Ever since I’ve been beating egg whites (age 10) I’ve been letting them get to room temperature or warmer because I read in a cookbook or saw on a cooking show (probably Julia Child, although I just watched several YouTube episodes of the French Chef and could not find one where she says this) that they achieve more volume when not cold. Last year, when I was perfecting Japanese cheesecakes (recipe on this site, a few posts ago) I read that the Japanese beat egg whites cold because the air bubbles are smaller, producing a more refined finished product. Since then I’ve been experimenting, and I gotta say I prefer the cold method. 58 years of “wisdom” overturned. More (immediate) volume is not beneficial if it doesn’t ultimately make the product better.
What else have I changed after so many years? I’ve stopped fussing over punctuation, trying to turn off my OCD tendencies, although I still notice typos everywhere, most recently in a book about Paris by Elaine Sciolino, where one paragraph mentions a Klee painting and the next paragraph, about the same painting, calls it a Miro. That was a most interesting typo, because it told me that the name of the painter didn’t matter, either because she couldn’t remember or made up the anecdote.
Anyway, here’s a recipe I’ve been fooling with for 20 years or so. The inspiration came from Marion Cunningham’s yeast-raised waffles, but mine are a different thing entirely because they are gluten-free and contain a heaping cup of ground flaxseeds. I have used sourdough starter, but I prefer yeast here. My recipe is forgiving and adaptable. You can substitute non-dairy milk, for instance, or different kinds of flour. I’ll post Cunningham’s recipe below, so you can see how my thinking has changed. I gradually altered the kind of flour, cut the butter, then eliminated gluten entirely. Recall that before chemical leavening, folks used only yeast and egg whites. Note also that there’s no sugar in the recipe–the yeast are fed by the flour. The waffles could also be part of a savory menu. (Aside: The elderly couple I cooked for while in high school liked creamed chipped beef over toast, containing probably a whole day’s sodium. In Switzerland, the hotel where I worked had bundnerfleisch (air dried beef) on the menu. Does anyone in the US still eat chipped beef? )
You may, of course, drench the waffles in maple syrup or cover them with berries.
Flaxseeds, if you don’t know, are wonderfully good for you. They are loaded with protein, fiber, and omega 3 fatty acids, plus vitamins and minerals including thiamine, magnesium, manganese, copper, and zinc. How much healthier can you get?
This recipe makes 5-6 four-part waffles, serving 4-6 people. The baked waffles can be refrigerated (air tight) for a week or frozen for longer storage. Reheat on low (300 F) in a toaster oven.
2 cups whole milk
1 Tbs. dry yeast
1 cup buckwheat flour (I use sprouted)
1 tsp salt
1 cup flaxseeds, ground (the golden variety has a milder flavor) (I use a small electric coffee grinder)
6 eggs, separated
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
The waffle maker, if you’re wondering, is almost as old as I am, inherited from my mother and still going strong. I spray the plates generously with cooking oil spray, which contributes to the crispness of the waffles. If you want your waffles even crisper, you can add sugar and melted butter to the batter.
- Dissolve the yeast in the milk, then whisk in the buckwheat flour. If you have ascorbic acid (vitamin C), add a pinch, because yeast like it. (Their growth is retarded by salt, so don’t be tempted to add the salt now.) Let the mixture rise for about 45 minutes (or overnight in the refrigerator) until about doubled.
- Whisk in the ground flaxseeds, salt, and egg yolks. The batter will immediately thicken–that’s another reason why flaxseeds are good for you–they are a hydrocolloid, high in mucilaginous gum that thickens liquids.
- Whip the egg whites with 1/2 tsp cream of tartar (the acid stabilizes them), then fold the whipped egg whites into the flax-buckwheat-egg yolk batter.
Natasha Saje 