About Liege waffles
About Liege waffles
The right sugar is important for Liege waffles. These waffles use so-called “pearl” sugar – sucre grain perlé. It is he who is responsible for this indescribable caramel crust, which distinguishes Liege waffles from all others. Not to be confused with large sugar for sprinkling buns, for example Swedish kanelbular, and cookies (German: Hagelzucker), it is even smaller and will not melt correctly. It’s much better to take refined sugar and split it into pieces of about 1 cm. In the photo in the center there is Belgian sucre grain perlé, on the right is German Hagelzucker, and on the left are matches for scale
The second important thing is the dough mixture. Unlike most of the thinner waffles, for which the batter is watery, and from Brussels waffles, for which the batter is a little thicker than for pancakes, the batter for Liege waffles is thick. You can quietly mold balls out of it, which is actually necessary
The 3rd important thing is a small subtlety of technology that is actually not mentioned anywhere. The waffle dough must stand overnight (that is, in the dark) in the refrigerator. This is how it was in my book on Belgian cuisine, I saw it on the Internet only once, it even suggested putting the dough in the freezer for 30 minutes, and then overnight (that is, at night) in the refrigerator. Because I won’t believe it until I try it, but I tried baking waffles straight away and after standing in the refrigerator. I liked the 2nd option even more, the sugar melts much better, there are virtually no unmelted pieces left, the caramel crust is more homogeneous and the structure of the dough itself is even better. So I am absolutely in favor of keeping the dough in the refrigerator, especially since it is very convenient to knead the dough in the evening and bake waffles in the afternoon.
Almost all recipes on the Internet and in books indicate a completely indescribable amount of yeast - 70-80 g per 750 g of flour, although the dough is very heavy, it seems to me that 10 g per 250 g of flour is sufficient.
A dough of 250 g of flour is enough for 6 waffles and in my opinion, 6 waffles are enough for 6 people. Well, they are very filling. Recipe from a book about Belgian cuisine, slightly modified.
Liege waffles (Gaufres de Liège)
10 g new yeast
70 ml warm milk
250 g flour
1/2 tsp.
cinnamon 1.5 tsp.
watery honey 1 huge egg at room temperature, slightly scrambled with a fork
pinch of salt
1/2 tsp.
vanilla sugar 125 g soft butter*
125 g pearl sugar*
* these are unique proportions (2 parts flour / 1 part butter / 1 part “pearl” sugar - for me it turned out to be very sweet and a lot of butter. I reduced the amount of butter and sugar to 80 g of everything, I like it better this way , although a departure from the unusual recipe)
Dissolve yeast in warm milk, add 2 tbsp. flour, stir, cover with film and let rise for 30 minutes. Then stir in the egg, add honey, vanilla sugar, salt, cinnamon and the remaining flour. Then stir in the butter and, at the very end, pearl sugar. The dough comes out quite thick and viscous. Cover with film and place in the refrigerator overnight (that is, in the dark) .
The next day, divide the dough into portions of 100-120 g, roll each into a ball, like this:
Heat a waffle iron (the ideal waffle iron is specifically for Belgian waffles, it is the deepest and has the largest recesses) and bake the waffles until a wonderful caramel crust is formed (the time depends on the power of the waffle iron, 3-5 minutes here and there). You can serve with cream, various syrups, and fruits.
LIEGE WAFFLES
It’s been a while since I’ve picked up the checkers (crossed out) of my beloved waffle iron Bork! And why all? That’s why I followed the recipe for Liege waffles sent to me from Belgium. The recipe was sent by my friend Katya, her Belgian mother-in-law bakes such waffles, and Katya says that if they’re delicious, you’ll eat your mind.
Do you like Grilyazh candies? The ones with crispy caramel inside? This means that you will also love caramel Liege waffles that crunch on your teeth with lumps of sugar.
So why, you ask, did I worry so much? Because Liege waffles require special pearl sugar, which is not found anywhere except in Belgium. I walked through all the cool hypermarkets, sniffed all the shelves with different sugars - there was no pearl sugar, and everything was here... And here - oh magic! I came across, if not pearl sugar, but large crystals of coffee sugar, produced by Mistral. It appeared in all stores not long ago, so there is a chance to purchase it.
