Waffle

A waffle is a food item made from a batter or dough, usually leavened, that is cooked between two patterned plates, giving it a distinct size, shape, and surface design. The type of waffle iron and recipe used create many variations. Waffles are consumed globally, especially in Belgium, where over a dozen regional types exist. They can be made fresh or reheated after being commercially produced and packaged fresh or frozen.

Etymology

The word "waffle" entered English in 1725, appearing in a recipe: "Waffles. Take flower, cream...." It comes directly from Dutch, which traces back to Middle Dutch. The Middle Dutch term is first recorded near the end of the 13th century, but an earlier French version appears in 1185. Both originate from the Frankish word for "honeycomb" or "cake." Other historical spellings across Europe include waffe, wafre, wafer, wâfel, waufre, iauffe, gaufre, goffre, gauffre, wafe, waffel, wåfe, wāfel, vaffel, and våffla.

Medieval origins

In ancient times, Greeks cooked flat cakes called obelios between hot metal plates. As these cakes—made from flour, water or milk, and often eggs—spread through medieval Europe, they became known as wafers and were cooked over open fire between long-handled iron plates.

Waffles were preceded in the early Middle Ages, around the 9th–10th centuries, by the simultaneous emergence of communion wafer irons and wafer irons. Communion wafer irons typically depicted Jesus and his crucifixion, while wafer irons showed simpler biblical scenes or emblematic designs. These irons were almost always round and much larger than communion irons.

The oublie, in its basic form, was made only from grain flour and water, like the communion wafer. Not until the 11th century, when the Crusades introduced new ingredients to Western Europe, were flavorings like orange blossom water added to oublies; however, local honey and other flavorings may have been used earlier. Oublies spread across northwestern continental Europe, leading to the formation of the oublieurs guild in 1270. Oublieurs/obloyers produced not only oublies but also other light pastries, including the waffles that later emerged.

14th–16th centuries

In the late 14th century, the first known waffle recipe appeared in an anonymous manuscript written by a husband instructing his young wife. It technically contains four recipes, all variations of the first: beat eggs in a bowl, season with salt, add wine, toss in flour, and mix. Then fill two irons at a time with paste the size of a slice of cheese, close the iron, and cook both sides.

If the dough sticks, coat the iron with a cloth soaked in oil or grease. The other variations describe placing cheese between two batter layers, grating cheese into the batter, or omitting cheese and eggs. This recipe, however, was a waffle in name only, as it contained no leavening.

Though some suggest waffle irons appeared in the 13th–14th centuries, a true physical distinction between oublies and waffles did not evolve until the 15th century. While a recipe like the fourth in the manuscript—flour, salt, and wine—was indistinguishable from common oublie recipes, a new shape emerged in many irons. Newly fashioned ones were rectangular, taking the form of the fer à hosties, and some circular oublie irons were cut down to rectangles. During this period, the classic grid motif appeared clearly in a French fer à oublie and a Belgian wafelijzer, though shallowly engraved, setting the stage for the deeper grids that became common in Belgium.

By the 16th century, paintings by Pieter Bruegel and others clearly depict the modern waffle form. Bruegel’s work shows waffles being cooked and fine details of individual waffles, with a large 12x7 grid and cleanly squared sides, suggesting a thin batter similar to contemporary Brussels waffles. The earliest 16th-century waffle recipe, from the Dutch KANTL 15 manuscript, is the second-known waffle recipe after the four variants in the earlier manuscript. For the first time, partial measurements were given, sugar was used, and spices were added directly to the batter: take grated white bread, an egg yolk, a spoonful of pot sugar or powdered sugar, half water and half wine, and ginger and cinnamon.

Attributed to either the 16th or 17th century, a recipe from the Belgian Een Antwerps kookboek was the first to use leavening (beer yeast): take white flour, warm cream, fresh melted butter, and yeast, and mix until the flour is no longer visible. Then add ten or twelve egg yolks.

Those who want a cheaper version may add egg whites and milk. Let the dough rise by the fireplace for four hours before baking. Until this time, no recipes contained leavening, so the dough could therefore be baked without rising.