No. 3285

Waffles with Vanilla—Light

Gaufres Legeres a la Vanille

Beat up in a vessel half a pound of partly melted butter, and when creamy mix in slowly seven or eight egg-yolks; after the preparation becomes frothy add half a pound of flour, a pinch of sugar, a grain of salt and half an ounce of compressed yeast dissolved in two gills of milk; cover the vessel and keep it in a mild temperature. When the dough is raised work and let get cold, then incorporate into it four or five beaten egg-whites. Heat a deep waffle iron, butter it over with a brush dipped in melted butter and putting a spoonful of the paste on one side of the iron only, close and cook the waffles over a low fire, turning the iron frequently; when dry and a fine golden color take it out of the form and sprinkle fine vanilla sugar (No. 3165) over the top.

SMALL CAKES FOR ENTREMETS (Petits Gateaux d'Entremets).

Cakes ten to a pound.

← No. 3284 Waffles Breakfast Cakes No. 3286 Apple Cake →

For the Modern Kitchen

A yeast-raised waffle batter enriched with a half pound each of butter and flour, lightened at the last minute with beaten whites. The hinge is the two-stage handling: the batter must rise, then be chilled before the whites go in, or it will collapse in the iron.

Weights and measuresHalf a pound of butter is 225 g (two US sticks); half a pound of flour is about 1¾ cups. Two gills are one cup of milk. Half an ounce of compressed yeast is roughly 14 g fresh cake yeast, or about 1½ teaspoons of instant dry yeast.
Compressed yeastCake yeast is still sold but rarely stocked outside bakery suppliers. Dissolve fresh yeast in the milk warmed to blood heat; instant dry yeast can be stirred straight into the flour, with the milk added warm.
The batter is very richEqual weights of butter and flour make this closer to a leavened batter for gaufres than to an American breakfast waffle. It will be thick and creamy rather than pourable, which is why the recipe says a spoonful rather than a ladleful.
Work and let get coldAfter the rise, knock the batter back and chill it thoroughly. Cold, firm butter is what keeps the folded whites suspended; at room temperature the emulsion slackens and the foam is lost.
Folding the whitesFour or five whites beaten to soft peaks, folded in with a spatula in two additions. Do not beat them stiff and dry — this batter is heavy and stiff foam will break rather than blend.
The ironIrons of this period were long-handled cast iron heated on the range, which is why the instruction is to turn them frequently. On an electric waffle iron, set it to medium-low: the high butter content browns fast, and a hot iron will darken the outside before the interior sets.
Buttering the ironBrush both plates with melted butter before each waffle, even on a nonstick surface. The batter is a yeast dough in all but name and will grip bare metal.
Vanilla sugarNo. 3165 is the book's own vanilla sugar: sugar pounded with vanilla bean and sieved fine. A split pod buried in a jar of caster sugar for a week gives much the same result.
Yield and servingExpect roughly a dozen waffles from this quantity, depending on iron size. Serve at once, dusted with the vanilla sugar; they are meant to be eaten hot, and reheating drives off the butter that makes them worth eating.

A Little History

Gaufres were medieval fair food in northern France and the Low Countries before they were breakfast, sold hot from irons at church festivals and stamped with coats of arms or religious devices. Charles Ranhofer, chef of Delmonico's in New York and author of The Epicurean (1894), filed this version among breakfast cakes, but the treatment is pastry-kitchen rather than griddle work: a yeasted, butter-heavy batter chilled and lightened with whipped whites is the same logic as a brioche or a baba. Vanilla sugar dusted over the top finishes it, vanilla beans being an expensive import that grinding into sugar stretched a long way.