What is the point of this pearl sugar? In these waffles, the sugar should harden like a caramel crust on the waffle and crunch on the teeth, in other words, it should not dissolve in the dough. Therefore, this large-crystalline one is unsurpassed! It doesn't dissolve anymore. But it seems to me that it doesn’t really melt. I looked on the Internet - a fellow cook who is hungry for Liege waffles is pounding lump sugar (not refined sugar) in a mortar. It is also dense and does not dissolve quickly.
There is a worldview that Liege waffles must be kneaded in advance and placed in the refrigerator overnight (that is, at night) . Otherwise they don't have the same texture. I did the experiment. I baked waffles right away and the next morning, and fed both versions to the child. The child was incredibly happy that there were perfect waffles, but he did not see any difference between the evening and morning waffles. Me too, actually. The great news is that Liege waffle dough keeps well in the refrigerator for up to 5 (!) days! We knead it once, 5 days later we feed the family for breakfast. In my opinion, unsurpassed.
So, for waffles we will need:
70 g new yeast or 25 g dry
270 g warm milk
2 packets of vanilla sugar
400 g very soft or semi-melted butter
500 g sugar in crystals or large pieces
We dilute the yeast in warm milk, add vanilla sugar and let it ferment for 15-20 minutes. Add 250 g of flour and leave to rise for half an hour. The dough will rise twice!
After this, add a little beaten eggs, then butter, then the rest of the flour and salt, carefully knead the dough for about 20 minutes. If you have a planetary mixer, then it will perfectly knead everything for you with the hook attachment. After the dough has been kneaded, add all the sugar right away, mix it into the dough and let it rise again for half an hour or 40 minutes. I used the freshest yeast, and my dough rose fantastically!
After this rise, the dough can be put in the refrigerator. At the moment it is soft and buttery, but the next day it will be dense and easy to form into balls. But if you can’t wait, you can bake it right away. For the Bork waffle iron, I took pieces of approximately 140 g (they are the size of a tennis ball). But a bork is a large waffle iron; if you have much less, then 100 g of balls is completely enough for you.
The waffles turn out dense, soft, cupcake-like, and do not go stale for a long time. They are quite sweet and crunch on your teeth with sweet crystals. It's very tasty to serve them with whipped cream.
Belgian waffles "Liege"
Preparation time: 1 hour
Production time: 1 hour 20 minutes.
Number of servings: 5 pcs.
Ingredients
Making Liege waffles
One of the culinary attractions of Belgium, a favorite snack for locals and a “must-experience” for tourists are the waffles baked in our country. But it is also necessary to understand that in Belgium, as in almost all European countries, local culinary patriotism is very developed.
What does this mean? This means that towns or regions of one country specialize in recipes for the same dish, which are significantly different from those that their neighbors have. So, Belgian waffles are not just one recipe, there are quite a lot of them. The most widespread are 2 types - Brussels and Liege. (Well, just for information, I’ll list that there are also Namur, Herve, Walloon, hot Flemish, Tilph and waffles from Verviers - this is not counting the types that are not geographically related.)
It is believed that Gaufres de Liège, Liege waffles, arose no later than the 18th century, at a time when Liege was an independent bishopric (later it went to France, from which even later a piece was opened that became modern Belgium). Legend says that one fine moment the prince-bishop was attracted to the kitchen by a wonderful smell: it was the cook experimenting with the dough.
He mixed crushed lump sugar into the pie dough, rolled it into thin layers and tried baking them that way. So, the corresponding features of Liege waffles are, firstly, a rich yeast dough, and secondly, sucre grain perlé - a particularly large sweet granule. Traditional Liege waffles have a round shape and a square outline, I just don't have the right waffle iron.
How to cook “Belgian Liege waffles” step by step with photos at home
Most of the ingredients are pretty ordinary: flour, milk, butter, yeast, eggs and salt. If you don’t have pearl sugar (granulated sweet powder), you can chop it up in lumps, so as an 18th century cook, you definitely didn’t have any granulated sugar either. Nowadays, vanilla sugar is usually added to the batter for these waffles, rather than vanilla bean. But I just didn’t have it on hand, so I used the bean, so like vanilla, there was no 3 centuries back either.
This step is necessary for those who consume vanilla bean, and not other sources of this smell. Cut the pod lengthwise, scrape out the seeds, place the seeds and pod in milk, heat over low heat for 10 minutes, and after 10 minutes let it cool to a slightly warm temperature. Discard the pod from the cooled milk.
