Belgian waffles at Patisserie LeBeau and Chambar

[plunk]

Hello,

Does anyone know how they make the waffles at Patisserie LeBeau or Chambar? They are unlike other waffles that I've tried. Firm, kind of chewy and bready. I've asked the staff at places and neither will tell me what's in them or they don't know. My best guess is that they're yeasted, or they're just a really thick batter with an ingredient that's not normally in waffles (sour cream?).

I really want to try making them at home, already got the waffle iron but I'm stumped on the batter. Help!

[jayhay]

Mmmmm sounds good, hope you get an answer, Plunk. Might have to write GOURMET or BON APPETIT & see if they can weasel it out of them.

[plunk]

Aha, breakthrough! Chambar's menu lists them as "Gaufre de Liege". Pump the phrase through Google and its translater and ta-da, it's a sweet yeasted and very buttery dough that's cooked in a waffle iron. I found a few recipes this way, and started flipping through my own cookbooks. Larousse also has a recipe, under "waffle". Gonna have to try making these at home, mmm.

[jayhay]

Be sure to let us know how they turn out!

[maxmillan]

A couple of years ago I asked about the recipe but the wife was quite the waffle Nazi. Like you, I googled "Gaufre de Liege" and found some good recipes.

Be sure to add in pearl sugar which gives it that nice crunch. Where? You can find them at Meinhardt.

[SushiCat]

Be sure to add in pearl sugar which gives it that nice crunch.  Where?  You can find them at Meinhardt.

←

Or at the European Warehouse ... it is one of the reasons to go to this place.

do let us know how the waffles turn out, and your various recipe tweakings ... I like regular waffles, but would like to expand my waffle options at home.

[andiesenji]

May I direct you to this article on yeasted waffles.

[plunk]

I've never seen pearl sugar. Does it come in different sizes? Will it dissolve in the batter or stay whole? Can I use it cup for cup in the Liege recipes that call for regular sugar?

What else does the European Warehouse have? I've never been, got any other shopping recommendations?

Andiesenji, I tried that yeasted waffle recipe last year and it didn't really work out for me, I don't know why It tasted very yeasty but the big problem was the batter. It didn't cook properly in my iron, it was too runny and the waffles were cooked on the outside but not in the middle. I just have a cheap little Cuisinart though.

Edited January 27, 2005 by plunk (log)

[CaliPoutine]

I really love waffles made with this waffle mix. They are light and fluffy with a really good mouthfeel.

I bought the mix at Willams Sonoma

Edited January 27, 2005 by CaliPoutine (log)

[plunk]

I found the pearl sugar at Meinhardt and made the Liege waffle recipe out of Larousse tonight. Here's the recipe, with my modifications and comments in parenthesis.

500g bread flour (I used all purpose)

15g fresh yeast or 1 1/2 tsp dried yeast

125 ml water (I used milk)

pinch of salt

125g caster sugar (I used pearl)

4 eggs

200g softened butter

Dissolve the yeast with the liquid (if using dry yeast) and mix with 1/4 of the flour. Let rise until doubled.

Add the rest of the flour, a generous pinch of salt, the sugar, eggs and butter. Mix well.

(I used a standing mixer and incorporated the eggs into the initial dough first to get it smooth and uniform, then added all the flour until it was all incorporated, then the butter until it was all incorporated and finally the sugar. The dough is very soft and sticky at the end.)

Divide the dough into balls about the size of an egg. Let rise on a floured surface for 30 minutes. Heat a waffle iron, place a piece of dough between the plates, close the iron and cook.

(I flattened each piece of dough before putting them in the iron. One piece per square grid on the Cuisinart. They cooked for 5 minutes on setting 3.)

The results were very good, though not quite like the Lebeau or Chambar waffles in taste or look. Mine were more like brioche dough cooked in a waffle iron, and they came out quite a bit darker. I will try making these again and see if I can get the colour lighter while still retaining the crispy outside and thoroughly cooked inside. The last one to come out of the waffle iron had less dough than the rest and was flattened out more before being pressed and it had the lightest colour so I'm going to explore that more closely next time. Less kneading might help as well, though I'm not sure if that's possible since it takes a while to get everything incorporated into the dough.

Edited January 28, 2005 by plunk (log)

[jayhay]

Mmmmmm....got to replace that waffle iron I gave away....

