Thursday, April 24, 2008

Amazing Breakfast Waffles

One of the things that often keeps me from making anything more complicated for breakfast than a bowl of oatmeal is the time it takes to put together a batter and then cook it and then clean up from it.

The advantage of this recipe is that you start the batter the night before and only need to add the egg and melted butter in the morning. Now, it's true, there is still some cleaning up to do and waffles do take a while to bake in the waffle iron, but the amazing ease of putting the batter together, plus the fact that they taste great, makes it worthwhile. An added bonus is that the house smells like freshly baked bread...hard to beat on a chilly spring morning. This is what the bowl of batter looked like first thing in the morning...all the yeasties had been having a party overnight, so it's all foamy.

We added fresh strawberries on topof the finished waffles, too. A sure sign of spring, these came from Watsonville, just south of San Francisco. No butter was needed. Pure maple syrup filled up some of those depressions very nicely.

The ingredients for this are so simple that most people will have them handy in the pantry. That makes it so easy to whisk the first part together one evening, cover it, let the little yeasties do their thing overnight, then finish it off and enjoy the next morning. We had a couple of cooked waffles left over (I know, hard to believe, but we did try our best to demolish them all...and failed) and they went into the freezer and then a couple of days later the toaster oven...and were still delish.

Amazing Overnight Waffles
from Mollie Katzen's Sunlight Cafe' Cookbook

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon yeast
1 tablespoon sugar
½ teaspoon salt
2 cups milk
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1 large egg (I used ¼ cup egg substitute)
Nonstick spray
Butter for the waffle iron
Sliced strawberries – optionsl, but nice
Pure maple syrup – hard to resist on waffles

Combine the flour, yeast, sugar, and salt in a medium bowl Add the milk and whisk until blende. Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap and let stand overnight at room temperature (or put in the fridge if room temp. is over 70 degrees F.)

The next morning, preheat the waffle iron. Melt the 6 tablespoons butter and let cool a bit. Beat the egg is a small bowl (unnecessary if using egg substitute) then beat it into the batter along with the melted butter. The batter may be a bit thin.

Lightly spray the hot waffle iron with non stick spray, top and bottom plates, and then butter a piece of bread and use that to rub some butter on top and bottom plates.

Add just enough batter to cover the cooking surface…this varies by waffle iron…about 2/3 cup. Lower the top and cook until golden brown…it’s OK to check now and then. It takes about 2-3 minutes. You want it golden brown, but not dark brown.
Serve hot, right away, with strawberries and maple syrup, or toppings of your choice.

Note; If you have too many waffles for the number of people you are feeding, bake the leftover batter a little less than the ones you are eating, let cool on a baking rack, then freeze and store in the freezer tightly wrapped. Re-heat in the toaster.

If you get a chance to check out this cookbook, do. It has wonderful recipes for anything you might want to eat for breakfast...and a few surprises, too.

12 comments :

  1. These look delicious and so easy. If only I had a waffle iron - I would be making them right now!!

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  2. My Mom used to do something like this the rare times we had waffles -- she'd pulse dry oatmeal and spices in a food processor and then leave them overnight with soy milk. In the morning, it was foamy, and she added a little baking powder to raise them even higher. They were nutty and crisp and light and soooo good.

    Yum. This sounds great, too.

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  3. I love making breakfast and wish I would have time to prepare it. This is a wonderful recipe being that you can prepare it ahead of time. Plus it looks like you can keep the leftovers and they still taste good. Can't wait to try this on my visiting family next week because they love waffles!

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  4. I like the idea of prep the night before - especially for those who aren't the greatest "morning people".

    the real question is - did the dog and cat at least get to enjoy?

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  5. Elle, I don't own a waffle iron, but love waffles - sometimes I'll have them in a nice coffee shop near my house.
    I'd love to have a bit of the ones you made!

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  6. Those look wonderful! I've never made yeasted waffles, but your comment about the house smelling like baked bread makes me want to give it a try.

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  7. I have always wanted to try yeast waffles - but am out of a waffle iron right now after my husband made too many cheese sandwiches in ours. Your waffles are gorgeous!

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  8. I love recipes for breakfast that most of the heavy work is done the night before. Somehow that makes any extra work the next day so much more manageable. Love yeasted waffles and yours look terrific Elle.

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  9. Overnight waffles. Now that sounds interesting. I think I know what our Sunday breakfast is going to be!

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  10. Nothing tastes better on waffles than fresh strawberries.

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  11. This is called 'achhappam' in India. Didn't know it was made in other countries too! They look really delicious. Here it is generally made in flower shaped moulds!

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  12. Anonymous7:30 AM

    I have been making these waffles for almost 2 years. Everyone who has them says they are the best waffles they have ever had... I've found that they leftover batter can be refrigerated and used for at least 2 more days.

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