Liege waffles are easy to bake at home for family and friends. With a few helpful pointers, you’ll be on your way to golden, crispy, caramelized bites of happiness aka perfect Liege waffles every time!
Here are Waffle Pantry’s top five things to avoid when baking Liege waffles:
1. Using cold eggs.
When baking, ingredients generally should be introduced to one another at room temperature (unless otherwise specified in a recipe.) This applies to eggs, butter and milk. Adding cold eggs to butter could cause the butter to harden and make ingredients difficult to mix. Room temperature eggs won’t disturb the other waffle ingredients and allow the dough to rise naturally.
2. Using the wrong butter.
Ensure your Liege waffles will have the signature lush taste by using the proper butter.Choose a butter with higher fat content. Selecting a European butter with minimal ingredients at your local market is a safe bet for truly amazing waffles. Also, note the color of your butter. A good rule of thumb: butter with a natural golden hue is better in flavor than a butter that’s pale or white in color.
3. Using less than great ingredients.
Check expiration dates. Test for freshness. Give each ingredient a good sniff, look and/or taste before adding it to the mixing bowl. Each ingredient, from flour to Belgian pearl sugar, is an essential component and using high quality ingredients will give your Liege waffles superior flavor and texture.
4. Overworking the dough.
Dough is a precious thing so we recommend treating it like so. Fold gently and until all ingredients are combined without lumps. No more, no less. Mixing the dough excessively will over-develop the gluten and give your waffles a tough texture.
5. Rushing the dough’s rise time.
Always follow your chosen recipe and give the dough the chance to double in size and get fluffy. Pick a place where the dough will be undisturbed and have the proper temperature to rise. (Try the inside of an unused oven or a draft-free countertop.) Your patience will be rewarded when you into delightfully crisp, perfectly toothsome Liege waffles.
Avoid these Liege waffle “don’ts” for sweet waffle perfection every time. Have your own Liege waffle baking tips? Share them with a comment below!
Thanks for a very interesting information 🙂
I have one additional question 🙂
I would like to make a little waffle business and i don’t know exactly,
Which Stand Mixer Should I Buy?
Is it possible to make in a same stand mixer a batter for a brussels waffle and dough for a liege waffle? (i mean a motor power)
Usually is Liege Waffle dough with it toughness, same as pizza dough, bread dough or…?
I wanted to buy a stand mixer and when i went in a shop they said me that they had a stand mixer for batter and another one for a tough dough, i were little bit confused…
thank you very much
Hello Luka,
Thanks for your question! If you’re planning to start a waffle business, you may want to consider a commercial-grade stand mixer. We recommend choosing a trusted brand with the horsepower and features you need. A good stand mixer will be able to mix up a variety of doughs. Best of luck in your endeavors and happy baking!
I agree with all the points above except for #4. Liege waffle dough is a very enriched brioche-like dough, and as such, needs intensive mixing to achieve the proper gluten development. For the typical Liege waffle recipe with a +/-60% butter content, you’ll need a beater on a medium speed for several minutes to achieve a smooth windowpane. Mixing the dough gently, and just until combined, is a good suggestion for pancake batter. However, if you do this with Liege waffle dough, you’ll end up with a thick scoopable batter that gives you a thick cakelike waffle rather than a soft, workable dough.
Thanks for the helpful tip!
We mix ours for 5mins #2 setting. Adding the Pearl’s at the 4 minute mark.
Hi Sal, thank you for your feedback! We similarly mix our dough with a stand mixer for about 5 minutes at speed #3. This may slightly vary depending on your mixer, but you want to look for a sticky dough. The pearl sugar we prefer to add after the dough has risen to preserve its freshness. Pearl sugar will activate the yeast and break down (dissolve) in the process. This won’t be much of an issue if you intend to immediately bake the waffles after proofing the dough. However, if you prefer to store the dough much longer we recommend waiting to add the pearl sugar until you are ready to bake. Lisa
Hi Lisa, I have tried many recipes for Liege waffles and have had the best results with Smitten Kitchen’s recipe! Slowly working the butter into the dough, gave me a silky dough that was music in my hands. I overnighted the dough and the next morning allowed it to come to room temperature. Only then did I work in the Belgian Pearl sugar.. I placed the sugar in an oblong bowl and piled the whole batch of dough on top of it. Through trial and error I found this to be the best way to incorporate all that sugar. I weighed 3 to 4 ounces of dough and placed them on a plate. Someone mentioned that the Smitten Kitchen recipe is not worth the effort. I beg to differ with her. The problem with the sugar melting is minimal and I don’t have the problem with burned bits of sugar on the waffles. I would never pour boiling water on the waffle iron. It is electric for Pete’s sake. When I am done making my waffles, I leave the iron plugged in and burn the sugar to a crisp. When cooled, it is easy to just lift it out. My waffles are always welcomed by friends and family alike. It behooves me to do my utmost best when I bake them. My grandparents were married in Liege and my parents spent their one-day honeymoon there. I was born in Maastricht, the Netherlands.
