Liege Style Belgian Waffle Food

A SUPER LEKKER, AUTHENTIC (TRADITIONAL) BELGIAN WAFFLE RECIPE AND A DAY TRIP TO BRUGES!

Steps:

• Place 300 grams flour plus the 80 grams of regular sugar in a mixing bowl. Set aside.
• Warm the water until it is lukewarm (not at all hot) then add the yeast (do not add the yeast when the water is too hot or it will kill it and the recipe will be ruined) and whisk until it has melted.
• Add the eggs and 15 g of butter to the flour and sugar mixture in the mixing bowl, then pour in the water and yeast mixture, whisking to combine all the ingredients.
• Continue stirring until a sticky dough is formed.
• Then add the 200 grams of flour to the top, along with the 175 grams of butter pieces. Cover (without mixing anything) and allow to rest for 20 to 25 minutes.
• With your hands, incorporate the butter and flour into the sticky dough until all the ingredients are well combined and the dough is no longer sticky (only add a little more flour if necessary).
• Place the dough onto a lightly floured surface and press into a 12" x 12" square shape, then sprinkle with the Belgian Pearl sugar (*the original recipe lists 300 grams of sugar, but I found this to be much too much-add more or less to your liking).
• Note: this is less than half of the sugar in the original recipe.
• Now roll the dough from one end to the other, to form a large sausage shape.
• Cut into 100 gram pieces and form into ball shapes and set aside to rest for 15 minutes, covered with a slightly damp kitchen cloth.
• NOTE: You can cook them in the waffle iron now, however, I discovered that keeping the dough pieces in the fridge overnight, then bringing them to room temperature and then cooking them worked marvelously!
• Heat the waffle iron. This is the tricky part as all irons are different. I have a Waring Pro, now discontinued, and heated mine to the number 2 setting. The goal is to cook the waffle without making it too dry and overcooked, but caramelizing the sugar pieces at the same time. Play with the settings until you reach a result that you like. This is how the sugar looks once it's caramelized.
• Place a ball of dough in the middle of the iron and cook it until it's golden brown (I cooked mine at the number 2 setting for 4 minutes) and the sugar has caramelized. Don't worry if it doesn't look pretty.
• Carefully remove the waffle as the caramelized sugar will definitely give you a nasty burn (I used a small flat wooden utensil, but wooden tongs would also work).
• Serve as is, with a dusting of powdered sugar or melted chocolate (traditional serving ideas). These can be eaten the next day; just warm them a little first, or even put them in the toaster.

LIèGE WAFFLE

Steps:

• In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the yeast in water (or milk).
• Add half of the flour 2 cups), the eggs, 2 tablespoons of butter and the sugar. Mix until everything is combined.
• Sprinkle with the remaining flour and butter and the cinnamon (or vanilla).
• Let sit for 30 minutes in a warm place away from drafts.
• Using the dough hook, knead everything and add more flour if necessary. The dough should not be sticky.
• Let stand for 15 minutes in a warm place, away from drafts,
• Roll out the dough to a thickness of ½ inch (1 cm) using a rolling pin and sprinkle the whole surface with pearl sugar.
• Roll it on itself.
• Divide the dough into 12 pieces, and let them rest for 15 minutes.
• Bake the waffles in a waffle iron until golden, about 2 to 3 minutes per side.

LIèGE WAFFLES

Steps:

• Combine the milk and 1/4 cup (60 milliliters) water in a small saucepan and heat until lukewarm, 110 to 116 degrees on an instant-read thermometer. Transfer milk mixture to the bowl of a stand mixer. Add brown sugar and yeast and stir to combine; set aside 5 minutes. (The yeast should look foamy. If it doesn't foam, discard and try again with different yeast.)
• Whisk in the eggs and vanilla. Using the dough hook attachment on your mixer, stir in all but 1 cup of the flour. Mix in salt. Add the butter, 1 tablespoon at a time, thoroughly mixing after each addition and scraping down the bowl before adding the next. Add the remaining 1 cup flour and mix on low speed, stopping once or twice to pull the dough off the hook, about 5 minutes, or until the dough is glossy, pulls away from the side of the bowl and has gathered in a ball on the hook.
• Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and leave at room temperature for 2 hours. The dough will double in size. Stir the puffed dough with a spoon to deflate, then re-cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight or up to 24 hours.
• Remove dough from refrigerator and turn out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead in the pearl sugar (or your homemade version) a little at a time. The dough will be stiff but will become more pliable as it warms. Cut dough into 16 equal pieces with a bench scraper or chef's knife and return to the refrigerator.
• Heat your waffle iron according to the manufacturer's instructions. Working with 1 or 2 balls of dough at a time (leave the rest in the refrigerator), arrange on the waffle iron and cook until golden brown all over, 2 to 5 minutes depending on your iron. Use tongs to transfer waffles to a baking sheet or cooling rack. Some of the sugar will melt out of the waffles and collect in your iron, adding an extra layer of glossy molten sugar to each waffle as you continue. Serve waffles warm.

LIEGE WAFFLES (BELGIAN PEARL SUGAR WAFFLES)

Steps:

• Mix yeast, water, sugar and salt, and let develop for 15 minutes.
• Place flour into a large bowl.
• Make a well, pour in yeast mixture, and begin to knead.
• Continue to knead, add eggs, one at a time, and add soft butter, 2 tablespoons each addition, mixing well.
• Let dough rest in bowl until doubled.
• Gently mix in pearl sugar.
• Let rest for 15 minutes.
• Heat waffle iron.
• When hot, butter waffle iron, pour in 3 tablespoons dough per waffle.
• Cook for 3-5 minutes, until waffles lightly brown on top.
• Serve warm or room temperature.
• Enjoy!

LIEGE BELGIAN WAFFLES WITH PEARL SUGAR

Steps:

• Sprinkle the yeast and white sugar over warm milk in a small bowl. The milk should be no more than 100 degrees F (40 degrees C). Let stand for 15 minutes until the yeast softens and begins to form a creamy foam.
• Whisk the eggs, melted butter, and vanilla extract into the yeast mixture until evenly blended; set aside. Stir together the flour and salt in a separate large bowl, and make a well in the center. Pour the egg mixture into the well, then stir in the flour mixture until a soft dough forms. Cover with a light cloth and let rise in a warm place (80 to 95 degrees F (27 to 35 degrees C)) until doubled in volume, about 30 minutes. Gently mix in the pearl sugar.
• Preheat a waffle iron according to manufacturer's instructions.
• Place a baseball-size ball of dough on the preheated waffle iron. Cook waffles until golden and crisp, about 2 minutes. Repeat with remaining dough. Allow waffles to cool for 2 to 3 minutes before serving.