Liège waffles are crispy and delicately flaky on the outside, soft and pastry-like on the inside. As they cook, they coat themselves lightly in a dense caramel.

Ingredients for 5 waffles:

One waffle per serving is plenty; two isn’t out of the question, but it almost surely ought be. Depending on context, you could consider one of these waffles to be two servings (or you could make them half as big). Want more? Easy to double.

5¾ oz. unbleached white pastry flour
¼ oz. instant yeast
1 egg, warmed in 110°F water, and then lightly beaten
1 egg, room temperature
1¾ filtered water at 110°F
1 oz. whole wheat pastry flour
⅛ oz. dark rye flour
⅝ oz. brown sugar
⅛ oz. fine sea salt
⅜ oz. honey
Seeds from 2-4 Mexican vanilla pods
5¼ oz. European-style butter, softened
4¾ oz. Belgian pearl sugar

How to do it:

1. Stir together half of the white pastry flour and the yeast until well blended, about 15 seconds on speed 2 (of 10).
2. Add the warmed eggs and water. Mix to blend.
3. Cover this mixture with the remaining white, whole wheat, and rye flours, but do not stir.
4. Cover the bowl in plastic wrap, and let it stand for 90 minutes.
5. Add the remaining eggs, brown sugar, salt, honey, and vanilla seeds.
6. Switch to the dough hook, and knead on speed 2 until the dough begins to gather on the hook, about 15-17 minutes. Note that it will not fully form a ball on the hook, will not clean the sides of the bowl, and will be sticky.
7. Add the butter in 5 additions. For each addition, knead 1 minute on speed 1, scrape any butter on the side of the bowl down into the dough, and knead 1 more minute.
8. Knead for a final 2 minutes.
9. Scrape the dough into a large, buttered bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and let it rise at room temperature for 4 hours.
10. Scrape the dough onto a 2-foot long piece of plastic wrap. With lightly floured hands, press it into a foot-long rectangle then fold it over in thirds like a letter. Wrap it tightly in the plastic, and place it in the refrigerator overnight, weighed down with two heavy dinner plates. At this point, the dough can be held for 3 (or up to 5) days.
11. The next day, use a bench scraper to separate the dough into 3½ oz. pieces. For each dough piece, do this: lightly flour your work surface. Dump 1 oz. of pearl sugar onto the floured surface. Place the piece of dough on top of the sugar, and press down on it to flatten it into the shape of a hamburger patty (or larger). Lift the dough off the surface. Some of the sugar will remain on the work surface. Flip the dough over and press it into the remaining sugar. Then, fold the dough in half, and press it onto the work surface, gathering up any remaining sugar. Continue to do this until you’ve incorporated all the sugar. Most of the sugar pearls will wind up in the waffle, but some will be poking out. Finally, form the dough into an ball and place it on a lightly floured surface (something like cookie sheets, that can be moved to the oven if need be; see notes), and cover it with plastic. Once all your balls are formed, let them rise (covered loosely in plastic wrap) for 90 minutes.
12. When it comes to cooking the waffle, you’re going to have to experiment. My waffle maker has a temperature setting that goes from 1-7; I set it to 5, and allow the waffles to cook until the waffle maker says they’re done, which takes about 4 minutes or so. The waffles should come out dark and caramelized. Adjust heat setting from batch to batch, if necessary.
13. Once off the iron, allow the waffles to cool on a wire rack for at least 4 minutes, and then enjoy.

