Easy Homemade Waffles

Waffles are a café thing for most people, but they are straightforward at home — and you do not strictly need a waffle iron.

Separating the eggs is what makes the difference here. Whipped whites folded into the batter give you a waffle that is crisp outside and light inside, rather than dense like a pancake.

Makes 4 to 6

Ingredients

3 eggs
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup milk
1/4 cup sunflower oil
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon salt

Method

Separate the eggs, whites in one bowl, yolks in another.

Add the salt to the whites and whip them — about 3 to 5 minutes with a mixer — until they hold soft peaks. Glossy and thick, but not stiff and dry.

Set them aside.

Beat the yolks with the sugar until pale and thick.

Add the milk, oil and vanilla and mix.

Fold in the flour and baking powder until just combined. Stop as soon as the flour disappears.

Now add the whipped whites — and fold, do not stir.

Cut down through the middle with a spatula, sweep around the side of the bowl, turn the bowl a quarter turn, repeat. Add the whites in two batches. The air you beat into them is the whole reason you separated the eggs, and stirring drives it straight back out.

Stop while the batter still looks slightly streaky. Perfectly uniform means you went too far.

Cook

Preheat the waffle iron and brush it lightly with oil.

Pour in the batter and cook for 3 to 5 minutes, until golden and crisp. Resist opening the iron early — the waffle has to set before it will release, and pulling it apart halfway is how they tear.

No waffle iron? Use a nonstick pan with an oiled ring mould, or cook it as a thick pancake over medium-low heat. You will not get the grid, but the texture holds.

Serve

Straight from the iron. Waffles soften within a couple of minutes as their own steam works back into them.

If you are cooking a batch, hold them on a wire rack in a low oven — never stacked on a plate, where they steam each other soft.

Toppings

Fresh fruit is the classic: strawberries, banana, whatever is in season.

Chocolate sauce, caramel, a dusting of powdered sugar, or a scoop of ice cream in summer.

Chef’s note

Make the batter and use it. Whipped whites start deflating immediately, and batter that sits for twenty minutes bakes flat.