Belgian Waffles for Easter Brunch

I learned something while making these waffles. I learned the difference between a standard American waffle and a Belgian waffle and I thought I'd share that information with you as well. I always thought that Belgian waffles were the same as American waffles just thicker, but that's only part of it. American waffles are raised solely with baking powder while Belgian waffles get their rise from yeast. The yeast also lends a tangy flavor and lightness to the waffle. Since the Belgian waffles are thicker, the grooves are deeper which accomodate all kinds of fruits syrups and sweetened whipped cream.

We've made these waffles several times since discovering them in Williams-Sonoma's Breakfast book. This is also the same cookbook that I found the delicious Sour Cream Coffee Cake. The first time we made them we only made one batch, which didn't last very long. Now when we make them, we double or triple the recipe and freeze the leftovers- they reheat wonderfully in the toaster. You noticed I said "we" right? That's right, Mr. H likes these so much even he helps make them. I heat the wet ingredients and he measures and stirs out the dry. We're a good team when it comes to making waffles.

This is a triple batch of waffles.

One of the things that I like about these waffles, other than the taste, is that most of the prep work is done the night before you make them. Overnight, the yeast mingles with all the other ingredients and does it's thing, making the batter light and airy. In the morning all you have to do is whip up the egg whites and fold it into the batter and breakfast is done in no time. These really are the best waffles I've ever made or eaten. If you try them, I hope you love them as much as we do!

Belgian Waffles from Williams-Sonoma's Breakfast
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• 1 cup all-purpose flour, sifted
• 1 Tablespoon granulated sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon active dry yeast
• 1/2 cup whole milk
• 1/2 cup sparkling mineral water
• 1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted and still warm
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 large egg yolk
• 2 large egg whites
• pinch of cream of tartar

The night before you plan to serve the waffles: In a large bowl. whisk together the flour, granulated sugar, salt and yeast. In a small saucepan over medium-high heat. combine the whole milk and the sparkling water and heat to lukewarm (105 degreesF). Whisk in the melted butter and vanilla. Pour into the dry ingredients and whisk until smooth. Cover tightly and let stand overnight at cool room temperature.

The next morning: Preheat a Belgian waffle iron. Whisk the egg yolk into the batter. In a large clean bowl, using an electric mixer on high speed, beat the egg whites and the cream of tartar until soft peaks form. Thoroughly stir about one-third of the beaten whites into the batter, then fold in the remaining whites, without overmixing.

When the waffle iron is hot, ladle 3/4-1 cup of batter into each waffle section and spread with a wooden spoon so the grids are evenly covered. Close the iron and cook according to the manufacturer's instructions until the waffle exterior is golden brown and the inside is light and springy, 4-5 minutes. (The first waffle may not be perfect. Adjust the amount of batter and cooking time if necessary.)

Keep waffles warm in a low oven. Serve with whipped cream, fresh fruit or maple syrup.

Makes about 2 large waffles.

Happy, happy waffles!

Cinnamon Sugar Love and A Winner

Today I bring you cinnamon swirl raisin bread. I've wanted to make this for Mr. H for years! I'm not sure why I never did, though I think it's because Sun-Maid raisin bread is so much easier to buy. That said, I definitely think that the fresher loaf, toasted and slathered with salted butter was MUCH better. Need proof? Mr. H and I finished off a loaf in two days. I made the mistake of sharing the other loaf with my in-laws. It wasn't a mistake on their behalf because they got to eat it, but we were left wanting more.

I made these loaves of cinnamon swirl raisin bread with Michelle and Ingrid. Neither one of them like raisins so theirs will just be cinnamon swirl, but we really liked the additions of raisins, leave 'em out if you don't. Or you could add dried cranberries or other fruit or nuts if you'd like. I then topped off this warm loaf with melted butter then sprinkled it with even more cinnamon sugar. Delish!

We never tasted the bread fresh out of the oven, so we only had it toasted. It wasn't too sweet, but the cinnamon flavor really came through since it's in the dough, in the center and on top of the bread, creating a nice crunch. It's not a difficult recipe but it does require some time to allow the yeast to do it's job. If you're a fan of breakfasts breads, I'd definitely give this one a try. Don't forget the butter!

