Waffle Party

DevOps Waffles

I’ll always associate waffles with DevOps, not Severance.

In 2019, our DevOps community noted the 10th anniversary of DevOpsDays in Ghent, Belgium, along with a global organizers summit. I was fortunate enough to attend as an organizer of DevOpsDC Meetup and DevOpsDays DC.

That week deserves a whole seriers of blog posts – but here’s one thing about being in one of Belgium’s lovelies cities. During the week, folks kept commenting on their yummy, yummy Belgian waffles. “Pshaw…” I thought. I make great buttermilk waffles at home on my Belgian wafflemaker. What’s the big deal?

But the next to last night I stopped at a kiosk, ordered my waffle, and stepped into nirvana.

See, if you’re in the USA, you’ve probably never had a proper Belgian waffle, or to be more specific, a Liège-style waffle. What’s different?

First, it’s a yeast dough, not a cakey batter.

Second, it requires Belgian pearl sugar.

Third, it needs to be cooked between 360F and 375F

These last two are critical. Most baked goods have the sugar melt and recrystallize in place. But in a Liège-style waffle, the heat and pressure in the waffle iron causes the melting sugar to extrude onto the waffle surface, and recrystallize there. The result is a crisp glazed surface and chewy tasty dough, and it’s heavenly.

But cook it too hot, and the sugar burns, too cool and it won’t melt.

After I came home I scoured the Internet for Liège-style waffles recipe that I could make at home, and the best recipe I found was Ashlee Marie’s Liège Waffle recipe. Typically I would just link to her recipe, but in two years since I first printed it, the recipe has changed, losing key steps, especially rising periods. So I’m republishing her recipe here (with a few additiona tips). Try it yourself, or convince me to craft an Ignite talk around this, and I can bring DevOps Waffles to you.

Enjoy!

Recipe: Traditional Belgian Waffles aka Liege Waffles

Prep time: 40 minutes
Cook time: 4 minutes each
Rising and chilling time: 14 hours. I start this by 4 p.m. for waffles at 10 a.m.

• First rise: 90 minutes
• Second rise: 4 hours
• Chilling: 8 hours Author: Ashlee Marie – see Authorship note below

Ingredients

• 1 Tbsp active dry yeast
• 1 tsp granulated sugar
• 3/4 C whole milk, warmed to 110F-115F
• 2 large eggs, room temperature, lightly beaten
• 4 C bread flour
• 3 Tbsp packed light brown sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 C butter, softened (you’ll need this after the 90m rise, so can start prep with chilled butter)
• 2 Tbsp honey
• 1 Tbsp vanilla
• 1 1/2 C (8 oz) Belgian pearl sugar

Instructions

1. Place yeast, sugar and milk into your mixer and proof yeast 5-10 minutes.
2. Add egg and 1 1/2 C of the flour, mix until it’s smooth.
3. Sprinkle remaining 2 1/2 C flour over the mixture, to keep the dough from getting crusty. Cover the bowl and let rise 90 minutes.
4. Add brown sugar and salt, and blend on low to medium-low speed. While mixing add the honey and vanilla.
5. Add butter 2 Tbsp at a time.
6. Mix 4 minutes at medium-low speed, let the dough rest for 1 minute, and then continue to mix for 2 minutes, then rest. Repeat until the dough balls up on the hook.
7. Cover and let rise for 4 hours.
8. Knock the dough down, wrap the dough in plastic wrap, 2-3 times around.
9. Place the dough in a bowl or pan, cover, and weigh it down a bit and refrigerate overnight.
10. The next day, place the cold dough (it will be quite firm) on a slightly floured surface and in ALL the Belgian sugar, a little bit at a time.
11. Once mixed, divide the dough in 12 pieces of equal size.
12. Squeeze each chunk into a ball and let it rise for 90 minutes.
13. Cook in a waffle iron for about 4 minutes at 360 F (do not let iron exceed 375 F)
14. Let each waffle cool for a few minutes so the sugar glaze hardens.

Serve as-is, or with whipped cream and fruit. They’re very sweet so no syrup needed.

Cleaning note: Keep the waffle iron warm until you can clean it. The carmelized remains are hard to clean once they harden.