Today Bon Appétit wished me (and thousands others) a "Happy National Waffle Day"! This event doesn't seem to be too well-documented, and by that I really mean that neither a Google nor a wikipedia search revealed very much. In this day and age, how can that be? It's quite surprising, really.
At any rate, various sites - probably all citing the same references - proclaim that today's "holiday" marks the day that Cornelius Swarthout patented the first waffle iron in the United States, 141 years ago.
I tasted my first waffle when I was around ten years old, during my first visit to North America. It was an Eggo waffle. I wonder how Mr. Swarthout would have felt about that.
One of the great things about enjoying kitchen time (and owning a waffle iron) is that one can graduate from Eggo waffles to Joy of Cooking waffles. Further research might then lead one to stumble into Marion Cunningham waffles, a.k.a. Waffle Heaven.
To be fair, I still do love the Joy of Cooking waffle, although it's quite different from Marion Cunningham's yeasted one. Sometimes, we wake up on a Saturday morning and hunger for a crunchy-outside-fluffy-inside waffle, and it's the former that comes to the rescue. Other times, we plan ahead for a waffle that has a crisp, elegant shell encasing a delicate, airy interior - and the yeasted version delivers, either for a weekend brunch or a weekday breakfast-for-dinner.
My son is really more of a pancake guy, but he likes waffles well enough. He only asks for seconds when we're having the yeasted ones, though, so I've decided to share that recipe first.
Happy National Waffle Day!
Note that these are not the typical in-your-face waffles. They are light (Rose Levy Beranbaum describes them as "ethereal"), and they are not very sweet at all ... this suits us just perfectly, as we love our waffles with generous amounts of maple syrup!
Combine in a large mixing bowl (at least 3 quarts in capacity):
½ cup warm water
1 tsp sugar
2 ¼ tsp active dry yeast (not instant yeast)
Stir the yeast mixture and proof it (i.e., let it stand 10-20 minutes). The mixture will become bubbly and will increase greatly in volume. If, by the end of that period, your mixture is still flat, then your yeast is dead. You'll need to go out and get new yeast.
To the yeast mixture, add:
2 cups warm milk
8 Tbsp (½ cup) unsalted butter, melted
¾ tsp salt
10 ounces (2 cups) unsifted all-purpose flour
Beat this mixture until smooth and blended. I use an electric mixer on low/stir speed.
Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let stand at room temperature overnight (or throughout the day, if these waffles are destined for your dinner). The batter will rise to triple its volume, and then will collapse. While it is doing its thing you will probably catch a whiff of the yeast in action, a smell I love!
When you are about ready to have the waffles, preheat your waffle iron. Meanwhile, take your waffle batter and beat in:
2 large eggs
Add and stir until well mixed:
¼ tsp baking soda
The batter will be very thin. At this point, don't let the batter sit for longer than it needs to: start cookin'! Prepare your waffles according to the manufacturer's directions. It seems like the waffles pictured in the book were the thin kind (think Eggo thickness). My waffle iron produces thick waffles (think Belgian waffles), but it's the kind into which you pour the batter, close the lid, and then flip: I think the flipping action helps the waffles attain the desired thickness. I'm not sure if the batter will rise all the way to the top of a Belgian-style waffle maker that doesn't turn over that way.
As your waffles come out of the iron, you can place them in a single layer on a rack in a 200ºF oven . These can also be frozen for a couple of months. I let them cool, then place them in ziplock bags in the freezer. I reheat them for 10-15 minutes in a 300ºF oven.
Serves 6-8.
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