Background

My friends and I ate a lot of waffles from the Waffle Cabin last year and got hooked. We tried to reproduce the recipes by trying out various “ski cabin recipes” from the web, but got some pretty disappointing waffles. Then I realized these are essentially modified liege waffles. I adapted a recipe from here and here. Here’s my optimized result.

Equipment

I’m an organic chemist, so I like to be precise when I design procedures. I used a kitchen scale, a thermocouple, and an Anova Precision Oven to achieve my results. You could probably get away with a scale, a thermometer, and a regular oven (warmed up but off, for proofing). I’ll give the ingredients in weights where possible for extra precision. I also used a KitchenAid mixer with a dough hook, but you could certainly stir the ingredients with a spoon and knead by hand. I used a Cuisinart waffle iron to cook the waffles.

Ingredients

  • 3/4 cup warm milk (6 oz)
  • 1 packet active dry yeast (7 g)
  • 21 g white sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • 200 g salted butter (1.75 sticks)
  • 420 g cups bread flour (3.5 cups)
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla paste
  • 8 oz Belgian Pearl Sugar

This should make about 12 waffles at around 345 calories/waffle. Increase to two sticks of butter if you are planning to eat the waffles in the cold.

Procedure

  1. Preheat Anova Oven to 105 F / 100% steam.
  2. Melt 200 g of butter on low heat in a saucepan.
  3. Bring 6 oz of milk and 21 g of sugar to 120 F in the microwave (50 s on high). (It will cool down in the mixing bowl. We want it to come to 105 F before we add the yeast.)
  4. Add milk and sugar to the stand mixer bowl.
  5. Add 1 packet (7 g) of active dry yeast. Let the mixture sit and bubble for ten minutes.
  6. Add 2 large eggs (beaten lightly) and 1 tablespoon of vanilla paste to the butter. Cool the mixture to 120 F.
  7. Add butter mixture to yeast mixture.
  8. Add 3.5 cups / 420 g of bread flour in portions and beat on setting 2 with dough hook for two minutes after the addition is complete.
  9. Place mixing bowl into oven and proof at 105 F for one hour.
  10. Fold in 8 oz of pearl sugar.
  11. Bake in waffle iron at temperature setting 3 for 3 minutes 30 seconds. Make sure to use baking spray. Flatten waffle before placing it in the iron.

Storage

The baked waffles will keep for a couple days in the fridge or indefinitely in the freezer. You can reheat them in the oven, toaster, or microwave, in descending preference order. There doesn’t seem to be any point in storing the raw dough.

Discussion

  • The use of bread flour over all purpose flour gives the waffles a chewier and lighter texture, presumably because the extra gluten makes for more robust air bubbles in the dough.
  • The pearl sugar caramelizes on the outside and melts on the inside, giving a very satisfying mouth feel.
  • Yeast works best around 105 F. Too cold, and the dough won’t rise; too hot, and the yeast will die. If you add very hot melted butter to the yeast, you’ll kill it.
  • Making smaller waffles gives the best results. However, I am lazy and find it easier to make bigger waffles and cut them up.
  • I am completely baffled by the supposed ski cabin waffle recipes I found. They made watery waffles that had entirely the wrong texture. We need an “Org Syn” for cooking/baking.
  • I love my Anova oven! The oven made the proofing step a snap.
  • Enjoy! If you want to pretend these are healthy, try serving with apple sauce.