Debi's Waffles

These are not those horrible cakey Belgian waffle things. They have a nice chewy thin crust with soft insides and are faintly sweet. The picture shows them smothered with strawberries from our garden, but I usually eat them just plain. They really don't need toppings, but you can do whatever you want. Don't overcook them--you want a nice golden brown, not anything darker. (Although my son would disagree. Sorry, Gideon--you're just wrong.)

Course Breakfast

Servings 12 depending on sizeof waffle iron

Debi Simons Debi Simons

Ingredients

1 tsp . yeast
2 tsp. sugar
1/2 cup lukewarm water
1 stick butter (yes, one whole stick, or 8 tablespoons) of real butter, melted in the microwave for two minutes at 50% power
2 cups milk
3 eggs
1/4 cup real maple syrup
1/2 tsp . vanilla
1/2 tsp. salt
A few gratings of fresh nutmeg
2 cups white whole-wheat pastry flour or white whole-wheat flour, or regular whole-wheat flour
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup rye flour keep this in the freezer
2 tablespoons cornmeal ditto
1/8 tsp . baking soda I don't know how much of a difference this small amount of baking soda could possibly make to the finished product, but I've never had enough nerve to leave it out and see what happens.

Instructions

Mix together the sugar, yeast and water in a cup and set aside to foam. (You need to do this even if you're using instant yeast, as this ingredient is in the mix simply for flavor, and it needs to have a chance to "bloom.")
Melt the butter in the bowl you're going to use to mix the batter, then pour in the milk and mix with a hand mixer until the butter (which will re-solidify when the cold milk hits it) is broken up into bits. Doing it this way makes the final product crisp and chewy instead of cakey, which is what happens if you mix the butter and eggs together first. Once the milk and butter are done, mix in the rest of the wet ingredients.
Whisk or stir or sift the dry ingredients together and add to the wet ones, then add the yeast mixture. Cook the waffles according to your waffle iron's directions; for mine, I find that 45 seconds on the lowest setting gives me the light golden brown that I'm aiming for.

Recipe Notes

I would say that I get about a dozen regular-size round waffles from this recipe, but waffle irons vary tremendously. I wish that I had bought a bigger waffle iron when the original one wore out, but this one can't last forever. I'm going to get the kind that makes two square waffles at a time. Anyway, these are best eaten right away, but we freeze the leftovers and reheat them in the toaster during the week. Do try them!