Suikerwafels !!!

Today I got to make WAFFLES. Belgian waffles, or to be precise, Liege Waffles (because they are the sugary ones). The Low Countries Studies class gave 30 students (out of 250) the opportunity to go to the local hotel/chef school to learn how to make traditional Belgian waffles. So I had to get in quick to register!

We had the most fabulous time. The 3rd best chocolateur (from competitions) in Belgium was there to show us how to make them. We split into groups, put on our aprons and hats, and then began to make the dough. First you start with a ring of flour and mix in the egg and milk with your hands, this mixture also has yeast so you have to knead it and let it rise a bit to get that proper doughy texture of the waffle.


Then you have to smear it all over the bench top to knead it!

Then, you add in some special lumps of sugar, knead it some more, let it rise, and voila! you have waffle dough!! (you can even see the lumps of sugar in the photo below - they go nice and crispy and gooey when the waffle is cooked);

Then the dough is cut into little strips to put in the waffle iron. The Iron is about 200 degrees, and you just put the dough on, and shut the lid!


Then when they are cooked (so they are soft on the inside, and crispy on the outside, mmmmm), you take them out! Check out my awesome cooking skills! (We all got a turn cooking our waffles)

Now comes the interesting part, we got to dip our waffles in CHOCOLATE. So, we were shown the proper way to make hot dipping chocolate. It is heated to 50 degrees, then spread out on a cold marble surface to cool it down to a temperature where it will set on the waffle. The chef told us it takes 3 years of training to learn how to control the temperature and structure of the chocolate, these Belgians really know their choc! So he just 'knew' by looking at it, when it reached 28 degrees (which is the exact temperature when the chocolate forms some kind of crystal that makes it set on the waffle properly) and then we were good to go with the dipping. He told us all kinds of interesting stuff, like did you know that Belgium produces most the the world's chocolate? Cacao beans come to Belgium, and it is made to cacao butter in huge factories, and then exported around the world to be made into chocolate? Except for the USA, who apparently do their own. AND also, chocolate is transported in LIQUID form!! Like in tanker trucks!! At 40 degrees! Amazing.



AND we also got to try some famous Belgian hot chocolate milk. The chef makes really nice stuff with real vanilla beans, cardamom beans, and lots of melted chocolate. He showed us how to prepare the vanilla beans etc, and apparently they are very expensive because Coca Cola bought out ALL the vanilla bean plantations to guarantee supply and limit competition for vanilla coke!


And then, the best moment of all, we got to eat our efforts ;) You can see I got chocolate all over my face...


I had so much fun! And I have the recipe too, so if i find a waffle iron, I'll surely be making waffles back home! YUMMM :)