If you thought that waffles and waffles are the same, you are wrong. We reveal the differences between these two typical sweets so that the next time they are put in front of you you do not confuse them.
Ideal for breakfast or snacks, waffles and waffles have evolved over time to become one of the favorite components of a Sunday breakfast. Very easy to prepare if we have a good recipe on hand, any of them are a fantastic option to give ourselves a sweet treat made at home in an artisanal way. Of course, although they may seem the same at first glance due to their similar shape, we assure you that waffles and waffles are not the same, and these irresistible sweets differ from each other in more than one aspect.
What are waffles
Waffles are sweets made from dough baked on a special iron griddle with a honeycomb surface. This griddle allows the dough to cook evenly and crisply, giving this sweet that peculiar texture: crispy on the outside and soft on the inside.
Waffles can be served with all types of sweet ingredients, whether liquid such as maple syrup, chocolate, or caramel, as well as solid ones such as chocolate chips, nuts, or fruits. Likewise, American waffles can be served with all types of salty foods such as eggs, bacon, avocado…
What are waffles?
Waffles are typical Belgian sweets prepared with a light dough that is baked in a special mold made up of two iron plates. These iron plates, in addition to cooking the dough so that it is crispy on the outside and spongy on the inside, give it its characteristic grid shape.
When eating them, they can be served sprinkled with icing sugar, hot chocolate, or different fruit or caramel syrups, as well as whipped cream. Although it is not so common, they can be served in the same way with salty foods such as cream cheese, smoked salmon, eggs…
Waffles and waffles: what are the differences?
Although they are similar in appearance, waffles and waffles are not exactly the same sweet, since they vary in such important aspects as the ingredients that make them up, their origin as well as their shape and texture.
Ingredients: yeast vs chemical yeast
The first striking difference between these two sweets is in one of their main ingredients. Although waffles and waffles have most of the ingredients in common in the different recipes that we can find, one of them is prepared with baker’s yeast and the other uses chemical yeast. This small difference makes the results after baking both different in terms of texture.
To prepare typical waffles, ingredients such as flour, eggs, milk, butter, sugar, and baking powder are used, which when mixed result in a homogeneous dough ideal for baking in traditional molds.
For their part, waffles are made with a dough made with flour, milk, sugar, eggs, butter, and, unlike waffles, with baker’s yeast. The mixture of these ingredients results in a light and uniform dough perfect for baking on their corresponding plates at high temperatures.
Origin: waffles are Belgian, waffles are American
Originating in the United States, waffles are generally served for breakfast topped with butter and maple syrup. They are characterized by having a crunchy texture on the outside and tender inside that can also be accompanied by salty ingredients.
Waffles, on the other hand, originated in Belgium in the Middle Ages as a religious food for the faithful. Although in the beginning, they had a different shape since they were made of thin, round wafers with religious motifs, over the years their design changed until they acquired their current shape similar to a grid. In the beginning, the plate designs showed the owner’s coat of arms, landscapes or different religious motifs. These waffles were often handed out sprinkled with sugar or sweetened with honey.
From square and light waffle to round and dense waffle
Round in shape and large in size, waffles are usually divided into quarters, forming in the end a typical sweet of North American pastries with a circular shape and about 18 centimeters in diameter. Due to the use of chemical yeast, they tend to be denser and fluffier on the inside as well as softer on the outside.
For their part, traditional waffles originating in Belgium are rectangular in shape, measuring approximately 6.5 x 11 centimeters. They tend to have a somewhat lighter texture and a thin, crisp exterior due to the use of baker’s yeast used to make the dough.
Hole depth
Although perhaps at first glance we do not differentiate the depth of the holes in each of these sweets, the truth is that it is another of the differences between waffles and waffles.
While waffles are characterized by having deeper holes that allow the stagnation of the different liquid ingredients that we want to accompany them with, waffles, for their part, are made up of narrower holes that promote the circulation of the liquid ingredient through the different little squares that make it up.
Waffles will retain more liquid products, being somewhat stronger as a whole, while waffles will accept these products in a smaller quantity, thus resulting in a lighter dessert.