Belgian waffles

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup (120 ml) milk, whole is ideal
• 1/4 cup (60 ml) water
• 2 tablespoons raw sugar, brown sugar or honey
• 1 packet (7 grams or 2 1/2 teaspoons) active dry yeast
• 2 large eggs, ideally at room temperature
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 3 2/3 cups (460 grams) all-purpose flour, divided
• 1 teaspoon coarse or kosher salt
• 14 tablespoons (200 grams or 7 ounces) unsalted butter, softened
• 1 3/4 cups pearl sugar (to make pearl sugar, add a few tbsp of water to 2+ cups of sugar until uniformly wet, but not really dissolving. Warm on low over stove until clumpy. Only use big clumps, discard fine sugar.)

Directions

1. Make dough
   1. Warm milk and water together to lukewarm, or between 110 and 116 degrees F, and place in the bottom of a large mixer bowl. Add sugar and yeast and stir to combine. Set aside for 5 minutes; the yeast should look foamy.
   2. Whisk in eggs and vanilla, then stir in all but 1 cup flour (you can eyeball this) using a spoon or the dough hook of a stand mixer. Add the salt and mix to combine. Using the dough hook of a stand mixer, add the butter, a spoonful at a time, thoroughly kneading in each addition and scraping down the bowl as needed before adding the next until all of the butter has been mixed in. This is always my least favorite step in brioche because it feels like it takes forever to get that butter worked in, but it pays off in a stretchy, layered dough, promise. Add remaining flour and knead with dough hook on low speed for 5 minutes, or until glossy.
   3. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and leave at room temperature for 2 hours; dough should double. Stir with a spoon or spatula to deflate into a mound, re-cover with plastic wrap and let chill in the fridge overnight, or up to 24 hours.

1. Cook waffles
   1. For both methods, on the day you’re ready to make the waffles, knead in the pearl sugar. It’s going to seem like way too much for the dough, but it will taste perfect once cooked. Divide dough into 16 mounds. If it’s rather warm and greasy, you can return these balls of dough to the fridge while you cook them off, one or a few at a time.
   2. Heat your waffle iron — I use a deeper Belgian-style one here, which is ideal, but I’d expect these to work with all types — over medium heat. For a normal waffle iron, don’t close all the way, just partially, to make a bit thicker. No need to oil or butter if it’s nonstick in good condition. Place first ball of waffle dough on grid and cook according to waffle maker’s instructions. Cook until deeply golden all over, which will take approximately 5 minutes, then carefully transfer with tongs or a fork to a cooling rack. Remember, they’re loaded with molten sugar; they’re very hot. Repeat with remaining balls of dough, adjusting temperature of waffle iron as needed to get the color you want. You’ll likely find that the waffles look more caramelized and glossy as you go on, as bits of melted sugar stay behind and gloss the next waffles; this is the best part.
   3. Keep waffles warm in a 200 degree oven if you plan to eat them right away. As the waffles cool, they will harden and you will likely think “what a ruse! What a terrible recipe!” but the hardness comes from that melted sugar firming up, and will soften again when you rewarm them. These waffles should always be eaten warm.