ArtsAutosBooksBusinessEducationEntertainmentFamilyFashionFoodGamesGenderHealthHolidaysHomeHubPagesPersonal FinancePetsPoliticsReligionSportsTechnologyTravel

Authentic Liege Waffles---Waffles from Belgium! with recipe

Updated on November 14, 2013

Having grown up in a small city in Belgium in the province of Liège or Lüttich as we called it the German speaking area called 'DreiLänder Eck' (meaning 3 countries corner) which was near the German border. Liège, is also a major city and the administrative capital of Wallonia, the French-speaking region of Belgium.

Geography lesson set aside, when most think of Belgium, they seem to think of chocolate, chocolate and more chocolate. However there are a few other gastronomical delights that can be found there. The waffle is just one of those treasures.

Very few foods seem to actually come from what the name depicts... take the French Fry... they actually in all honesty should be renamed Belgium fries because that is where they were originally prepared... but I'm off on a tangent again.

In the international food arena Belgian waffles are probably one of the more popular foods that come from Belgium.

Did you know there are two different types of Belgian Waffles? The Brussels Waffle and the Liègeois Waffle. (gauffre (one) --- gauffres (many) as the Belgians call them)

The Brussels waffle: is a usually round thick waffle that is a dessert eaten with a fork off a plate with an assortment of fresh or canned fruit, whipped cream, ice cream, drizzled with melted chocolate, just plainly sprinkled with powder sugar or a combination of all of the above. The junk food vending machines also sell a version of the Brussels waffle thinly coated in chocolate...





The Liège or Liègeois waffle is a golden-yellow, thick, more dense in texture, coated with a burned sugar or caramelized sugar coating on the outside, finger lickin' perfect waffle... that can stand on its own. These are freshly made and sold by street vendors and supermarkets everywhere in Belgium and eaten, 'no fuss-no guff' by hand on the go. These usually come in plain, vanilla or cinnamon flavored. The caramelized sugar coating of the authentic liege waffle comes from sugar chunks being added to the batter better said dough and the special Belgium waffle makers. These unique waffle irons were only available in Belgium but are necessary for the waffles to get their signature crunchy-golden outside and fluffy inside.

Now you can buy these Belgium waffle makers most any places. The one I use used to be my Mom's and it came with us when we immigrated here to Canada in 1969 (it then already was a few years old) . It now is the ugliest thing you have ever seen and I'm quite embarrassed to take it out in front of company but it makes the best, tastiest and most beautiful golden brown waffles you could ask for. It is similar to the one pictured here except it makes two waffles at a time. Most of them come with a hefty price but it's worth it, considering that you probably will never have to buy another one of these heavy duty makers ever again.

(with great sorrow I have to report that after having been in service for almost 50 years my Mom's waffle iron has given up the ghost and has moved on to live in the great big blue yonder in the sky


Ingredients:

makes 6 Gaufres Liège

  • 2 tsp. active dry yeast
  • 1/4 cup scalded whole milk at 110-115 degrees
  • 1/2 cup beer
  • 2 Tbsp. + 2 tsp. of water at 110-115 degrees
  • 3 cups Bread flour
  • 2 large eggs, lightly beaten @ room temperature
  • 2Tbsp. light brown sugar
  • 8 Tbsp. soft room temperature butter or margarine
  • 2 Tbsp. honey
  • 2 tsp. vanilla
  • 1 cup Belgian Pearl Sugar(available at IKEA and bulk food stores)



Methodology:

  • Place yeast, milk, and water and beer into the bowl of a stand mixer. Stir for a few seconds to moisten the yeast.
  • Add the eggs and 1/3 of the flour. Mix to blend. Scrape down sides of bowl.
  • Sprinkle remaining flour over the mixture, but do not stir it in. Cover and let stand 75-90 minutes (at the end of that time, you’ll notice the batter bubbling up through the cover of flour).
  • Add brown sugar an mix on low speed – just to blend.
  • Add honey and vanilla.
  • Then add butter Mix 4 minutes at medium-low speed; scrape down sides once or twice in that period.
  • Let the dough rest for 5 minute and then continue to mix for another 2 minutes.
  • Dough will be sticking to the sides of the bowl then will ball-up on the paddle.
  • Sprinkle dough lightly with flour, cover with plastic wrap and let rise at room temperature for 4 hours. This is a crucial step so do not cut corners on the resting time.
  • Then REFRIGERATE FOR 30 MINUTES. This is essential. The yeast respiration must be slowed before continuing
  • Stir the dough down
  • Place  add all of the pearl sugar to the cold dough 
  • Once mixed, divide the dough into 6 pieces of equal size.
  • Shape each chunk into an oval ball let rise for 1 -  1 1/2 hours
  • Bake at exactly 365-370 degrees in a professional waffle iron (the max temp before sugar begins to burn/decompose) for approximately 2.5  minutes.


The Liege waffle with crushed sugar.

Photos by clary, thank you.

working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)