Belgian Waffles

Gluten is the enemy of all waffles and pancakes.   My boss taught me this, and after trying a number of things, I am utterly convinced that the best waffles and pancakes ever made are gluten free.  Why?  Because the gluten tries to hold the dough together too much, making it harder for the baking soda to make those bubbles that keep them light and fluffy.

I encourage you to make GF waffles and pancakes whether you are a gluten free person or not, because trust me, this is one area where gluten free foods trump all regular foods.

We use the recipe on the back of the Ener-G tapioca flour box for our waffles, and adapt it for pancakes.  The real key here is the buttermilk.  You need an acidic environment in order for the baking soda to work its bubbly magic, and the buttermilk is the way to do this.  If you don’t have buttermilk, you could probably try it with regular milk (using less because buttermilk is so thick) and using baking powder instead (since baking powder has other ingredients to do the same thing with the acidity), but trust me, just use the buttermilk.

Separating and beating the eggs, however, is unnecessary.  I have yet to find a noticeable difference in the fluffy-ness after beating the egg whites.  I just don’t think it matters in this instance.

One other thing – do NOT use brown rice flour in an attempt to be healthier.  You have to use white rice flour, or the batter will be so runny you won’t be able to control it.

The recipe from Ener-G makes 2 very large very yummy belgian waffles

And then of course top your waffles with maple syrup, jam of your choice (I used blueberry preserves here), and a little bit of butter (don’t worry, this butter was for the two of us, but a melty globule of butter didn’t seem like it’d take as pretty a photo).

For pancakes however, we alter the recipe, by adding in 1/4 cup of a liquid in order to make the batter a bit runnier.  We’ve used maple syrup, OJ, or honey with the best success this way.  My favorite is adding in the maple syrup because well, I’m a New England girl at heart still, and there is nothing better than rich REAL maple syrup to make any meal instantly transform into relaxing comfort food