De Baking Psychopath

I first encountered Liege waffles on TV, on a travel show that was talking about a waffle stand that is only accessible to customers by skiing. It is located at the bottom of a ski slope somewhere in Europe, and the little waffle stand is run by a cute couple who specialize in these wonderful treats. Skiers waddle up to the stand and order their waffles, which is eaten plain by hand, wrapped in some paper, as they waddle off to the ski lift for another trip down the slopes. These waffles are not your normal Belgian waffles that you encounter in the US. They are made with a butter-and-egg-rich yeasted dough (close cousin to a Brioche dough) that is studded with large grain pearl sugar, which caramelizes in little pockets on the surface of the crisp, fluffy waffle. They are common to find in Belgium at street vendors for an on-the-go snack, apparently, but haven't really found a foothold here in the US as far as I can tell. I mistakenly tried "yeasted waffle" r...

Previously on this blog, I have revealed my go-to buttermilk pancake recipe . It has stood the test of time and trials of other recipes, emerging yet victorious again with my latest innovation-- replacing the buttermilk for Greek-style yogurt! When asked for descriptors for this new version, I got these responses: "Fluffy...Good crunch on outside...moist...holds shape well." Which are actually a good demonstration of exactly what was lacking in the previous version: heft and structure. The original recipe was moist and tender to almost the point where there was some collapse of the crumb, which sometimes comes across as being mushy instead of moist. I've been on a Greek-style yogurt kick lately. It is thick and goes well with many sorts of jams and cereals/nuts, I can get non-fat versions in bulk on my normal grocery shopping runs to Costco. Here, they boost the protein content, with twice as much protein as normal yogurt or buttermilk. I like the sturdiness ...

This plate is proof that: 1) You do not have to settle for cardboardy frozen waffles from the store, or make the effort to beat the crowd at the local popular breakfast joint on a Saturday morning in order to get good waffles, and 2) You do not have to spend over $10 for a decent waffle iron!! So Michael and I impulse-bought the cheapo, generic brand (Chefmate) waffle iron at Target a couple of months back. I've been pining away for a waffle iron for a little while now, partly because this was a breakfast item that Michael professed little experience eating, and yet he was not inclined to buy any supermarket frozen waffles in order to try them firsthand. And certainly as we knew with pancakes, such things are much better enjoyed at home in the comfort of pajamas rather than outside in some busy, greasy breakfast joint. To our delight and surprise, we've been getting pretty tasty results with this little cheapo thing. There are couple of waffle iron-specific idiosyncrasies t...