Melt or soften the butter until creamy.
In slightly warm milk, with a small amount of sugar (for example, with a dissolved packet of vanilla sugar, if you do not use vanilla bean), dilute the yeast and let it foam (about 10 minutes).
Belgian Liege waffles. Recipe, individual production in an electric waffle iron
There are a huge number of options for making Belgian sweet desserts in the world, but the recipe for Liege waffles occupies a favorite position. Waffles gained extraordinary popularity at the beginning of the last century, but the recipe was invented by chefs even earlier.
Little history
They were invented by the cook of a Belgian prince in the distant 17th century. He experimented with sugar, adding it directly to lumps of dough. There is a worldview that waffles were invented a long time before the emergence of rulers and princes. Even ancient people fried lumps of dough on stones, flattening them with wood rollers.
The uniqueness of this dessert is its extraordinary taste and unusual size. Traditional waffles are soft and thin, while Liege waffles are quite thick, crispy and with lumps of sugar, which are also called “sweet pearls.”
The world first learned about them at an exhibition of desserts and sweets in Brussels. Since that time, almost all restaurants and cafeterias have been offering their guests to try the magical Liege waffles with pearl sugar. The recipe for making it is very simple, but there are several secrets and tricks that we will now share with you.
List of required ingredients
How to cook?
The recipe for Liege waffles for a waffle iron begins with preparing the necessary ingredients. Boil half the milk on the stove or heat it in the microwave. Pour yeast into milk, add half a teaspoon of sugar and the same amount of flour. Stir well and leave to “rise” for some time.
We often pour the second milk into a whipping container. Break the eggs there. Now a pinch of salt. Mix into a homogeneous mass using a hand whisk or blender. In a separate bowl, knead the butter (margarine), add flour and carefully begin to mix. We evenly introduce the contents of two plates: sugar with yeast and milk with eggs. The recipe for Liege waffles does not require any extra effort from the hostess; kitchen appliances are involved everywhere. Therefore, we make the dough using a mixer (low speed). It comes out slightly watery, but viscous and sticky. Cover the container with film and place it in a warm space. 35-40 minutes will be enough.
Sprinkle a little flour on the desktop. Lightly knead the dough. You shouldn’t knead a lot, otherwise the dough will collect a lot of flour, but this is not necessary. Now we will divide the lump into two halves. Scatter sweet sand onto a huge plate and roll these two dough balls in it. Bake in a waffle iron for 3-6 minutes. By the way, this recipe for Liege waffles can also be suitable for ordinary baking in the oven on a baking sheet. But with the help of a special kitchen assistant, naturally, the process will go much faster, and the waffles will have the usual shape.
Cinnamon
Now let's prepare the most fragrant and special Liege waffles. The recipe is simple, understandable and quick to make. In order to create delicious, fragrant waffles with cinnamon, you will need the following set of products:
Individual dessert making
We remove the butter from the depths of the refrigeration unit in advance. He needs to give time to unfreeze slightly, become soft and flexible in his work. Knead it, adding flour evenly. Now break the eggs and mix them into the dough. As in the previous recipe for Liege waffles for an electric waffle iron, we dilute dry yeast in a small amount of milk and let it rise. As soon as the corresponding “cap” appears on the mug with yeast, you can add it to the dough.
Mix the mixture using a mixer at the lowest speed. Add all other ingredients. If possible, it would be good to add a few spoons of “pearl” Belgian sugar. If this is not available, then we will make do with the ordinary one. You can also break up pieces of refined sugar and use them in dough. Dry orange zest can be replaced with fresh orange zest. This will only enhance the smell. Cinnamon is added at the discretion of the hostess. Some people like a light smell, while others prefer the powerful smell of this seasoning.
Place the kneaded dough in the refrigerator for 20 minutes. We take it out and divide it into several similar parts. Roll any ball in sugar (or “pearls”), place it on a heated baking sheet or in an electronic waffle iron. The sweet dessert is prepared in no more than 3-5 minutes.
You can serve Belgian waffles with berry jam, maple syrup, grandma’s favorite jam, sweet fresh berries, whipped cream, ice cream, etc. You can even create a cake from Liege waffles if you put them one on top of the other, and put delicious whipped cream between them . A sprig of fresh mint would not be superfluous in the decoration of the dessert.