Birthday Belgian waffles....from scratch to plate!

It was Jason's birthday last month, and I asked Holly what his favourite breakfast was, so that we could have them over for a birthday breakfast before watching the Tri-Nations! Apparently Jason's favourite breakfast is waffles, which, having never made them before, presented a little challenge. Stage one, purchase a waffle maker for said birthday boy, and stage two, search for the very best recipes to try!

After much research, I purchased a waffle maker for Jason as a present (which I promptly tested out on his behalf) and combined a few different recipes to create the best sounding waffles I could find! I have learnt a few things about waffles, namely difference between Belgian and regular waffles. Belgian waffles are lighter because of the yeast included, and crisper because of the egg whites.

Ingredients:
3 1/4 cups plain flour
One sachet (7g) instant dried yeast
4 medium eggs
Whole milk (you can also add some sparkling mineral water and make them even fluffier)
250g butter
Vanilla sugar

Method:

1. Take a cup of milk and heat it until it is lukewarm then mix in your yeast. You can now leave the yeast standing for a while.

2. In the mean time - melt the butter, but stop as soon as it melts, don't over heat it or burn it.

3. Separate the egg yolks from the egg whites and beat the egg whites until you get soft peaks.

4. Now take a big bowl and throw in the flour, vanilla sugar (one sachet) and some salt. Make a hole in the middle of the flour and fill it with melted butter, dissolved yeast and egg yolk.

5. Mix while you are adding milk (and some mineral water if you want). You should mix it really well so there are no lumps.

6. OK, now gently mix the beaten egg whites into the dough until just combined, do not over-mix.

7. Leave the dough to rest and rise at room temperature for about an hour. Mine hadn't doubled in volume, but that is the goal. I decided to proceed with what I had, and it seemed to have worked out just fine!!!

8. Use melted butter to grease the waffle iron (which should be hot hot hot) so your waffles don't stick to it and pour the dough in it. Bake the until they turn golden brown.

9. Serve with whatever you like! The birthday boy chose...

Not too shabby for my first attempt at waffles! Looking forward to Jason showing us how its really done though!!!