Cinnamon Swirl Raisin Bread adapted from BBA

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Mix Time: 20 mins Total Rise Time: 3½ hours Bake Time: 50 mins

For the bread:

• 3½ cups unbleached bread flour
• 4 teaspoons granulated sugar
• 1¼ teaspoons salt
• 2 teaspoons instant yeast
• 1¼ teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 large egg, slightly beaten
• 2 tablespoons shortening, melted or at room temperature
• ½ cup buttermilk or whole milk, at room temperature
• ¾ cup water, at room temperature
• 1½ cups raisins, rinsed and drained

For the cinnamon sugar swirl:

• 1/2 cup Granulated Sugar
• 2 tbsp ground Cinnamon

For the topping:

• 2 tablespoons butter, melted
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 tbsp. ground cinnamon

1. Stir together the flour, sugar, salt, yeast, and cinnamon in a mixing bowl (or in the bowl of an electric mixer). Add the egg, shortening, buttermilk, and water. Stir together with a large spoon (or mix on low speed with the paddle attachment) until the ingredients come together and form a ball. Adjust with flour or water if the dough seems too sticky or too dry and stiff.

2. Sprinkle flour on a counter, transfer the dough to the counter, and begin kneading (or mixing on medium speed, switching to the dough hook). The dough should be soft and pliable, tacky but not sticky. Add flour as you knead (or mix), if necessary, to achieve this texture. Knead by hand for approximately 10 minutes (or by machine for 6 to 8 minutes). Sprinkle in the raisins during the final 2 minutes of kneading (or mixing) to distribute them evenly and to avoid crushing them too much. (If you are mixing by machine, you may have to finish kneading by hand to distribute the raisins evenly.) The dough should pass the windowpane test and register 77 to 81 degrees F. Lightly oil a large bowl and transfer the dough to the bowl, rolling it to coat it with oil. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap.

3. Ferment at room temperature for approximately 2 hours, or until the dough doubles in size.

4. Divide the dough into 2 equal pieces and form them into loaves. Gently press each part out into a rectangle (about 8" by 5") I pressed out my dough into an 8" x 15" rectangle so I could get more of a swirl in the center., with the long side facing you. Sprinkle the cinnamon sugar over one side of the rectangle. Now tightly roll, starting from the long side facing you. Seal the end and place in a loaf pan, seam side down. Repeat for the other rectangle.

5. Place each loaf in a lightly oiled 8½ by 4½-inch pan, mist the tops with spray oil, and cover loosely with plastic wrap.

6. Proof at room temperature for 60 to 90 minutes, or until the dough crests above the lips of the pans and is nearly doubled in size.

7. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F with the oven rack on the middle shelf. Place the loaf pans on a sheet pan, making sure they are not touching each other.

8. Bake the loaves for 20 minutes. Rotate the pan 180 degrees for even baking and continue baking for another 20 to 30 minutes, depending on the oven. The finished breads should register 190 degrees F in the center and be golden brown on top and lightly golden on the sides and bottom. They should make a hollow sound when thumped on the bottom.

9. Immediately remove the breads from their pans. Mix together the granulated sugar and ground cinnamon for the topping in a shallow plate. Brush the tops of the loaves with melted butter as soon as they come out of the bread pans, and then roll them in the cinnamon sugar. Cool loaves on a rack for at least 1 hour, preferably 2 hours, before slicing or serving.

Yield: 2 loaves

Now onto the winner of my giveaway...

Susan In Texas!

Susan was recently laid off and has been filling up her time baking for others. Susan, I hope you bake lots of cakes and continue to provide a "lift" for those who need it. Enjoy your new Anniversary Bundt pan and cake carrier.

Thank you to all of you who entered the contest and who left recipes! I'm so looking forward to making some of those delicious cakes.

A Little Bit Of Everything

Thick Crust. Chewy Interior. I'm talking about No-Knead Bread. I've made this before with rosemary and lemon, but this time I made it with everyone's favorite bagel topping- Everything Spice Blend. It's a combination of garlic, onion, salt, poppy and sesame seeds. This flavors the inside of the bread as well as the top.

This bread was delicious and hearty. It was aromatic and all the different goodies on top give it character. If you've never made no-knead bread, you must. It's very simple and there's minimal effort involved, you just have to plan for it. This recipe takes several hours to complete, but you can throw all the ingredients into a bowl before you go to bed and finish it up the next day. You stir it once, fold it over it's self a few times and let it rest and rise. That's when all those magical bubbles form.

And I baked it in my brand new Le Creuset! I've wanted one for a long time but I refused to pay hundreds of dollars for it. I don't care how good it works, who has that kind of money to blow on a pot? I found this beauty at Tuesday Morning for a third of the price. It's a discontinued color, which I LOVE, and it has a tiny imperfection on the inside so I got an extra discount on it. It's 4.5 qts and retails for about $230, but I got this one for $102. A steal and a gift to myself.

