Yeast-Raised Malted Waffles

Adapted from the King Arthur Flour website

I’m one of few people who get genuine amusement from learning she’s been an ass.  I mean, really, isn’t it a wonderful thing to know that life is so varied and unpredictable that you can never be sure of anything?

Most Sundays my family goes to a local brunch place after church.  While I rarely order them for lunch, I’ve been a bit obsessed with the waffles at this place.  They have a malty flavor, are crisp on the outside and soft and light on the inside.  I’ve spent the better part of a year trying to replicate their texture and flavor.  I’ve played with malt syrups and grains.  I’ve played with raising techniques.  I’ve never exactly replicated them, though I’ve come up with some otherwise great waffle recipes in the process.

A few weeks ago, I confessed my obsession to our server- all of the servers at this place know us very well.  She smiled slyly, bent down and said in a soft voice “Would you like me to get you the recipe?”

“Oh, would you!?!” I replied.  I felt like I was about to be passed “Top Secret” CIA documents.  I could barely breathe as I anticipated the revelation of the secret ingredient.

She returned a few minutes later with a little slip of paper and a mischievous grin on her face.  She passed it to me and then said, “I think there’s a retail outlet in Lombard or somewhere.  Just look it up online.”

Confused, I opened the paper.  She’d written the name of the product and the company that makes it:  Blah, blah, blah Waffle Mix by XYZ Foodservice Suppliers.

O.M.G.!

Here I was for all this time trying to replicate something that can probably only be created with laboratory ingredients: take a little flour, add a little disodium tetrahexide, and a little refined cultured dairy isolate and voila!.  Not only that, but it actually tasted so good that I didn’t detect all the artificial stuff.  Further, what kind of fantasy have I talked myself into that I’m thinking this place that cranks out hundreds of brunches a day is whipping up homemade batter for anything?  Duh!

As we departed we left a bigger-than-usual tip on the table.  I also left a heaping dose of leftover smugness on my plate.

So now that I know these waffles cannot be exactly recreated in my kitchen, I am very much at peace with this recipe for Yeast-Raised Malted Waffles.  They are crunchy on the outside, soft on the inside and have a deep complex flavor from the yeast and barley malt.  I also love these because I can throw the batter together while the kids are working on the dishes at night and then have ready-to-go batter in the morning.  Freeze any leftover waffles for later- you can then pop them in the toaster for a quick morning waffle.  I usually make enough with each batch to make an entire second batch that can be reheated in the toaster or under the broiler.  They’re even crunchier when reheated, which makes them even tastier.

Yield: I usually quadruple this recipe.  Two recipes for tomorrow’s breakfast and two recipes for the freezer.

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups milk, warmed (about 105-degrees)
6 tablespoons butter, melted
2 tablespoons barley malt syrup You can find this in the baking/sugar section of a well-stocked grocery.
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
2 cups flour
Predictably, we use 50/50 all-purpose/whole-wheat
1 1/2 teaspoons instant yeast  To be honest, I just dump in one of those packets.  If I’m quadrupling the recipe, I’ll only use 3 packets.

Instructions

Mix up the batter

1. In a bowl large enough for the volume of batter to double, combine the liquid ingredients.  Add the eggs and whisk to combine.  Add the flour and yeast.  Stir to combine.
2. Cover the batter bowl with plastic wrap. You can let the batter rest in a warm corner and then make the waffles after about one hour.  Or you can let the batter rest in a warm corner for about 30-minutes and then put it in the refrigerator overnight. It will finish rising slowly overnight.

Cook the waffles

1. Preheat your waffle iron.  Preheat your oven to 225-degrees if you want to serve your waffles family-style.
2. Remove the batter from the fridge and uncover.  DO NOT STIR THE BATTER.
3. Brush your iron with a bit of butter before making the first waffles.  You don’t usually have to do this for subsequent batches.
4. Dip a ladle into the bottom of the bowl and pull up.  You may find that the batter at the top is very thick while the batter at the bottom is quite thin.  Don’t worry.  Just try to get a bit of both in each ladle-full. Ladle the batter onto the iron, using the back of the ladle to spread it over the surface a bit.
5. Close your waffle iron and cook until desired doneness.

Serve

1. You can serve the waffle immediately or keep it warm directly on the rack in the oven.  Bear in mind that the waffles give off steam as they’re kept warm, which diminishes their crispiness a little bit- especially as you add more waffles to the oven.