Waffle Recipe

Felicia had asked about the recipe I used for the ham and cheese waffle experiment. I slightly modify the "basic" recipe from the Joy of Cooking as follows:

1 3/4 cups flour
1 TB baking powder
spoonful sugar
pinch salt
4 beaten eggs
1/2 stick melted butter
1 1/2 cups milk

Mix all the dry ingredients together, then all the wet ingredients and then the two groups together. Add a couple handfuls on sliced green onion. If trying the ham and cheese combo, make sure the cheese is between slices of ham, so it doesn't melt into the batter and create strangeness. Also, the batter can be spread very thinly upon the iron and atop the ham- the super eggy recipe will fluff up to fill any holes or patches. Waffle iron should puff open a bit while cooking; don't worry about it and don't bother pressing it shut. It's all good.

Other mods: use 3 eggs and more butter for a crispier, more traditional waffle.
And using soy milk instead of regular milk definitely weighs down the recipe, creating slightly tougher, duller waffles. :(

Diary of Sundays: Waffle-Crazed Carnivore

Nov 1st: I continue my waffle exploration with a corn meal based waffle, topped with sausage crumbles and a sharp white chedder. The sausage goes great with the rustic hearty waffle, but I feel the cheese makes the whole dish a little too much. I think it needs a nice lite sauce or gravy to mellow everything out. Unfortunately, my gravy skillz are non-existent, and the meal ends w/me feeling no closer to my waffle magnum opus.

Definitely studly, but not quite my vision.

Nov 8th: James to tackle steak and eggs again, and decides to attempt homemade hollandaise sauce as well. I try to talk him out of it; I say things like, "gravy difficulties don't even come close to this potential disaster!" He ignores me and concocts a delicious light hollandaise. I dump copious amounts onto my still mooing steak lovingly wrapped in bacon and think fondly of animals. A good day.

A bit of the ultra violence in a soft lemon cream sauce.
Mwa ha ha- feast your eyes upon this horror!

Nov 15th: No words to describe my delight! The waffle procedure went swimmingly well, and now I have little left to live for. Went back to my basic waffle recipe but added an extra egg (4 in total.) Added thinly sliced ham, surrounding slender slices of swiss cheese, INSIDE the waffle. Careful pouring, ham/cheese placement, more careful pouring... These waffles puffed up, full and light and beautiful and meat-filled! I have created a monster! First test run went so well, I began to add sliced green onion. Savory combination went even better! Then I tried to add double the amount of ham/cheese, but discovered my waffle machine does have its limits. I believe the next step will be acquiring a rotating waffle iron to better suit my meat-stuffing tendencies.

It's alive!

Handy and delightful even when chilled.

Prep work and a straining waffle iron. Seriously, where the hell did I get this little thing?

Noël: Waffle Window

I have been very into waffles as of late. I usually make them Sunday mornings, and enjoy trying unusual waffle recipes/combinations. The last waffle recipe I played with used yeast and required a day to rise.
However, today was James' first Saturday morning off in a million years, so I insisted we go to the waffle window. It's around the corner of the Bread and Ink Café on Hawthorne and it kicks butt. Their waffles have a great eggy texture, not too crispy nor thin. I always get the same one: the 3 Bs. It has bacon, brie and basil with a little touch of apricot jam. It pretty much rocks my world. Here's a pic of me acting like I've never seen it before.

"My word, I do believe we have never met before."

James always gets the "3 Bs" too (I insist he get his own because I don't share this thing very well) and he gets a sweet one as well. This time he got a pear and nutella wiffle waffle that looked very pretty.

Waffles inducing gang signs.

The sweet ones are a little much for me. They're really very good, just too much. I am really into the savory ones. And! When we were leaving, I saw some dude with a waffle covered in ham and a coarsely grated thick cheese, so next time I think I will venture away from the bacon and try that one.
Also, side note: did you know waffles are distant long lost relatives to the communion wafer? Supposedly, early communion wafers were baked in irons and had the same characteristic honeycomb pattern that waffles still have today. Heavy stuff.