Waffles

(More Friday food blogging).

Unless under restraint, I will eat any waffle, and I like them all. The Brussels (or "Belgian") version is rightly held up as an achievement, especially when served hot from a vendor on a wintery street, sprinkled with powdered sugar and unfashionably generous in both fat and sweetness and its yeastiness, but Belgium also has the Liege waffle, with its caramelized sugar surfaces. Other traditions prefer a thin waffle, approaching the territory of the filled waffle biscuit (the Dutch syrup waffles are worth mentioning). But in the end, my preference is the buttermilk waffle of my childhood. The waffle is somewhat fixed in my mind as a sweet breakfast food, a vehicle for fresh berries and maple syrup, but dropping the single spoon of sugar gives it great and relatively unexplored potential as accompaniment to a savory dish. This recipe works well in either an American-style iron with medium-sized holes or a Belgian-style iron.


Buttermilk Waffles

Mix together:
2 cups flour
1/4 teaspoon soda
1 - 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar

Add:
1-3/4 cups buttermilk
2 eggs
6 tablespoons melted butter

(For lighter waffles, separate the eggs, mixing the yolks in with the buttermilk; beat the whites just until stiff, then fold the whites in after the liquid ingredients).