These are seriously The.Best.Waffles.Ever.
As in, whenever I make a batch, the kids want waffles, waffles, waffles for breakfast (oh, and me, too). These are better than any waffles I've ever had at a restaurant, frozen storebought waffles (from my pre-real-food life), the homemade soaked spelt-and-oats waffles I used to make, and better than the gluten-free waffles I made for years.
These waffles are crispy and light. And I love the convenience of having a big batch of frozen waffles which makes our weekday breakfasts super quick-and-easy.
Healthier Waffles!
This waffle recipe is healthier because:
It's sourdough, which means that the flour in this recipe is more digestible and more nutritious.
It's made with Einkorn ancient wheat, so it has more protein, less gluten, and more nutrition than modern wheat.
It contains no sweeteners, and the waffles are super yummy even just topped with butter.
The sourdough combined with baking powder gives these waffles a fantastic rise, so they're nice and fluffy.
Since we aim to keep our sugar consumption on the low side, we typically eat these waffles with syrup only once a week, and the rest of the week we skip the syrup and instead top them with butter, cream cheese, crispy nuts, fresh fruit, and/or fried eggs. Oh, except for that time when a friend gave us some homemade ginger pear jam, in which case we *had* to eat them with the jam, you know, just to be polite. 😋
I Make a Big Batch
I always double or triple this recipe whenever I make waffles. I figure I may as well since I've already got all the stuff out and am already in the groove of making waffles. With a bigger batch, we have plenty of waffles to last for several weeks as a time.
I use a double waffle maker, which allows me to make 4 waffles at a time. That's a real time saver since I make so many waffles at once. Make sure to check out the tips for freezing and reheating these waffles below the recipe.
Sourdough Einkorn Waffles
Makes 11-12 sets of waffles
Ingredients:
For the overnight ferment:
1 cup Einkorn inactive sourdough starter (fresh from the fridge and not super bubbly)
2 cups Einkorn all-purpose flour
3/4 cup filtered water
To add in the morning:
1/2 cup butter (1 stick), preferably nutrient-dense yellow butter
3 large eggs, preferably from pastured hens
1 cup of whole milk
1&1/2 tsp aluminum-free baking powder
1/2 tsp fine-ground Celtic sea salt
Equipment Needed:
For making waffles:
wooden spatula, or similar utensil for removing the waffles from the waffle iron
ladle or measuring cup for batter
For freezing waffles:
kitchen shears, or a knife, but the shears work much better
food service film (or you can use normal plastic wrap, but the food service film works much better)
parchment paper (optional)
How to Make the Waffles:
Combine the flour and starter. The night before you want to make the waffles, combine the Einkorn sourdough starter, Einkorn flour, and water in a large bowl. Stir to combine. This batter will be very thick, and that's totally fine. Make sure there is some headspace at the top of your bowl, because this will rise overnight.
Ferment the sourdough overnight. Cover the bowl and leave at room temperature overnight. In the morning, you will probably see that your batter has risen overnight, and maybe even fallen somewhat. Don't worry; the baking powder in this recipe will make sure that you get a nice rise in the recipe regardless.
Melt the butter. In a small saucepan, melt the butter over low heat. Turn off heat and let cool a bit.
Combine the wet ingredients. Combine the eggs and milk in a medium bowl. Whisk until well combined. Whisk in the salt and baking powder.
Mix the milk mixture into the sourdough, followed by the butter. I prefer to use a big whisk for this, as the thick dough will climb right up my hand mixer. Once the milk mixture is mixed in, then whisk in the melted butter.
Preheat the waffle iron. I always place the waffle iron on top of a kitchen towel to catch any waffle batter overflow.
Set up the work area. To make the process go smoothly, you'll need to put a little thought into setting up the work area for making the waffles. I like to place the waffle iron next to my large bowl of batter. I also use a wooden spatula to remove the waffles from the waffle iron, so I put this in the same row as the waffle iron and batter. If you'll be freezing some of the waffles, set up cooling racks nearby for ease of transferring the cooked waffles to the cooling racks. And set up a location for the food service film which will be used to wrap up each set of waffles.
Cook the waffles. Once the waffle iron is hot, start cooking the waffles. Use a ladle or measuring cup to pour the batter into the hot waffle iron. DON'T repeatedly check on the waffles, as they will get wrecked if the waffle iron gets opened too early. One trick to knowing when the waffles are done is to watch the steam coming from the waffle maker; when the steam coming from the waffle iron has reduced considerably, they are nearly done. The waffles are done when they are golden brown and crispy. If you'll be freezing some of the waffles, you might want to cook those ones a tad less.
Enjoy your waffles! Top with butter and your favorite toppings such as maple syrup, jam, fresh fruit, cream cheese, and/or crispy nuts. See below for tips on freezing and reheating your waffles.
How to Freeze and Reheat the Waffles:
Cool the waffles. Transfer the cooked waffles to the cooling racks. Allow them to cool until they reach room temperature.
Trim the waffles. Use the kitchen shears (or a knife) to trim the little extra bits from the edges of the waffles. If you don't trim the waffles, these little bits will burn when you toast the waffles later on. These little extra bits can get fed to any little helpers who are watching the waffle-making (or as the cook's bonus).
Wrap the waffles. Wrap each pair of waffles with the food service film. If you are concerned about plastic touching your food, you could put a small piece of parchment paper on each waffle before wrapping. I don't worry about plastic leaching, though, since I make sure the waffles are nice and cool before wrapping them. One good trick for making sure the waffles won't freeze stuck together is to wrap a small amount of the food service film around one of the waffles so that it will be between the waffles.
Freeze the waffles. The waffles freeze best if they are placed on their sides in the freezer, rather than laid flat. If you have problems with the waffles falling through the slits in your freezer shelves, just place a piece of paper underneath the waffles, directly on top of the freezer shelf.
Reheat the waffles. The beauty of this method is that you will have plenty of frozen waffles that can be eaten for breakfast with minimal effort any time. Just remove the plastic wrap (and optional parchment paper), and then toast the waffles.
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