Bread Starter Waffles

Like a microbial cultural anthropologist, I've continued to try to study the habits of my bread starter. And like my co-instructors, I've been wondering what to do with all the leftover starter generated by a regular regimen of diluting my culture into fresh flour paste. Great minds think alike and so, like them, I resorted to breakfast fare; in their cases pancakes of one kind and another, in my case waffles. I started with a sourdough waffles recipe from King Arthur Flour, which I melded with these yeasted buckwheat waffles from Deborah Madison. The dough made with the starter had significantly more integrity than those I had made with an overnight sponge from commercial yeast, and the waffles had a more complex, tangy taste that paired nicely with tart, stewed rhubarb and fresh strawberries. I'm thinking that it might work well to keep my culture growing slowly in the refrigerator during the week and revive it on the weekends for bouts of bread baking and breakfasts. The microbes in my culture are likely studying me as well and learning to understand the habits of their human cohabitants who dash out of the house five mornings a week and lounge around the other two.

Bread Starter Buckwheat Waffles

(makes about 6 waffles in a Belgian waffle iron)

overnight sponge
1 cup sourdough starter, unfed
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1 cup buckwheat flour
1 tablespoon honey
2 cups buttermilk

waffle or pancake batter
all of the overnight sponge
2 large eggs
1/4 cup vegetable oil or melted butter
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda

1. To make the overnight sponge, stir down your refrigerated starter, and remove 1 cup. In a large mixing bowl, stir together the 1 cup starter, flour, honey, and buttermilk. Cover and let rest at room temperature overnight.

2. The next morning, finish the bater. In a small bowl or mixing cup, beat together the eggs, and oil or butter. Add to the overnight sponge. Add the salt and baking soda, stirring to combine. The batter will bubble.

3. Pour batter onto your preheated, greased waffle iron, and bake according to the manufacturer's instructions.

Serving suggestion: a dollop of plain yogurt, a drizzle of stewed rhubarb, fresh strawberries, and maple syrup.

Yeasted Buckwheat Waffles with Rhubarb Compote

For my birthday this year, I received several wonderful cooking-related gifts, including Deborah Madison's new cookbook Vegetable Literacy. Not only is this book brimming with delicious recipes, but it's organized taxonomically, perfect for a biologist. This structure reveals some surprising kinships and ingredient affinities. I learned, for example, that sorrel, rhubarb, and buckwheat, are all members of the Polygonaceae or knotweed family. Suddenly a compote of new spring rhubarb and the end of last season's frozen strawberries seemed like the perfect topping for Madison's yeasted buckwheat waffles.

I'd never made yeasted waffles before because the timing seemed tricky for breakfast, but Madison's recipe recommends an overnight ferment, which produces a pillowy and flavorful base that is quickly finished while the waffle iron warms. The yeast's transformative power sweetens and lightens the whole grain batter, and the delicious yeasty smells that fill the kitchen while the waffles cook is itself worth the effort of a little mixing the night before. Also worth making ahead is a pot of rhubarb and strawberry compote. Draping this assertive pseudo fruit over its smoky pseudo grain cousin turns out to be a match of botanical and culinary harmony.

Yeasted Buckwheat Waffles

from Deborah Madison's Vegetable Literacy
(best started the night before)

1 package (2 1/4 tsp) active dry yeast
1/4 cup warm water
2 cups milk, just warmed (or use buttermilk)
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 1/2 cup white whole wheat pastry or spelt flour (I used Lonesome Whistle's red fife)
1 cup buckwheat flour (I used Lonesome Whistle's buckwheat)
2 Tbsp honey
5 Tbsp butter, melted, or sunflower seed oil
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 tsp baking soda

1. If proofing overnight, combine the yeast and warm water and let sit for 10 minutes. Put the milk and salt in a large bowl, add the yeast, then whisk in the flours. Cover and refrigerate overnight if the weather is warm, or leave out on the counter if it is cool. The next morning, stir in the honey, butter, eggs, and baking soda.

If proofing for two hours, combine all the ingredients in a large bowl, mixing well. Cover the bowl and leave in a warm spot for two hours. 

2. When ready to cook, give the batter a stir. Heat the waffle iron. When the iron is ready, spoon the batter onto the grid and close the lid. When the waffle is done remove it from the iron with a fork and serve right away with rhubarb strawberry compote (recipe below) and maple syrup.

Leftover batter will keep for several days in the refrigerator. This batter can also be used to make buckwheat blini.

Rhubarb Strawberry Compote

(can prepare the night before)

4 slender or 2 large stalks rhubarb
1/2 cup frozen strawberries
1/4 cup sugar, or to taste
1/4 cup water

Rinse and trim the rhubarb and chop into 1 inch pieces. Combine all the ingredients in a small saucepan over medium heat and simmer for about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the fruit has cooked down to a soft consistency. Taste and add more sugar if desired. If made ahead, rewarm before serving.

