The Hoppy Okapi

I used to buy Eggo waffles for breakfast sometimes, but then I actually looked at the ingredients for their “Nutri-Grain Whole Wheat” waffles, and was seriously unimpressed with their whole-wheat content. Since then, whenever I’m craving waffles I make my own, individually wrap them in plastic wrap and store them in the freezer. They’re round just like the Eggos I used to love and can be toasted straight out of the freezer for a quick breakfast or lunch. Last weekend, I decided to take my homemade waffles to a whole new level – it was time for sourdough waffles.

I based my recipe on the Blueberry Waffle recipe in Ed Wood’s World Sourdoughs From Antiquity, but increased the yield to eleven waffles by adding an additional feed and proof cycle. Here’s how I did it:

1) To two cups active culture (100% hydration), add two cups whole wheat flour and one cup water. Proof for 4 hours (or longer depending on culture).

sourdough culture with whole wheat added

2) Thaw 2 cups frozen blueberries; drain if desired (I’m ok with purple batter, so I kept the bluejuice). Melt four Tablespoons butter. Add blueberries, butter, and 1 teaspoon salt to proofed sourdough culture.

sourdough culture with blueberries, butter, and salt

3) Beat 4 eggs and 1/4 cup sugar on high speed until foamy and tripled in size. (The original recipe called for the more traditional separation of eggs – it added egg yolks and sugar directly to the flour mixture and beat the egg whites to soft peaks, but I had just made a genoise cake the day before and realized that I could be slightly lazy and skip the egg separation step. Seemed to work pretty well.) Gently fold the egg mixture into the flour mixture.

eggs and sugar, foamy

4) Dissolve 1/2 teaspoon baking soda in 1 Tablespoon hot water; add to waffle batter and mix gently.

final waffle batter

5) Add batter to preheated waffle iron and cook to desired level of crispiness. My waffle iron took slighty more than 1/2 cup batter per waffle, and I used a cook time of about 5 minutes per waffle on the highest heat setting. The waffle edges sometimes had an uncooked appearance when there wasn’t enough batter to fill the iron completely; since I was re-toasting my waffles after freezing this was no big deal, but it’s worth making sure the iron is full enough to come in contact with the edges of the waffles when you’re eating them fresh from the iron.

waffle in progress, not enough batter

6) Eat and enjoy! I’ve had these waffles toasted to untra-crispness with butter, with peanute butter and jelly, and the traditional butter and maple syrup (Grade B, for richest flavor). They’re probably the best waffles I’ve made yet – the sourdough flavor works well with the sweet-tartness of the blueberries and adds a depth of flavor that waffles are usually missing.

Blueberry Whole Wheat Waffle

This is my second submission to YeastSpotting, the weekly compendium of blogged breads that is a fantastic source of baking inspiration.