[jamiemaw]

Hello,

Does anyone know how they make the waffles at Patisserie LeBeau or Chambar? They are unlike other waffles that I've tried. Firm, kind of chewy and bready. I've asked the staff at places and neither will tell me what's in them or they don't know. My best guess is that they're yeasted, or they're just a really thick batter with an ingredient that's not normally in waffles (sour cream?).

I really want to try making them at home, already got the waffle iron but I'm stumped on the batter. Help!

←

Olivier at Pattiserie leBeau imports his sugar--at great expense he maintains--from secret suppliers in Belgium. So the dough is one thing . . .

[Ling]

I just walked by Patisserie LeBeau today on my way to Les Amis and thought about this thread! The lights weren't on in Patisserie LeBeau though, so perhaps they were closed?

I remember many years ago, my parents took us out for breakfast on a family vacation and I ordered the most delicious, chewy waffles. I've never had waffles like that since then (must have been at least 10 years ago--can't believe I still remember the taste!) Perhaps I was eating a Gaufre de Liege? I still remember it came topped with a mound of whipped cream and strawberries, but it is the chewiness that I remember most fondly.

[plunk]

Olivier at Pattiserie leBeau imports his sugar--at great expense he maintains--from secret suppliers in Belgium. So the dough is one thing . . .

Yikes, that's somewhat daunting. Good to know though.

I think I'll try using bread flour next time and knead the dough for longer, see if that makes them chewier. Mine were not in the least bit chewy but the dough was only kneaded long enough to incorporate the butter.

Edited January 29, 2005 by plunk (log)

[maxmillan]

Have you consider that it may also be the waffle iron? I bought three different ones until I found the one that gave the deep pockets so that the outside stayed crisp and the inside was cooked. I paid $20 at Superstore for my Phillips Belgian Waffle Maker model KB5500. It even says "Gaufrier Belge" on the box.

Ironic that the cheapest waffle maker made the best waffles.

Let us know how it turns out with the bread flour.

[plunk]

Yup, that thought had crossed my mind (I have the two waffle Cuisinart). I'll see how my next batch(es) turns out before I begin to consider buying another waffle iron. My tiny apartment kitchen is so full it's not funny, the appliances have long been overflowing into the den.

[Ling]

Here is another recipe I found.

http://www.mysticbunny.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/belgian.html

[DocDougherty]

Plunk,

It looks like I am three years late to the party, but I have a well tested recipe to share - it hasn't changed in 6 months so I am declaring it "good enough".

Major points:

1. Ferment the dough for 30 min before incorporating the butter and sugar.

2. Waffle iron temperature should be about 405°F so that the pearl sugar actually caramelizes - I use an IR thermometer to check the temperature of the iron since I am doing it on a stovetop.

Liège Waffles

(6 – 100g waffels, ~305 calories each/70 calories from fat)

(Revision #13 – 16 December 2007)

These are very close to the real thing – as close to the waffles that are served on the streets of Brussels as I have ever come (and getting closer at every revision). The secret ingredient is pearl sugar or an adequate substitute. You will need a mixer that can handle a soft dough (I use a Kitchen Aid) and a Belgian Waffle iron. The one I have is a very old Nordic Ware Belgian Waffler, cast aluminum with a non-stick coating and little bi-metal thermometers built in to each plate (I am told that the new ones don’t have the built-in thermometers).

The following recipe is sized for ½ stick of butter, substitutes instant yeast for the fresh yeast, substitutes vanilla extract for vanilla sugar, adds some sugar to substitute for the vanilla sugar as a yeast accelerator, and increases the liquid by a little to account for the moisture that would be in the fresh yeast and the fact that one extra large egg is not quite big enough to stand in for 1 egg + 2/3 yoke. I have increased the flour by 10% (from 213 g to 234 g) to produce a chewier product that more closely replicates what I remember of the Brussels street waffles. The original recipe calls for butter or margarine and also a pinch of salt so the butter is intended to be salted butter (since margarine always comes salted) but it wants to have just a little more salt. If you use unsalted butter increase the salt to ½ t.

