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Amazing Overnight Waffles

(recipe, Fran McCullough & Molly Stevens)


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Introduction

There's nothing like a batch of waffles (these come from the book Mollie Katzen's Sunlight Café) to brighten a morning, especially if they're homemade. Mix the batter the night before, and all you have to do in the morning is beat an egg, melt some butter, and stir. At the very most, there's 15 minutes of work here. Yeast gives the waffles a special subtle quality, and the overnight rise adds a mellow tang and a pleasingly chewy texture that sets them apart from the usual baking-powder-and-baking-soda kind.

Ingredients

  1. 2 cups all-purpose flour
  2. 1 Tbsp. sugar
  3. 1 tsp. active dry yeast (about ½ packet)
  4. ½ tsp. salt
  5. 2 cups milk (see Note)
  6. 6 Tbsp. (¾ stick) unsalted butter
  7. 1 large egg

Steps

  1. Combine the flour, sugar, yeast, and salt in a large bowl. Whisk in the milk until blended. Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap and let stand overnight at room temperature. (If it's warmer than 70 degrees, refrigerate the batter.)
  2. The next morning, heat the waffle iron. Melt the butter, then lightly beat the egg. Add both to the batter, which will be quite thin.
  3. Spray the hot waffle iron with nonstick cooking spray and rub on a little butter with a paper towel or a piece of bread. Add just enough batter to cover the cooking surface, about 1⅓ cups for a Belgian waffle, ⅔ cup for a standard waffle.
  4. Cook the waffles until crisp and browned but not too dark, 2 to 3 minutes each. Serve hot.

Note

A great way to keep waffles warm until you're ready to serve them is to heat the oven to 200 degrees and place the cooked waffles directly on the oven rack without stacking. This keeps the waffles warm and crisp, whereas stacking makes them soggy. Culinate editor's note: You can use buttermilk instead of milk, but you may need to add some milk to make the batter thin enough.