Rye Waffles with Clementine Syrup

Waking up last Saturday to an unexpected dusting of snow on top of the tulips called for a cozy waffle breakfast. And with plenty of rye flour from our Lonesome Whistle Farm CSA, I thought I would experiment with rye waffles, along with the trick of using corn starch in the batter for an extra crispy outside.

We often turn to our freezer chest of summer berries and peaches for waffle topping, but on this wintery morning, I thought I would use some seasonal clementines quickly warmed in maple syrup.

The rye flour gave the waffles a pleasant tartness, whipped egg whites kept them etherial, and the corn starch trick worked for crispiness. The clementine syrup, drizzled over a dollop of yogurt and a sprinkle of toasted almonds, had the taste of sunshine. And the smell of waffles lingered in the kitchen all morning, outlasting the snow.

Rye Waffles with Clementine Syrup
(makes about 6 waffles)

waffle batter 
3/4 cup soft white winter wheat flour
3/4 cup rye flour
1/2 cup corn starch
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
pinch of salt
2 cups buttermilk
2 eggs, separated
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 Tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract


for topping
plain yogurt
slivered almonds, toasted
clementines (about 1 per person)
maple syrup (about 2 Tbsp per person)


1. Combine the dry ingredients (flours, cornstarch, leaveners, and salt). Whisk together the buttermilk, egg yokes, vegetable oil, brown sugar, and vanilla extract. Combine the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, but do not over mix. At this point you should let the batter sit for at least 30 minutes to allow the cornstarch to cross link gluten in the flour, which will give the crispiness to the waffles.


2. Prepare the clementine syrup. Peal the clementines, slice them to bifurcate the sections, and separate them. In a small saucepan, combine the clementine pieces and the maple syrup and heat just until small bubbles start to form on the edge of the pan. Turn off and reserve for serving. Toast the almond slivers and reserve.


3. To finish the waffle batter, beat the egg whites until stiff. Fold these into the batter. 


4. Heat a waffle iron and cook the waffles. Store them in a 200 degree oven or eat them immediately as the come off the waffle iron, topped with a dollop of yogurt, a sprinkle of toasted almond slivers, and the clementine syrup.

Other recipes for locally grown grains

Creamy Barley Risotto with Dandelion Greens

Barley Risotto with Grilled Vegetables

Barley Stuffed Cabbage

Barley and Cranberry Bean Soup with Kale

Barley and Root Vegetable Salad

Barley and Braised Cabbage with a Fried Egg

Buckwheat Blini

Buckwheat Crepes

Gluten-Free Waffles

Quinoa Salad with Roasted Beets and Kale

Swedish Rye Cookies

Swedish Rye Knäckebröt

Teff Grain and Ricotta Pancakes with Apple Topping

Wheatberry Tabbouleh with Green Beans and Feta

Wheatberries with Snap Peas

Gluten-free Waffles

In anticipation of a house guest on a gluten-free diet, I had stocked up on some wheat alternatives from Camas Country Mill: buckwheat and teff flour. It's important to note that because these grains were processed in a mill that also processes wheat, they are not suitable for someone with a severe gluten intolerance. For local grain enthusiasts in need of strict gluten-free grains, the Willamette Seed and Grain Project in Tangent is planning a gluten-free mill. Last weekend I experimented with gluten-free waffles.

Waffles are a favorite weekend breakfast in our household (doesn't everyone have a Belgium waffle maker, since it lies at the perfect sweet spot in the wedding gift spectrum between too stingy and too extravagant?). Lately I've been feeling a little bored with the standard white flour variety. These teff and buckwheat variants are still light and airy, but with a much more distinctive flavor.

With the heft from the teff and hint of sourness from the buckwheat, these waffles are a delicious receptacle for sweet fresh fruit, such as berries and diced peaches. We had recently gone strawberry picking at Evonuk’s on Seavey Loop, but gotten sidetracked with a picnic at Mount Pisgah, and by the time we got home, most of the strawberries were half baked. To salvage the mushiest, we pureed them in the blender and frozen the strawberry sauce in small ziplock bags, which proved to be a perfect aliquot for drizzling on waffles, along with a splash of maple syrup. We'll definitely be making these waffles again, even without the excuse of a gluten-free guest.

Gluten-free Waffles

1 3/4 cups buttermilk
2 eggs, separated
2 Tbsp neutral oil, such as grape seed
1 cup teff flour
3/4 cup buckwheat flour
1 Tbsp brown sugar
4 tsp baking powder
1 pinch salt
butter for the waffle iron
Fresh fruit and maple syrup for serving


1. Mix together the buttermilk, egg yokes, and oil.


2. In a separate bowl, mix together the flours, sugar, baking powder, and salt.


3. Beat the egg whites into stiff peeks.


4. Gently mix the dry ingredients into the wet. Fold in the egg whites.


5. Heat a waffle iron and grease with a little butter. Ladle in batter and cook waffle.  Serve warm with fresh fruit and maple syrup. Makes about 5 waffles.