I'd like to dedicate this loaf to my dear friend Janet of From Captain's Daughter To Army Mom. Ever since I told her I made this a couple weeks ago, she's been wanting to see it. Janet, I know you're a big fan of No Knead Bread and you've made it several times, so this is for you! I hope you'll add it to your bread repertoire.

On another note, I finally figured out how to do collages! A few days ago Laura of Hey Mom What's For Dinner? shared with us how to make a header using different pictures. At first I wasn't so interested in creating a new header, then I went to Picnik.com and got hooked! Not only can you make headers, but you can make collages and edit photos. And it's FREE, all you have to do is sign up at Picnik.com. Thanks Laura for showing how easy it is. I made myself a new header and well as for Ingrid- go check it out!

Everything No-Knead Bread adapted from NY Times

• 3 cups all-purpose or bread flour, more for dusting
• ¼ teaspoon instant yeast
• 1¼ teaspoons salt
• 2 Tbsp. Everything Spice, divided (recipe below)
• 1 5/8 cups water
• Flour, cornmeal or wheat bran as needed

1. In a large bowl combine flour, yeast, salt and 1 Tbsp. Everything Spice. Add water and stir until blended; dough will be shaggy and sticky. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let dough rest at least 12 hours, preferably about 18, at warm room temperature, about 70 degrees.

2. Dough is ready when its surface is dotted with bubbles. Lightly flour a work surface and place dough on it; sprinkle it with a little more flour and fold it over on itself once or twice. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rest about 15 minutes.

3. Using just enough flour to keep dough from sticking to work surface or to your fingers, gently and quickly shape dough into a ball. Generously coat a cotton towel (not terry cloth) with flour, wheat bran or cornmeal; put dough seam side down on towel and dust with more flour, bran or cornmeal. Cover with another cotton towel and let rise for about 2 hours. When it is ready, dough will be more than double in size and will not readily spring back when poked with a finger.

4. At least a half-hour before dough is ready, heat oven to 450 degrees. Put a 5- to 8-quart heavy covered pot (cast iron, enamel, Pyrex or ceramic) in oven as it heats. When dough is ready, carefully remove pot from oven. Slide your hand under towel and turn dough over into pot, seam side up; it may look like a mess, but that is O.K. Shake pan once or twice if dough is unevenly distributed; it will straighten out as it bakes. Spritz or brush the top of the dough with water then sprinkle on remaining 1 Tbsp. Everything Spice. Cover with lid and bake 30 minutes, then remove lid and bake another 15 to 30 minutes, until loaf is beautifully browned. Cool on a rack.

Yield: One 1½-pound loaf.

Everything Spice Blend from Appoggiatura

• 4 tsp poppy seeds
• 4 tsp sesame seeds
• 4 tsp dried garlic flakes
• 4 tsp dried onion flakes
• 4 tsp kosher or sea salt

Mix all ingredients together well in a small bowl. Use to liberally top bagels as soon as they emerge from their water bath. Store any leftovers in an airtight container. Will keep up to two months.

It's quite delicious slathered with butter and griddled, then topped with garlic pesto and a slice of muenster cheese. oh man!

Das Ist Gut

Pretzels! Soft pretzels to be exact, or "pretzen" if you're the little boy I nanny for. He loves "pretzen" and he's always asking me if I have any in my purse. Along with cookies or chocolate, sprinkles or marshmallows. ha ha! I did not share these with him but I'm sure he would have loved them.

I got together with the lovely Ingrid of 3 B's- Baseball, Baking Books and Michelle of One Ordinary Day to make these pretzels. Michelle chose this soft pretzel recipe from Alton Brown and they were a winner! Mr. H took his first bite into his cinnamon sugar pretzel and said "to hell with Auntie Anne's". He loved them!

It was helpful to use 2 spatulas to remove them from the water.

They were soft and chewy, yeasty and just so good. They couldn't be simpler either. You whip up the dough in your stand mixer in about 5 minutes then you let it rest and rise for an hour. You shape them, boil them in a solution of water and baking soda for 30 seconds then bake them. In about an hour and a half you can have fresh out of the oven pretzels. Do it.

This is the salt box Mr. H got me for Christmas. I love it! He got it for me since I would keep a pinch bowl on the counter full of kosher salt. This is so much prettier and it keeps my salt clean :-)

I had no problems with these at all and the dough was so buttery soft and a breeze to work with. The recipe makes 8 pretzels so I made half salted with kosher salt and the others were brushed with melted butter and coated in cinnamon sugar. bliss. The only thing I would change next time is to only make half a batch at a time because the next day they were a little tough and a couple made their way to the trash :-( If you plan on eating all 8 in one day then by all means make them all at once.

