Liege Waffles

I have a sourdough starter and I don’t like to toss out the discards. I keep them in the fridge and whenever I have an abundance, I make waffles. But today’s recipe is not that waffle. It’s called waffles but they are so much more than that. I think they’re dessert. They’re also wonderful with coffee. I don’t recommend them with maple syrup because these are already sweet enough. But some whipped cream and berries? Yumm… They can look a little complicated (with one specialty ingredient too!) but you will be rewarded with some deliciousness.

Ingredients:

0.5 cup whole milk
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 packet active dry yeast
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3.6 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1.75 sticks of unsalted butter, softened to room temperature (very important, this won’t work if your butter is not soft)
1.25 cups pearl sugar (this is a specialty ingredient but you can find it pretty easily on Amazon)

Directions:

Combine the milk with 0.25 cup of water and warm them up to about 110°F. This is the optimal temperature for yeast and if you don’t have a thermometer, you can approximate this. This temperature should feel like warm bath water so you should be able to stick your finger in it without feeling like you’re getting burned. Place this mixture in a mixing bowl and then stir in the sugar and yeast. Set aside for about 5 minutes or until it looks foamy.
Whisk in the eggs and vanilla and then stir in about 2.5 cups of flour, reserving the remaining flour for later in the process. Add salt and then mix to combine. You can use a spoon or fork to do this as you are only trying to achieve shaggy dough.
Put the dough hook on the mixer and then start adding the softened butter 1-2 tablespoons at a time. You want to make sure all the butter gets incorporated before adding the next 1-2 tablespoons. This does take a little bit of time but great things come to those who wait. At least that’s what I read on a fortune cookie sometime ago.
After all the butter has been incorporated, add the remaining flour and then continue to mix with the dough hook for about 5 minutes. The dough will pull from the sides of the bowl, maybe not too cleanly because of all the butter in it but you’ll see that it’s like a bread dough if bread is very buttery. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and leave at room temperature for 2 hours or until it doubles in size.
After the dough rises, take it out of the bowl on a lightly-oiled surface and then pour the pearl sugar on top. Knead them in, making sure that they are as evenly distributed as possible throughout the entire dough. Divide the dough into 16 roughly equal pieces.
Heat up the waffle maker and spray a little bit of non-stick spray. I recommend that you cook these dough balls one at a time and putting them in the middle of the waffle maker to create lovely-looking waffles. They won’t fill out the entire thing but that is normal and that is what we want. I am usually a little impatient so I do cook them 2 (or even 3) at a time so sometimes they don’t look that pretty but they still taste good. Do as I say, not as I do. 😉
My waffle maker is pretty basic and it doesn’t have high/low settings, nor does it tell me when the waffle is done so through trial and error, I find that around 5-minute mark is usually perfect for these waffles. After a few waffles, you will start seeing the pearl sugar caramelizing on the waffle maker plates and no need to worry. Just cook off all the waffles and after you’re done, you can put some warm water to melt the sugar. It looks bad but it’s really not that difficult to clean.
These waffles are definitely best when they’re warm. They will harden up when they’re cooled because of the sugars but when you pop them in the oven (or toaster) for a few minutes, they will soften up nicely. In the past I’ve also successfully freeze them and heat up one or two at a time for a delightful snack with some hot coffee.