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!
Hi, I cook large quantities of lieges waffles and after making a certain amount, melted butter and caramelized sugar start to overflow. I try to wipe as much as a can before adding more batter, but I am using a regular waffle maker and I was wondering if there is anything I can do…
Thank you in advance!
Shasha,
That’s a very important point you address, especially for all businesses that serve many Liege waffles over the course of a long day. It’s crucial that you work around the mentioned challenges in order for all customers to have the same experience regardless of what time they visit your store.
The Root of The Issue
Liege waffles contain a relatively high amount of butter (about 30%). When the dough sits at room temperature for too long (2-3 hours), the butter starts to eventually liquify and make the dough greasy and loose. Simultaneously, the yeast inside the dough feeds off the pearl sugar and causes it to dissolve.
The Solution to The Issue
1. Divide the dough that you’ve prepared for the day into multiple large batches. Let’s say you prepared 20 lb of dough for 8 hours of operation. Divide your dough into 4 batches of each 5 lb. Keep 3 batches cool in the fridge and one working batch out on the countertop. You will be serving waffles only from the working batch that is out on the countertop. This step will ensure that the butter does not melt on the remaining batches that are in the fridge. As you start to notice that you are running low on dough, you will take the next batch out of the fridge (add the pearl sugar) and continue.
2. You want to only integrate pearl sugar into the working batch that is on the countertop. The remaining batches in the fridge should not contain any pearl sugar. You essentially only have pearl sugar in the amount of dough that is actively needed. You’ll add pearl sugar to the next batch of dough once you are ready to take it out of the fridge. This will resolve the issue of the pearl sugar dissolving on you.
3. Keep your dough as large batches and don’t prepare dough balls. This helps to maintain a more constant temperature of your dough as a whole. The individual small dough balls will be more susceptible to temperature changes. Think of the dough like ice cream. Keep the dough preferably in a stainless steel tub and scoop out the dough when the customer comes to order. You can use a standard sized dough scooper to scoop out 3.5 – 4 oz of dough each time. This will keep the temperature of your dough more constant and help safe you time and labor since you don’t have to form individual dough balls.
The Solution to The Solution
Let’s say about two hours have passed and you have only gone through half of your first batch of dough. Your dough is starting to loosen and your pearl sugar starts to dissolve.
4. At this point your next step is to go ahead and par-bake all your remaining dough. Let’s say your cast iron Liege waffle maker takes three minutes to bake a waffle fully. Go ahead and bake all your waffles half way through by baking them for only 1 1/2 minutes. This is like pulling the handbrake on the butter and yeast in order to maintain the consistency of the dough and the pearl sugar. You can keep the par-baked waffles on the countertop until the next customer comes, at which point you are going bake the waffles with your iron for the second half. You’ll be surprised how effective and qualitative this method is. Many of our customers who are in high foot traffic environments (think of shopping malls) like to use this method to efficiently deal with high number of customers. Once you’ve finished serving all the par-baked waffles, you are going to take the next batch of dough out of the fridge and continue as normal.
I hope this helps answer your question. Please let us know if you continue to have any issues or require more help.
Your Waffle Pantry team
I received your Waffle Mix and Pearl Sugar for Christmas and they are amazing! I was wondering if the dough can be made and put in the refrigerator overnight so I can make waffles first thing in the morning?
Hi Samantha!
We are glad to hear that you enjoyed our Liege waffle mix.
You can certainly prepare the dough ahead of time and store it for later use. The key is not to add the pearl sugar to the dough until the day of baking. Otherwise, the yeast will feed of the pearl sugar and dissolve it.
If you intend to store the dough for up to 24 hours the fridge will do just fine. For anything longer than 24 hours we recommend using the freezer. If you do use the freezer, just remember to take the dough out on the night before you intend to bake it and move it to the fridge. This will have the advantage that you won’t have to wait for the dough to thaw in the morning. In the morning, need the pearl sugar into the dough and you are ready to go.
Please let us know if you have any further questions, and as always Happy Baking!
Your Waffle Pantry team
for how long you can keep the dough in the fridge without the pearls?
Hi Juan,
We don’t typically recommend leaving the dough in the fridge for any longer than 24 hours. Else, the yeast begins to over ferment and change the odor and taste of it. If you like to store the dough any longer, please store the dough in the freezer.
Your Waffle Pantry team
Hi there, we attempt to make these annually. The one thing we struggle with the most is cleaning or preventing the burnt sugar left over in the iron. We have a very deep iron and it’s nearly impossible to clean, especially between each waffle. Do you have any tips?
Hi Shon,
Try using a moist fiber towel in combination with a utensil like our waffle iron scraper. Moist fiber towels have the advantage of being very heat resistant. Our waffle iron scraper has a triangular tip which fits perfectly between the teeth of the plates. Wrap the moist fiber towel around the scraper and swipe it between the teeth of the iron. After each batch check for any caramelized spots of pearl sugar and try to immediately attend to it before it burns. It is at this moment in time that the caramelized sugar will most easily stick to the moist fiber towel and come off. The continuous and precautionary care will not allow the sugar to build up.
Please let us know if you have any further questions or need more help. We wish you a Happy New Year!
Your Waffle Pantry team
Mix potato starch with water to mix a paste. Add to waffle iron and bake for a couple of minutes. Repeat if necessary.
By the way, there’s no need to butter or spray your waffle iron as there’s enough fat in the dough. They won’t stick.
My dough is not rising, how to fix it? Does putting another yeast will ruin the recipe? Thanks
Daine,
What kind of yeast did you use in your recipe? The underlying issue could vary depending on whether you used active dry yeast, instant yeast or fresh yeast. For example fresh yeast needs to be pre-activated with warm water, while too hot water could kill the yeast. Instant dry yeast does not require pre-activation and can instead be combined with all the other dry ingredients. In this case, one could try to add a bit of sugar to help activate the instant dry yeast. Otherwise, high elevation or cool room temperature could be another reason to why your yeast isn’t rising. As you can see, there are many factors to consider and it would helpful if you could provide us more information.
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
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
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
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
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
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
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’.
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!
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.
Thanks…. you can always help us with your tips
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 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!