The history of this delightful food starts in ancient Greece as obelios, flat, crisp cakes cooked between two metal plates thrust into the embers of a fire. Later, some version of wafer, waffle, gaufre found its way through Europe to the Americas, Asia, and beyond. Early waffle irons had symbols, crests, coats of arms, or the familiar crosshatch pattern in various sizes and styles.
The Pilgrims learned about waffles during their stopover in Holland and brought them along to the New World. Much later, Thomas Jefferson brought an iron waffle baker back from France as a culinary souvenir and, as president, hosted several waffle parties at the White House, from which a nationwide waffle craze ensued.
While various savory waffle dishes have had a heyday - such as waffles and kidney stew, and waffles and fried chicken - most waffles are enjoyed with something sweet.
I grew up loving waffle sundaes. The combination of a warm buttermilk waffle with ice cream and chocolate sauce was an exhilarating riff on breakfast food for the then-6-year-old me.
Now, my sweet tooth is sated by rich, chewy, Belgian-style sugar waffles. The sweet yeast dough is similar to brioche, with nuggets of special pearl sugar mixed in.
These sugar bits melt while baking and create a distinctive crunchy, sweet, syrupy interior. As pockets of sweetness, Belgian waffles need no toppings. Eat them out of hand, or off a plate, with morning coffee, or at room temperature with afternoon tea. They pack well for road trips and school snacks.
Like other yeast doughs, Belgian waffles need time to rise, so unless you get up very early, make this dough the night before.
