Hello, Bonjour, Gutentag, Hallo!
I’m feeling very multi-cultural today. For today, I bring you that most wondrous of Belgian goodies, the Liege Waffle. This is, hands down, my favourite-ever waffle. As of today, I don’t think I will ever know or love another waffle as I do this one.
The Liege waffle is a yeasted waffle, and it is not what you’d call an ‘everyday’ breakfast choice.
This slow-risen batter contains a hefty portion of butter, which results in the most fantastic texture. Super light and crispy on the outside with a pillowy soft interior, not unlike fresh brioche. Yes – these are like a brioche waffle. I’m glad you asked.
The masterstroke to the Liege waffle, is that the batter is pebbled throughout with pearl sugar. YOU HEARD RIGHT. Little nuggets of pearlised hard sugar, dotted throughout the dough to form pockets of caramelised goodness.
Three things to note when making these waffles;
1) you DO NOT need a Belgian Waffle Maker
2) you DO NOT need to locate Pearl Sugar
3) your waffle maker will end up HELLISHLY dirty
But WHO CARES about the cleanup? It’s like childbirth (it really isn’t), you forget the pain, once you see the beautiful product of your labour in your arms (nb: I have not been through childbirth).
And really, what is a little melted butter and sugar in a non-stick waffle iron between friends? Especially when we get Liege Waffles, without the inconvenience of having to buy an additional waffle maker, or tracking down pearl sugar. We’re making do, and making our own, sistahs and sahns!
If you do have a Belgian waffle maker, then power to you, these will work great. If not, do as I do, and power on anyway! The results were great (see pictures). And if you happen to track down pearl sugar, that’s good too, but I made homemade MAPLE PEARL SUGAR, and it took about 5 minutes. So I strongly suggest you give that a go first.
Either way, go forth my friends, and Waffle!
xx Sarah.
Liege Waffles Recipe
For the Maple Pearl Sugar:
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp maple syrup
For the Waffle Batter:
2 cups plain flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
1/3 cup warm water
1 tsp dried yeast
2 tsp caster sugar
3 eggs
220g (2 sticks, minus 2 tbsp) butter, melted
Firstly, the night before you want waffles (or days before) stir together the ingredients for the maple pearl sugar until they are the consistency of damp sand. Pack the sugar into a layer about 1/2 cm (1/4 inch) thick on a plate, and place uncovered in the fridge overnight. The next day, the mixture will be hard, like a sugar cube, and can be broken up into small pieces for use.
To make the waffles, sift the flour, baking powder and salt into a large bowl or stand mixer. In another small bowl, combine the water, yeast and sugar and set aside for 15 minutes. Once the time is up, add the now-frothy yeast mix to flour and mix to incorporate. The mix will be very dry. Continue mixing and add the eggs one at a time, until a stiff dough is formed. Now, slowly add the butter, bit by bit, making sure it is well incorporated after each addition. Once all the butter is in, cover the dough and set aside to rise for an hour, or until doubled in size.
Once the dough is doubled, stir through the broken up pearl sugar and leave for a further 15 minutes. Then, bake the waffles, as per your machine’s instructions! BOOM. Liege Waffles.
I’m loving how these waffles look and cannot waitttt to sink my teeth in! The best part? I can make that pearl sugar right at home! Sooooo good!
These look great! I am getting ready for work and wish I had one :)
These look fantastic. Great job!
We have a waffle stuck here in NYC called Wafels & Dinges and their liege waffles make me weak in the knees…
I dont have a Waffle maker.. Belgian, french or any at all… But i kind love this recipe, looks so perfect for a breakfast!
BOOO! Definitely get one! I LOVE mine.
Hmm it’s a pity I’m rarely awake for breakfast. I may have to get my butt out of bed though–I think these waffles may be well worth it.
I always say, breakfast time, is whenever you wake up.
Yes! I definitely like that idea :D.
LOL. Cheeky.
