The World's Best Waffle Recipe

Friends, foodies, fellow Steemers, I bring glad news: I have created the greatest waffle recipe on the planet.

"What?" you say. "Aren't you the game theory guy? The guy who picks apart arcane C++ code for fun? The nerdy dude who starts arguments with anarchists and is trying to buy a kayak? What's all this about waffles?"

Why yes, I am. I am all those things, and I am also an amateur waffle chef. And today, I am going to share with you a little piece of heaven. People, I present to you Philip's Spectacularly Light, Fluffy, and Crispy (despite being 100% whole grain) Sourdough Waffles.

Ingredients

• 8 oz sourdough starter (don't have sourdough starter? maybe I have a solution for you! read on!)
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 cup old fashioned rolled oats
• 1 cup water
• 3 eggs
• 3 tbsp oil (soybean, canola, refined olive, coconut oil, butter - whatever)
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1/4 cup plain yogurt
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• Flax seeds for decoration and tastiness

The Night Before, we make the sponge

This recipe results in such incredible goodness that you have to plan ahead just a little bit. The night before (or about 8 hours in advance), put the sourdough starter, the whole wheat flour, the oats, and the water in a big bowl and mix them well so there are no dry spots. Make sure your bowl has lots of extra room, because this will about double in size overnight! It should look like this:

Overnight, the magic little critters in the starter will eat and eat and eat and make carbon dioxide, and by morning, your stuff will look like a sponge:

Note: If you don't have sourdough starter, you don't have to start the night before. I have not tested this, but here's what I'd try: instead of the starter, mix a cup of flour with a half cup of water, and add a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar. Then mix everything else in and carry on with the recipe. Your batter won't ferment, so there's no need to let it sit overnight, but the baking soda will still react with the vinegar and you'll get (hopefully) fluffy waffles.

On the Magical Morning, we mix the batter

Now that we have our sponge, we'll start mixing stuff in. You can add all the rest of the ingredients now, except the baking soda. It won't ruin it to add the baking soda now, but you'll be a little better off if you wait. So: add the eggs, oil, milk, yogurt, and salt:

And mix it all up real good (I do this by hand, but you'll probably be fine if you use a stand mixer or power mixer or some such gadget):

Now that your ingredients are mixed up, get your waffle iron all ready to go. You don't have to turn it on yet, but make sure you're ready to. Get your oil all ready to brush or spray on to the iron, and open your container of flax seeds (or whatever nuts you like) so you're ready to sprinkle them on.

Now, add the baking soda. Sprinkle it on and mix it in quickly and thoroughly. Within a few seconds, the baking soda will react with the acid from the sourdough, and your batter will start to fizz:

Turn your waffle iron on, and grease it. I like to use virgin coconut oil for this; I melt a blob of it into the center of the iron and then use a brush to spread it all around (top and bottom):

Pour some batter into the iron (make sure to scoop from the bottom of your batter bowl, because the oats tend to sink); my iron takes just a bit less than 1 cup of batter. Make sure it spreads all around, then sprinkle your flax seeds (or whatever nuts you like, or nothing) on the top of the batter, close the iron, flip it (if it's that kind of iron), and wait. You want to go from empty iron to closed iron pretty quickly.

Depending on your iron and your altitude and your exact mix of batter, your cooking time will vary. I cook my waffles for about 4 minutes. You should try variations of this and see what you like. When it's done, open it up, and voila:

Transfer it to a cooling rack, and enjoy!

Tips on enjoying

• Butter and maple syrup
• Sliced strawberries
• Peanut butter
• Cashew butter (this is one of my favorites)
• Put leftover waffles in the fridge, and warm them up in the toaster!