Hi Paula,
Thank you for sharing your experience and tips. This is surely going to be helpful to others, as most of us will have a slightly different experience. You are right, one should be very careful when trying to pour water into the iron. Alternatively, a moist fiber towel will also do the trick when trying to clean the iron.
Lisa
Thanks…. you can always help us with your tips
I’m learning so much on how to make a perfect liege waffles. We are adding waffles into our business menu and need all kinds of information. Thank you for all the good ideas.
Hello, tonight I was following your recipe and have a question. When I add the yeast to the Luke warm milk, I am not seeing much of a reaction even after 10 minutes. I’ve tried three times; should it froth? I am using the red label SAF instant yeast.
Hi Todd, thank you for your question. You should not expect to see any noticeable change or reaction when initially adding the yeast to the luke warm milk. The real fermentation process of instant dry yeast will begin at the end when you let the dough rest for 2 to 3 hours. Cover the dough with a kitchen towel or plastic wrap and keep it in a relatively warm place. The Red SAF instant yeast will work great results for you and you should expect to see the dough double in volume. Happy Baking!
Hi. I have a growing obsession with Leige waffles lately. I tried making them today howeverI didn’t achieve the kind of waffle I like. I’m aiming for a texture and softness similar to the commercial Wafflemeister waffle. The recipe I followed tasted good but I find it too crunchy and the bread is not stretchy like wafflemeister’s. I’m wondering if I followed the right recipe to achieve the one I like. Please give me some tips if you are familiar with Wafflemeister quality.
Hi Kim, thank you for the great question. The texture of the Liege waffle dough is very important, and it is for that reason that bakers in Europe work with very high quality flour when preparing Liege waffles. We suggest using an even mixture of the French T55 and French T45 flour. For more information, please feel free to refer to our previous blog post ‘French T55 Flour: The Preferred Choice for Liege Waffles’.
My dough is not completely cooking, why that could be (is doughy).. thank you for your advice in advance.
CC
Hi CC,
There are actually a few suggestions we have when you experience undercooked dough:
1. Make sure your dough is at room temperature when you place it into your iron. Cooking cold dough can cause the dough to undercook while baking.
2. When you place the dough into the iron, use the back of a spoon and spread the dough out a bit before closing the iron. You can see us do this in our instructional video. When spreading the dough out, you essentially help it to cover more surface area and subsequently greater exposure to heat. Your dough should expand during the baking process and therefore you are also giving it more room to breath. You can also try to use smaller dough ball portions.
3. Lastly, you may want to also check the type of waffle iron you have and how much heat it creates (use a temperature laser gun). Liege waffles should ideally be cooked at about 375F. If you are open to exploring of adding a new waffle iron to your kitchen, we recommend the Cuisinart GR-5B for home use. This iron is a griddler and waffle iron in one and comes with exchangeable plates. It’s variable thermostat enables full control of cooking temperatures (175°F to 450°F in 25° increments).
Please let us know if you continue to experience any issues or need further assistance. Happy baking!
Lisa
Can you use margarine instead of butter?
Hi Sarah,
We don’t recommend using margarine or any other butter substitute as it affects the texture and consistency of the dough. Instead, we recommend that you use regular unsalted butter or European butter.
Your Waffle Pantry team
Help! My waffles seem to be coming out too dry!
Hi Zandra,
We hope you had a pleasant start into the new year.