Notes

• These are not breakfast waffles! But you should know that I’m someone who would eat leftover pizza for breakfast without hesitation. Of course, you could eat Liège waffles for breakfast in as much as you might eat any pastry for breakfast. However, If you’re looking for a waffle that would take well to syrup, keep looking. Liège waffles, if they need any kind of condiment at all, would be better paired with Bavarian cream, custard, ganache, lemon mousse, or even a flavored cream cheese.
• The warmed eggs (if they’re coming straight from the fridge) need to sit in the warm water for about 20-30 minutes in order to reach the right temperature. If you don’t want the bath time to be too short, you don’t want it to be too long either; obviously, the bath will eventually cool down to room temperature.
• At the end of the final rise, the dough balls should register 70°F-73°F. Unless your kitchen is quite warm, they may not reach this temperature in the allotted 90 minutes. In that case, let the last 40 minutes of the final rise take place in a warm oven. (Preheat the oven to its lowest temperature for no more than 4 minutes. Open the door all the way to let all the warm air out. Slide in the dough balls and close the oven door.)
• These waffles are not good hot. You must let them cool until they are pleasantly warm. I think they’re at their best, though, at room temperature, same-day. Day-old waffles are not worth eating, sadly. However, they would make an excellent bread pudding or a cakeughnut. Still, you must definitely consider day-old waffles not only as the foundation of a luxurious French toast, but specifically “Banana-Nut French Toast,” from The Martha Stewart Living Cookbook: The New Classics; Clarkson Potter: NY, 2007; pg. 594.

I can’t promise you that this recipe creates the definitive version of traditional Liège waffles, but I can guarantee that what I have created is clearly in the ballpark and unquestionably delicious. They’re wonderfully satisfying eaten plain, warm or at room temperature, out of hand, as a lunchtime snack … or as a mid-afternoon nosh, maybe dressed up on a small plate with a immodest drizzle of homemade chocolate or caramel sauce, a light spread of Nutella, and/or whipped cream … or warm from the iron, topped with a couple scoops of ice cream as a substantial dessert.

Making these waffles is a two-day affair, and the first day is all day – so you’d better get an early start. Although if you use a stand mixer, you have nothing harder to do than measure ingredients, there are nonetheless several rise times that will keep you tethered to your home.

My recipe is modeled after one by Adam Wayda. His uses hairsplitting metric measurements that exceed the capabilities of my kitchen scale. Instead of strictly converting it, I used my modest knowledge of bread and pastry making to bridge the gap as I strayed from his recipe.

All-Clad 4-Square Belgian Waffle Iron

This recipe requires a Belgian waffle maker – the essential quality being deep, deep – like, half-inch deep – waffle pockets. I use the wildly hedonistic All-Clad 4-Square Belgian Waffle Iron. And by the way, I’m not sure how you’re supposed to clean it, but after caramelizing sugar in it, you’ll need to. My solution is to set it on the countertop with its back butted right up to the very edge of the sink, fill it with 2 cups of water, turn it onto the “1” setting, and let it go for at least four minutes. Check it frequently, to see if water begins leaking out as it boils. If it does, it should be leaking from the back, into the batter catch. The batter catch may overflow, and if you position things right, it will overflow into the sink. If it overflows onto the countertop, sop it up with kitchen towels as you let the waffle maker continue to go. Also, look inside the iron periodically to make sure the water isn’t boiling dry. After this process completes, empty all the water into the sink, pour more in to rinse, and empty that.

Examine the iron to see if you need to repeat this entire process. No more than two cycles should be necessary. Once the iron is finally emptied, run a Q-tip through all the crevices.

Final Thoughts on this Liège Waffle Recipe

The recipe I used as a model for this one is an updated version of an earlier recipe by the same author. Although there is no Imperial version of the updated version, there is an Imperial version of the earlier recipe. I’m inclined to give that one a try sometime, so I can compare it to what I’ve done.

There is a site called Liege Waffle Recipe that has a goodlooking recipe and some helpful waffle-making tips; I intend to try it out at some point.

Food 52 has a recipe that author claims is “as authentic as it gets,” because he got it from his wife, whom he claims is Belgian … although has Trump seen her birth certificate? I don’t think so. 

Liège is a city in Belgium, and it’s pronounced in two syllables, with the emphasis on the second. So, it’s “lee” as in leeway, followed by the E from “egg” and the Z from “azure.”

Liège Waffles

Credit for images on this page: Make It Like a Man! Thank you, Kesor. This content was not solicited by anyone, nor was it written in exchange for anything.

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