Recently I went to Belgium for a few days, first I went to Bruges and then to Antwerp.

I really liked both cities, for different reasons. Bruges is a bit like a film set, quite surreal with all it’s historic buildings and just so picturesque. Antwerp is much more modern, both in it’s look and even more so it’s attitude. I was lucky to meet some chefs and chocolatiers in both cities and loved trying all their innovative creations.

And one day I also had to have a proper Belgium Waffle, the one that is made from a yeasty dough with crunchy sugar nibs inside and topped with whipped cream, caramelised nuts and strawberries – yummy!

So yummy, I had to learn how to make them as soon as I got back and here’s the receipe I used…

For around 16 waffles you’ll need:

• 500g plain flour
• a pinch of salt
• 20g of vanilla sugar (or a tsp of vanilla essence)
• 3 eggs
• 300g butter, melted
• 1 cube of fresh yeast (a cube here and in Germany is 42g)
• 1/2 cup milk, lukewarm
• 1/2 cup water
• 300g pearl sugar (in Germany it’s called ‘Hagelzucker’ and in English it’s also called ‘nib sugar’ I hear)

Combine the flour, vanilla sugar and pinch of salt in a large bowl. In another small bowl or cup break up the fresh yeast and dissolve the yeast pieces in the lukewarm milk. Add this milk mix, along with the eggs and water to the dry ingredients and whisk everything together for a few minutes until a smooth dough has formed.

Let the dough rise, for an hour, in a warm spot – I wrapped the bowl in a dish towel and covered it with a duvet 🙂 Once the dough has risen, add the pearl sugar and immediately bake the waffles in a waffle iron.

Serve with whipped cream, berries and caramelized hazelnut pieces or whatever else you fancy!