Heavy going

The world-famous Belgian waffle is no exception, as evidenced by the speed at which gourmets and gourmands alike signed up for the Landmark Hotel's Belgian Waffle Cooking Class. "We received 70 bookings in just a few days," says ML Chantanipa Kasemsri, the hotel's communication manager.

The main ingredient of the Belgian waffle is yeast and they taste nothing like the light waffles available here in most ice-cream parlours. This more substantial delight goes well with tea and coffee and you'll enjoy it plain or with fruit as well as with ice-cream.

"It's an 'all times of the day' snack in Belgium. Usually people go to a cafe and order waffles with the beverage of their choice," says the Landmark's general manager Frank Colvyn, a Belgian who started his hotel career as a chef.

Colvyn took time out from his busy schedule recently to demonstrate to food writers how to make the national snack. After a brief introduction to the waffle, Colvyn busied himself at the bowl.

To our surprise, the waffle mixture he starting to make was doughy and not a light liquid.

As he hasn't cooked (except at home) for more than 10 years, Colvyn warned everyone with a grin to beware of things flying through the air while he was busy with the mixer. But while no one was hit by a flying piece of dough or anything else, the table was shaking hard as he added the ingredients to the mixing bowl. Despite the shift to management, Colvyn has kept his culinary skills if the way he mixed, stirred, and massaged the dough is anything to go by.

As the ingredients went into the bowl one after the other, we realised that making Belgian waffles wasn't as easy as we had thought. (In fact, many of the group muttered that we'd be better off making pancakes for the kids.) Most of what the friendly GM told us is easier said than done. Asked how to be certain that the ingredients were sufficiently blended into a dough for rolling, he replied: "you can feel it or you can also go by the clock". However, he did warn that the ingredients and method have to be followed to the letter. Skipping a step or missing something may make the dough too tough, resulting in less than succulent and soft waffles.

But our amicable instructor was encouraging: "Don't worry about making a mess, you can't make good waffles otherwise."

For those less than keen on messing up the kitchen, the best way of enjoying these Belgian bites is visiting the Landmark Hotel and buying them at the hotel's Bakery & Cafe. The authentic Belgian waffles cost Bt25 apiece and from now until the end of December, Bt5 from each piece sold will be donated to Duang Prateep Foundation.

Belgian Plain Waffle

Ingredients

Bread flour 500 grams

Butter 250gm

Trimoline 50gm

Salt 10gm

Yeast 20gm

Sugar 20gm

Eggs 3

Egg yolks 2

Vanilla essence 1 teaspoon

Fresh milk 150ml

Pearl sugar 225g,

Method

l Mix yeast and milk

l Add whole eggs, egg yokes and vanilla essence

l Add Trimoline, salt and sugar in the mixing bowl, add bread flour little by little then add butter. Add pearl sugar.

l Turn the waffle dough into ball shapes (about 80gm each). Put on a tray and cover with plastic film. Allow to rest for three hours.

l Bake waffle for two minutes at 200 degrees Celsius.

Veena Thoopkrajae

The Nation

--------------

Waffle tips

- You can store the dough in the fridge overnight, or for 24 hours maximum.

- Grease waffle irons with some oil or melted butter before baking.

- The pearl sugar is not supposed to be completely melted. Set some side and martially melt it while baking. This ingredient isn't available in supermarkets here but can be purchased at the hotel.

- Make sure you buy a suitable waffle baker. This recipe requires 200 degrees C. A good place to study the various bakers on offer is on the Internet. Type Belgian waffle into your search engine.

- The best way to re-heat Belgian waffles is in a microwave set at medium.