Salted, Cinnamon Sugar, and Buttered Plain

Homemade Soft Pretzels

from Alton Brown

• 1 1/2 cups warm (110 to 115 degrees F) water
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1 package active dry yeast
• 22 ounces all-purpose flour, approximately 4 1/2 cups
• 2 ounces unsalted butter, melted
• Vegetable oil, for pan
• 10 cups water
• 2/3 cup baking soda
• 1 large egg yolk beaten with 1 tablespoon water
• Pretzel or kosher salt

Combine the water, sugar and kosher salt in the bowl of a stand mixer and sprinkle the yeast on top. Allow to sit for 5 minutes or until the mixture begins to foam. Add the flour and butter and, using the dough hook attachment, mix on low speed until well combined. Change to medium speed and knead until the dough is smooth and pulls away from the side of the bowl, approximately 4 to 5 minutes. Remove the dough from the bowl, clean the bowl and then oil it well with vegetable oil. Return the dough to the bowl, cover with plastic wrap and sit in a warm place for approximately 50 to 55 minutes or until the dough has doubled in size.

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Line 2 half-sheet pans with parchment paper DO NOT USE WAX PAPER- it will smoke! and lightly brush with the vegetable oil. Set aside.

Bring the 10 cups of water and the baking soda to a rolling boil in an 8-quart saucepan or roasting pan.

In the meantime, turn the dough out onto a slightly oiled work surface and divide into 8 equal pieces. Roll out each piece of dough into a 24-inch rope. Make a U-shape with the rope, holding the ends of the rope, cross them over each other and press onto the bottom of the U in order to form the shape of a pretzel. Place onto the parchment-lined half sheet pan.

Place the pretzels into the boiling water, 1 by 1, for 30 seconds. Don't worry, they will sink to the bottom then float back to the top. If they fall apart in the water, just quickly reshape them when you place them back on the parchment. Remove them from the water using a large flat spatula. Return to the half sheet pan, brush the top of each pretzel with the beaten egg yolk and water mixture and sprinkle with the pretzel salt. Bake until dark golden brown in color, approximately 12 to 14 minutes. Transfer to a cooling rack for at least 5 minutes before serving.

Cinnamon Sugar Pretzels: Make and assemble the pretzels as directed above but don't brush them with the egg wash. Leave them plain. When they come out of the oven and are still hot, brush both sides with half a stick of melted butter (for 8 pretzels) and coat in cinnamon sugar.

Be sure to stop by and visit Michelle and Ingrid to see how their pretzels turned out! It was fun baking with you ladies!

Wanna bite?

So easy. So cinnamony. So good.

ETA: I've received a lot of comments asking where they can find cinnamon chips. I found mine at the local grocery store but they can be hard to find. The brand I used are by Hershey's and on their website is a product locator. King Arthur Flour Co. also carries a mini chip version.

Oh my goodness, is this cinnamon bread good! I found it on the King Arthur Four Blog awhile back and it peeked my interest almost immediately. I mean, come on, it's loaded with cinnamon chips and topped with cinnamon sugar. What's not to like? It smelled heavenly too while baking. It was awesome warm right out of the oven and stayed fresh for a couple days. After that it got a little stale but was just as good toasted.

It's a cross between a yeast bread and a quick bread. It does contain yeast but there is no proofing or kneading involved. You just add the instant yeast to the dry ingredients and mix it all together. You do have to let the ball of dough rest for a bit but in that time you can blog a new recipe :-)

The recipe calls for instant yeast but I only had regular yeast so I emailed the KAF customer care people and they got back to me promptly. This was their response, "You can use active dry yeast in almost any recipe calling for instant yeast. You just need to proof it first in some of the liquid from the recipe. You do not need to make any other changes to the recipe. Rise times will depend on the temperature of the dough, and the temperature of the room. It is best to go by the look of the dough, rather than the clock."

That's another thing about KAF that I love because they want you to succeed! They want you to try their recipes and they make sure that the formulas they provide you are going to work. They double and triple check them to be sure what they are providing you is simply the best. And what more can you of a company that has been around since 1790?! The KAF blog- Bakers' Banter- is amazing too and they provide step by step instructions and pictures. Be sure to stop by and what they're baking if you haven't already.

Easy Cinnamon Bread from KAF via Bakers' Banter

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• 3 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons instant yeast
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup warm milk
• 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, melted
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 cup cinnamon chips
• cinnamon-sugar, for topping

In a large bowl, mix together the flour, sugar, yeast, cinnamon and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk together the milk, butter, and egg. Combine the wet and dry ingredients, beating till smooth. Let the batter rest at room temperature for 1 hour, covered, then stir in the baking powder and cinnamon chips.

