey and Canadian maple syrup....which one would you like?


I can't help digging a fork in the middle of the stack. Sorry if this looks like a crime scene for pancake lovers.

Recipe: Adapted from Alton brown's, more sugar added for my version.



Dry ingredients
1/2tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp kosher salt
3 tsp sugar
2 cup All-Purposed flour

Wet Ingredients: Mix together
a) 4 Tbls melted butter + 2 yolks ; mix together
b) 2 cups buttermilk or yoghurt at "room temperature" mix with the white. Before adding the whites, you can warm up the buttermilk in the microwave to body temperature. Body temperature is easy to tell , as you dip your finger in the buttermilk, you can barely tell whether it's hot or cold, it's just the same as your body temp, that's all.

Mix a+b together to team up the wet-team.

Once you mix the dry with wet ingredients, stir until "just" mix. You'll see small crumbs and those are fine. If you overwork, your jaw may be dislocated while chewing.
Enjoy!