A few types of Belgian waffles exist, but the most famous is the Liège waffle. Alex Troullier at Wafflemeister (@wafflemeisterUK) at South Kensington shares his recipe below.
Ingredients
5g fresh yeast
50ml full fat milk, lukewarm
50ml water, lukewarm
1 large egg
240g plain flour
20g brown sugar
15g honey
2 tsp vanilla extract
130g butter, melted
200g pearl sugar
Method
1. Mix yeast, milk and water into a bowl and mix. Set aside for five minutes. Add the egg, butter and flour to the yeast mixture and mix. Cover the dough in cling film and set aside in a warm place for 1 hour.
2. Add brown sugar, honey and vanilla to the mixture and mix for about 1 minute. Cover and allow to rise for about 2 hours at room temperature. Refrigerate for 2 hours.
3. Remove from the refrigerator and place knock back either with a mixer or by hand. Add the pearl sugar and knead. Divide into balls of about 100g. Leave to rise for 1 hour at room temperature.
4. Heat a waffle iron on the floor of the AGA roasting oven for about 10 minutes. Add the dough and cook turning once on the floor of the roasting oven for 5 minutes.
Notes
The floor of the AGA roasting oven is super hot and great for crisping pastry, roasting potatoes and making waffle – anything that requires a hot direct heat. It's also great for baking bread too. By melting chocolate for the topping of the waffle on the back of the top plate, the gentle direct heat will melt the chocolate beautifully. Chocolate never seizes when melted like this.