Spoon the batter into a greased 8 1/2 x 4 1/2-inch loaf pan. Sprinkle the top with the cinnamon-sugar.

Bake the bread in a preheated 350°F oven for 35 to 40 minutes, until it tests done; a cake tester inserted into the center will come out clean. Remove the bread from the oven, let it rest in the pan for 5 minutes, then transfer it from the pan to a wire rack to cool completely.

Yield: 1 loaf

NOTE: Don't slice the bread while it's hot! It'll slice much better when it's completely cool.

While this recipe calls for instant yeast, the good people at KAF say that active dry yeast can be substituted. Just be sure that if you're going to use the active dry yeast that you proof it in the warm milk prior to adding it to the dry ingredients.

This would be a wonderful treat on Christmas morning.

Yeast Rolls In About An Hour. No Really!

I love my KitchenAid. But I don't utilize it as much as I probably should or could. I make 90% of all my recipes in a large mixing bowl with a spoonula (love those things!) or a whisk. Why? Because I think it's easier and that's how I grew up doing things. And because that sucker is heavy and it's hard to tote around the kitchen. And because I hate hand washing the bowl. I feel that way about my Silpats too.

But as soon as I saw this recipe on Erin Cooks, I printed out the recipe then headed to the kitchen to try for myself if in fact the KitchenAid 60-Minute Dinner Roll was really as good as it sounded. Was I done in 60 minutes? It was more like 75 minutes because I let the dough rise a bit longer and because I took time to take pictures, but it was pretty quick for yeast rolls!

The recipe calls for 3 packets of yeast. That's a lot of yeast for one recipe, but that's why it works. It's like yeast bread on steroids and it grows and rises at a rapid rate because there's so much of it, thus reducing the time it takes to rise. There is no kneading the dough by hand. You just mix it in your KitchenAid for a couple minutes, turn it out into a bowl and watch it perform magic.

After 15-20 minutes you cut the dough into 24 pieces to form 24 rolls. I wanted clover-leaf style rolls so I cut each ball into thirds then placed them into the greased muffin tin. I liked this style because there's no need to cut the dough in half at the end. You just break apart the roll and slather them with butter. And kids think they're fun to eat.

These rolls were really great especially for as quick as they were. I brushed them with a little salted melted butter at the end when they came out of the oven, per Erin's suggestion. They were buttery and toasty on the edges and soft in the inside. This made a lot of rolls (24) so we ate what we wanted then froze the rest. They were excellent reheated in the oven and they tasted fresh each time. These would be great for Thanksgiving as well. Spend a little over an hour making these this weekend and have one less this to worry about on Turkey Day!

KitchenAid 60-Minute Dinner Rolls

adapted from Erin Cooks

Makes 24 large cloverleaf dinner rolls

• 1/2 cup low-fat milk
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 3 packages (or 6 3/4 tsps.) of dry active yeast
• 1 1/2 cups warm water (105F – 115F)
• 5 – 6 cups all-purpose flour

In a small saucepan, stir milk, sugar, salt and butter together. Heat over low heat until butter melts and sugar dissolves. Cool until lukewarm.

Dissolve yeast in warm water in warmed mixer bowl. Add lukewarm milk mixture and 4 1/2 cups flour to yeast mixture, and using a dough hook, mix on low speed for about 1 minute. With the mixer still going, add remaining flour, 1/2 cup at a time, and mix about 1 1/2 minutes, or until dough starts to clean the sides of the bowl. Knead on low speed for about 2 more minutes, or until dough is smooth and elastic – the dough will still be slightly sticky to the touch.

Place dough in a greased bowl, turning it to grease the top. Cover the dough with a clean, dry dish towel, and let it rise in a warm place, free from draft, for about 15 minutes (I let mine rise for about 20-22 minutes).

Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface, and divide into 24 equal pieces. Then divide each piece into thirds and roll into balls. Place 3 mini dough balls into each muffin cup. Cover the muffin pan with the dish towel, and let the dough rise for about 15 minutes.

Bake at 425ºF for 12 minutes, or until the rolls are golden brown. Remove from pans immediately, and cool on wire racks. Brush with melted butter if desired.

NOTE: You can also shape the dough into 24 balls and set them into a greased 9x13 baking dish rather than make clover-leaf rolls. If you make the full recipe you will only be able to fit around 12 rolls in the baking dish at a time.

These were especially delicious piping hot out of the oven, slathered with cinnamon honey butter. Oh my goodness my mouth is watering again!