Please make sure that you are baking your Liege waffles at approximately 185°C (365°C). Depending on the type waffle iron you use, you will have different cooking times. A cast-iron commercial waffle maker requires 2½-3 minutes to bake a Liege waffle, while most retail waffle irons have a baking time of 5-6 minutes. You can also use a waffle fork or a knife and poke your waffle while baking to check on its readiness. Should the fork/knife show signs of moisture on its tip after poking the waffle, it’s a good sign that you still have to cook you waffles a bit longer. Your waffles will be ready once there is no sign of moisture. Your Liege waffles should visually have a golden color to them with the edges being lighter (try to avoid baking them to a dark brown color). Lastly, it is best to eat the waffles while they are still warm, as they will otherwise harden once the caramelized sugar cools down. You can always quickly reheat the waffles in a toaster or the oven if you intend to eat them at a later time.
We hope this helps answer your question.
Lisa
I made these for the first time last week. I did not care for the hard pieces of sugar in the waffle when I bite into it. Is this just part of the dish or am I doing something wrong? I love the caramelization on the outside but do not want to bite into hard sugar inside. Can you help.
Hi Keisha,
Here are a couple of ideas that should do the trick for you:
1. Once you incorporate the pearl sugar into the dough, place the dough back in the fridge for 30min. Allowing the sugar to sit in the dough gives the yeast a chance to break down the sugar. Take the dough out of the fridge, allow it to come to room temperature before baking.
2. When you place the dough into the iron, please take a moment to spread the dough out before closing the iron. This allows a more even heat distribution.
Lastly, we would like to note out that while the pearl sugar is supposed to mostly caramelize, a few crunchy bits are expected and part of the experience. Please make sure to clean any residues of sugar from the iron. This ensures that the sugar remaining in the iron doesn’t burn and stick to your following batches.
Please don’t hesitate to contact us if you require further help.
Your Waffle Pantry team
We are wanting to start a food trailer. . After dough has risen and pearl sugar is added. How long can the dough sit out in open while waiting for orders to come in? Would not have time to refrigerate and wait for room temp. Plus, food truck may become hot since it is in a smaller space
Hi Dana,
Congratulations on the new business venture!
Liege waffle dough can typically stay out at room temperature for about 2-3 hours (depending on humidity). Soon after, you will start to notice the dough to become greasy and loose. This is a result of the butter/fat content beginning to melt. Furthermore, the yeast will feed of the sugar and cause the pearl sugar to dissolve. This is an important factor that you should keep in mind, as the pearl sugar should ideally be solid in order to caramelize during the baking process.
We recommend that you separate your dough into 2 or 3 batches for the day. Keep one batch out on the countertop and the remaining batches in the fridge. The batches in the fridge will not have any pearl sugar incorporated in them. The batch you keep on the countertop to serve from will have pearl sugar integrated in it. Go ahead and serve your waffles from the batch you have on the countertop with the pearl sugar integrated. As you start to notice that you are running out of dough, take the second batch out of the fridge and incorporate the pearl sugar. You will continue this process of phasing in a new batch from the fridge throughout the day. This method will assure that you serve the highest quality waffles to your customer.
A couple of extra tips… In the case that your dough becomes loose or greasy and your pearl sugar start too dissolve just go ahead and par-bake your entire batch. You’ll be able to reheat them later on when your customers start to come in. Lastly, there is no need to separate your dough into dough balls. Instead, think of your dough like ice cream. Keep the whole batch in a bowl and use a standardized ice cream or dough scooper to scoop out your dough balls when ready to serve. We hope all of this helps answer your questions.
Please note that we do offer wholesale pricing to all of our business customers on our Belgian Pearl Sugar and Liege Waffle Mix. We also carry a wide range of commercial cast iron Liege waffle makers and tools.
In case of further questions don’t hesitate to contact us.
Your Waffle Pantry team
Hi there,
After the waffles are baked, do they need to be refrigerated if they aren’t eaten right away? I know I can freeze them. However, not sure if they can sit out on the counter (wrapped in plastic if course), and if so, how long. Thanks!
Hi Chelsea,
For any storage period over 24 hours, we recommend that you store the baked waffles in an airtight container in the fridge. Once you are ready to eat them you can reheat them in the iron or in a toaster. For any shorter storage period you are fine to leave the waffles out on the counter.
If you intend to bake the waffles knowing that you will reheat them later, we suggest that you initially par-bake the waffles for about 2 minutes (70%) using a commercial iron and then reheat them for another minute when you are ready to serve them. This will result in very fresh and authentic Liege waffles, and it will help when having to serve a larger group of people in a short period of time.
Please let us know if you have any further questions.
Your Waffle Pantry team