It’s been a few years since I posted the recipe. Since then, I’ve learned even more about our dear Liège waffle. A profound reworking of the recipe has been in order and is now underway.
I’m actually likely to maintain the current recipe page, as is, and create a secondary page that details the more in-depth version. It’s so exceedingly specific that I doubt many will want to take a pass at it + I’ll only be publishing the metric version, making it even less appetizing to casual bakers.
Some key changes will be the switch from baker’s yeast to ale yeast, eliminating bread flour in favor of a historically accurate blend of flours (meant to emulate late 18th / early 19th century French/Belgian flour), eliminating milk (in favor of only water or a blend of water and cream), using Mexican vanilla beans, and a host of other small edits to the process.
The aim will be to match, as closely as possible, the ingredients of the early 19th century French bakers who likely developed the recipe. Yes, yes, the legend has been that the chef to the Prince Bishop of Liège developed the recipe in the late 18th century, but as I plan to explain, our favorite waffle not only was unlikely to have been possible in the 18th century … but there’s far more evidence to back the idea of non-Brabant/Belgian French origins than most know.
Stay tuned over the coming month or two.
Liege Waffle Recipe / Gaufre de Liège Recette Blog 