Better Waffles

March 13, 2012 | by Ben 0

Waffles usually disappoint me. The perfect waffle should be crisp–almost crunchy–on the outside but light, fluffy and moist on the inside. Most waffles, even at restaurants, tend to be too heavy and lack much distinction between outside and inside.

The secret to perfect waffles is yeast, which results in highly risen, flavorful and crisp waffles. Unfortunately, yeast batter recipes (called “overnight waffles”) do not generally allow for a quick waffle fix. However, using inspiration from Alton Brown’s English Muffin recipe, I realized that I could speed the process to a little over 30 minutes. The ingredient list is from Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything. His overnight recipe can be found here.

We had these for dinner, but they could easily be made quickly enough for a weekend breakfast or brunch.

Quick Yeast Waffles (serves four hungry adults)

2 cups whole milk 8 TB (1 stick) butter 1 tablespoon sugar 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 envelope yeast, active dry or instant 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 1/2 … continue reading

All-Purpose Whole Wheat Dough

May 7, 2009 | by Ben 3

I’ve been playing around with Mark Bittman’s recipe for whole wheat pizza dough (from How to Cook Everything Vegetarian), and it’s super-versatile. I’ve made pizza, baguettes, breasticks and even hot dog buns thus far. Focaccia would also work well, as Bittman points out–just top a pizza round with olive oil and herbs.

The flexibility is in large part due to the oil. You’ll always end up with a moist, flavorful bread. 

All-purpose Whole Wheat Dough (adapted from Mark Bittman’s recipe)

2 cups bread or all-purpose flour 2 cups whole wheat (or white whole wheat) flour 2 1/2 t. yeast (preferably instant or bread-machine) 2 1/2 t. course salt 4 TB. extra virgin olive oil

Combine first four ingredients in a food processor or stand mixer [full disclosure: I’m much too lazy to hand-knead dough most of the time]. Add 2 cups water and 3 TB. olive oil. Mix with bread hook or in food processor until shiny and elastic, 1–2 minutes for the food processor or 5–10 minutes for the stand mixer. 

Coat dough with remaining olive oil and cover.

You can make 2–3 pizzas or baguettes from this … continue reading