I totally need to get myself a waffle maker. This totes reminds me of americaaaaaaaaaaaa
GET ONE! If I had the money, I would buy a waffle maker for every person who commented that they don’t have one, they’re so good. But yeah…I don’t have that money.
Oh lawd, i love liege waffles. I was in Belgium for a weekend last spring and it’s basically all I wanted to eat. thanks for giving me a way to revisit them!
Enjoy!!!
Yay! So glad you posted these as it’s all I’ve been Able to think about since you mentioned the, yesterday! Looks so damn good!
Thanks Maria!
These look so good I could have them for breakfast, lunch, dinner and then Breakfast again!
They look amazing! I can’t believe that you don’t need a belgian waffle maker but the proof is definitely in this post! :D
These look amazing. So golden and beautiful.
These look so yummy! And I love the childbirth reference haha (I also, have not been through it or I might feel differently!)
These waffles sound and look incredible. I also really love your writing style, just so you know. :)
Wow, thanks Beth. That means a lot to me.
These look delicious!
Homemade pearl sugar?? Definitely trying that. And the waffles,..your tweets are keeping them on my mind!
Lol, sorry Sarah!
These sound – and look – amazing! What brand waffle maker do you have? I’ve been looking for one that makes thinner waffles, but can only find belgian. can’t wait to try these :) Another good substitute for the pearl sugar might be palm sugar – the kind that comes in hard little cakes can be broken into any size chunks you want.
Great idea on the palm sugar! I have a cuisinart round waffle maker – it does the job!
You had me at “hefty portion of butter”. Oh and now I can take pearl sugar off my wishlist! Thanks for the awesome recipe! : )
I love you! I have been wanting to make liege waffles but have been sorely pearly sugar-less–you just made my liiiife!
I tried this recipe! However, the dough looks funny. It looks like dough swimming in butter, and I’ve been mixing it forever. I am sitting here waiting for it to rise.. It isn’t looking any better than it did before. Is this normal? What is the dough supposed to look like after adding butter and eggs? Is there a chance that you can post pictures along the way of making these yummy delights!? Thank you!
Hi Alex,
The butter needs to be incorporated really slowly into the dough, so that it doesn’t separate out, bit by bit as per the recipe. However, if your butter isn’t cooperating, that’s fine. Give the dough a good long time to double in size, and then when you knock it down, beat hard and incorporate the butter before baking the waffles and you should be fine. Hope that helps!
Cheers,
Sarah
Great job Sarah!! Thanks for the recipe for Liege Waffles, your recipe has better steps to follow than the official website recipe. Also, the pearl sugar method with maple syrup seems it will be easier than crystalizing the sugar on the stove. Although I may try heating the maple syrup first before adding to the sugar and check the results.
I don’t know what went wrong with my waffle maker but the waffles were hard as rock! It’s a new equipment and my first time to use so hopefully, the next time i make this, it will turn out better. Thank you for this recipe, looks really yummy. Also, you were very right about how messy and hard to clean the maker after making this batch. :)
Oh no! I don’t know why they would have been rock hard – as long as the batter was nice and risen they should turn out nice and chewy and fluffy. Kind of yeast-donut texture. Better luck next time! Keep me posted on how it goes. :)
Sarah, in my country it is really hard to find maple syrup as we don’t produce it (and I don’t think there is enough market for it), the only way to buy it is importing or buying from small shops that import this kind of stuff. I would like to know if there is something that I can use to replace it, like corn syrup or honey?
Thanks!
Hi Gabriel – my first question is, can you get pearl sugar where you live? Because if you can, I would totally suggest just using that. As for a substitute, I would use a little vanilla extract and maybe a splash of water. Other kinds of syrup would be too thick in this instance, I think.
Best of luck!
xx
Sarah
Hi great job about the blog and thanks for the tips, about the waffle recipe 2 cups plain flour , can you mention in grams please, thanks.
Hey Antonio – it’s 300g!
xx
Sarah