Falstaff Waffles

🥘 Ingredients

• butter (unsalted, melted or softened)
  180 g
• eggs (or 6)
  5
• flour (“00”)
  480 g
• milk (whole, 200g)
  200 ml
• salt
  1 tbsp
• sugar or maple syrup (brown)
  2 tbsp
• turbinado sugar (or other coarse brown sugar.)
  160 g
• vanilla extract (or 2 tsp)
  1
• yeast (active dry)
  1 tbsp

🍳 Cookware

• bowl
• stand mixer

1. 1

   This recipe is forgiving, so don’t worry if you don’t see much yeast activity or get a big rise in the dough. But in general, the longer you wait for a rise, the better.

   yeast: 1 tbsp (active dry)
2. 2

   Warm the milk (microwave or stovetop) and add the yeast together in your mixing bowl . Add the small amount of sugar or maple syrup . Let sit in a warm spot for ⏱️ 10 minutes . Meanwhile, melt or soften the butter .

   milk: 200 ml (whole, 200g), sugar or maple syrup: 2 tbsp (brown), butter: 180 g (unsalted, melted or softened)
3. 3

   After the ⏱️ 10 minutes have passed, add the butter, eggs , and vanilla extract to the mixing bowl. Then add the salt and the flour . Because you have added the wet ingredients first, if you are using a KitchenAid or other stand mixer , it should mix quite nicely now with a dough hook. Mix for a few minutes, until it is a uniform paste-like yellow dough.

   eggs: 5 (or 6), vanilla extract: 1 (or 2 tsp), salt: 1 tbsp, flour: 480 g (“00”)
4. 4

   Cover and let sit for ⏱️ 45 minutes to an hour in a warm place. If you trust your oven’s proof setting, you could use that. With ⏱️ 5 minutes to go, plug in your waffle iron.
5. 5

   Just before you’re ready to start making the waffles, you will want to add the turbinado sugar and mix it around. This leaves the sugar mostly unincorporated, so that it has a chance to melt and caramelize on the outside. This gives the most pleasing gradient of color to the waffles.

   turbinado sugar: 160 g (or other coarse brown sugar.)
6. 6

   Fill the waffle iron with blobs of dough. There is no need to pre-butter the iron. I like to make them smaller, because the edges are cuter, and because I feel better about eating ten of them that way. In my picture I filled it a bit larger than I find ideal. Again this step is forgiving.
7. 7

   It is easiest to remove the waffles with wooden chopsticks.
8. 8

   Serve warm or cold.
9. 9

   "Can these be overnighted? I want to make them ahead and let them rise in the fridge."
10. 10

    I think so. Though the dough will be very tough the next morning, so you may want to roll it out and cut it into pieces and manually add the turbinado sugar that way. A benefit of doing that is that each waffle could have a more consistent amount of sugar.
11. 11

    "I want to even more eggs."
12. 12

    Me too. Up to six whole eggs works well, but it makes the waffles dense, and next-day they are quite chewy, a little too tough. Excellent reheated or dipped into coffee, though.
13. 📝

    I recommend a Krups waffle maker, such as this one. I use it with a heat level of 4.

14. 📝

    I recommend SAF instant yeast. You can buy the little brick and decant it into a ball jar that you put in your freezer. You can use the yeast directly from the jar. The people (knights?) at King Arthur have done this with SAF yeast for over ten years in their freezer and its still activating well.

15. 📝

    All purpose flour can be used, but 00 flour will give a slightly softer, more pastry-like texture to the waffles that is desirable. The turbinado sugar amount is approximate, to taste. I have tried from 120g to 180g.

16. 📝

    You cannot rely on the presence of sugar to cover for all the other inputs - like with any pastry, the quality of each ingredient makes a difference. Cultured butter tends to have a better flavor and higher fat content than sweet cream butter.

17. 📝

    Buy enough ingredients to make these again tomorrow.