"So, Joe, how were them waffles?" (See thread 71919)

[joeekaitis]

The Ambiano Belgian waffle iron from ALDI has an unusual set of asymmetrical grids, i.e.: the bottom grid is deeper than the upper grid, producing a waffle with trapezoidal profile from the side.

The finished waffle baked for 5 minutes on the darkest setting has a similar texture and mouth-feel as those from our older irons: an audibly crisp exterior and cake-like interior. Different batters might produced different results. My batter is made from scratch. For the best presentation, I serve them bottom side up.

We'll keep it until it burns out or the nonstick flakes off. I sprayed the grids only once before the initial waffle. On the next batch I'll skip the spraying because the grids appear to have become seasoned from the initial spray and the butter in the batter.

 

[gusherb]

Dammit now I want waffles!

 

[frigilux]

Congrats on your new waffle maker, Joe! May I suggest this waffle recipe to you, GusHerb, and anyone else who enjoys waffles of insane greatness.

[this post was last edited: 8/6/2017-23:00]

 

[joeekaitis]

Normally, I'd be leery . . .

 

 

. . . of a recipe illustrated with a picture of Eggo waffles.

 

The magic appears to be the cornstarch taking the place of 1/4 of the flour.  My own recipe already has vanilla extract and melted butter so I replaced 2 of the 8 ounces of flour and proceeded as usual: melted the butter, whisked together the dry ingredients including powered buttermilk in an 8-cup handled mixing bowl, separated the eggs, beat the whites to stiff peaks in a copper bowl with the heavy-gauge stainless steel wire beaters of a KitchenAid hand mixer, beat the yolks with the sugar until nearly white before adding the water and vanilla extract and beating until foamy, brought everything together and let it rest for 30 minutes as directed.  Filled the Ambiano waffle iron just to the rim with batter, baked it for 5 minutes on the darkest setting.

 

First thing the wife noticed and later confirmed by the cook: a pronounced cake ice cream cone flavor note that sets off the syrup and butter.  The exterior holds a little of its crunch after the syrup soaks in.  The interior is cake-like, not bready.

 

It's a keeper.  Might try making pancakes from the same batter with half the butter.  Perhaps even corn fritters.

 

[tomturbomatic]

I think I read, years ago, about lightening flour with cornstarch to give a product more like cake flour and thus lighten the finished product. Glad to see it works with waffles, too.

 

[ea56]

Substituting cornstarch for 25% or less of the called for flour in a recipe results in a more tender finished product because there is no gluten in cornstarch.

Whenever I make Shortbread cookies I do this and everybody always wants to know what I did to make them so tender and light.

BTW, Joe those waffles look delicious! Makes me want to make some soon.
Eddie