234 g bread flour

82 g warm milk or water (110°F)

½ t granulated sugar (to feed yeast)

2 t (6g) instant yeast

1 t cinnamon

2 t vanilla

¼ t salt

1 extra large egg

67g (one half stick) room temperature salted butter or margarine cut into 8 to 10 pieces

[for higher fat version: use a whole stick of salted butter or margarine and delete the ¼ t salt]

142 g pearl sugar (now available at some IKEA stores) or a substitute (Billington's All Natural Sugar Crystals - available at Whole Foods, or C&H Washed Raw sugar - available lots of places)

Weigh the sugar and set aside. Dissolve yeast in the warm milk to which you have added ½ t sugar. Let this sit for five minutes to get the yeast started. Put the flour, cinnamon, egg, vanilla, salt, yeast mixture into the mixing bowl and mix on medium speed until fully combined. It will be stiff dough at this point.

Cover with plastic and let rest in a warm place for 30 min.

Beat in the butter piece by piece; you do not have to wait for the prior piece to be fully incorporated before adding the next. At this point (for all purpose flour) the dough will be a stiff paste that coats the mixing bowl. Scrape the sides of the bowl and mix on medium speed for another two minutes. If using bread flour, the dough will behave just like brioche, just mix at medium speed for another two minutes. The dough should clean the bowl after about a minute but will continue to develop for another minute.

Incorporate the pearl sugar, or sugar crystals, or raw sugar just enough to get it evenly distributed. With all purpose flour you can stir the sugar in, but if you use bread flour you will have to knead it in.

Using a little flour if necessary, divide into six equal pieces, form into balls.

Proof on a piece of plastic wrap on a cutting board in a warm place (100°F) for 15 min while you heat the waffle iron. [set a Wolf burner on Medium and preheat the waffle iron until the built-in thermometers point to the high side of the “Cook” zone – about 9-12 min., flipping it over every 30 sec]

Cook in preheated waffle iron for 3 minutes turning it over every 30 sec You can do two at a time in diagonally opposed pockets but they will take a little longer to cook, and they will not be as dark brown as a single waffle unless you turn up the heat a little, and you will get an accumulation of caramelized/burnt sugar in the middle of the iron where there is heat but no dough. With four at a time (filling all four cells in the iron) you need to turn up the heat quite a bit or extend the cooking time.

If anybody is interested in reading the original in Dutch, let me know.

Doc

Edited May 14, 2008 by DocDougherty (log)

[FishGuy]

Hello,

Does anyone know how they make the waffles at Patisserie LeBeau or Chambar? They are unlike other waffles that I've tried. Firm, kind of chewy and bready. I've asked the staff at places and neither will tell me what's in them or they don't know. My best guess is that they're yeasted, or they're just a really thick batter with an ingredient that's not normally in waffles (sour cream?).

I really want to try making them at home, already got the waffle iron but I'm stumped on the batter. Help!

←

I hate to burst anyone's bubble about fancy Belgian waffles, there happens to be a french pastry chef Phillipe who makes these exact waffles you refer to his product is phenominal furthermore his waffles are egg free and have the pearl sugar in them and exactly what you are looking for - in fact he supplies the raw product to some the establishments around town nudge nudge wink wink say no more

[sanrensho]

Plunk,

It looks like I am three years late to the party, but I have a well tested recipe to share - it hasn't changed in 6 months so I am declaring it "good enough".

Thanks for posting this! I will definitely give it a try.

[DocDougherty]

Thanks for posting this! I will definitely give it a try.

←

If you succeed with using something besides a Belgian Waffler, I would be very interested in your exact technique (dough weight, waffle size, time, temp, non-stick spray or not, tender or crisp, etc.)

I had one batch where I think the iron was too cool to start with and tried to open the iron too early. The waffle split in two - and neither side would come out of the iron cleanly. It was a mess to clean up - made me glad I could put most of the waffle iron (except for the thermometers) under water to soak it off or at least soften it up.

And I put a photo in with the recipe in RecipeGullet under Liege Waffle

Edited May 15, 2008 by DocDougherty (log)

[plunk]

I hate to burst anyone's bubble about fancy Belgian waffles, there happens to be a french pastry chef Phillipe who makes these exact waffles you refer to his product is phenominal furthermore his waffles are egg free and have the pearl sugar in them and exactly what you are looking for - in fact he supplies the raw product to some the establishments around town nudge nudge wink wink say no more

←

Intriguing ... think he'd sell to civilians?

[FishGuy]

he does, he has a store front

[plunk]

he does, he has a store front

←

Do you happen to know the name and address of the storefront? Thanks!

[mcain]

I think I've seen pearl sugar at Famous Foods on Kingsway, east of Knight.