Stage 1 – Belgian Waffle Batter, Part Un

1. Activate your yeast by pouring onto your warm milk and stirring in. The milk should be somewhere between 110-115 degrees Fahrenheit, which is hot enough to activate the yeast but not so hot as to kill it. Also, don’t over-stir the yeast as that could kill it as well. Be gentle!
2. After 10 minutes when the yeast has activated, sift ⅔ of a cup of your pastry flour over your yeast/milk mixture. Add your egg and whisk everything together
3. Sift the remaining 1⅓ cup flour over the entire mixture but let it stand unmixed. Cover with plastic wrap and let sit at room temperature for at least 90 minutes. During this time, the yeast will bubble around the sides and over the flour

Stage 2 – Belgian Waffle Batter, Part Deux

1. Uncover your batter and add your coconut sugar, cinnamon and vanilla extract. Vigorously mix everything together to create your batter. If you have an electric whisk or a stand mixer, this is a perfect time to use one!
2. Once the batter has been thoroughly mixed, add your melted butter and mix in again for 2 minutes. By this point, your belgian waffle batter should be sticky (and a bit of a pain to get off your whisk/mixers!)
3. Sprinkle your batter lightly with some flour and re-cover with plastic wrap. Let it rise at room temperature for 4 hours.
4. After 4 hours, you must refrigerate the dough for at least 30 minutes. If you’d like to pause and resume the next day, this would be a good time to keep the dough in the fridge.

Stage 3 – Belgian Waffle Batter, Part Trois

1. Uncover your dough (which has now cooled down), and pour your pearl sugar over it. Mix the pearl sugar into the dough by hand until you feel the pearl sugar has been evenly distributed
2. Once mixed, roll the dough into a log shape and cut the dough into 6 equal sized pieces
3. Take each piece of dough and roll it into an oval shape and place onto parchment paper
4. Re-cover (loosely) your pieces of dough with plastic wrap and let sit at room temperature for at least 90 minutes

Stage 4 – Finally Time to Make Belgian Waffles!

1. Just before your dough is ready to be uncovered, preheat your waffle iron to either a medium-high setting or ~350 degrees Fahrenheit. This is important, because any hotter and the sugar will burn!
2. Remove the plastic wrap from your dough, and place one piece of dough (which should be now at room temperature) into your waffle iron
3. Cook your belgian waffle for 3-4 minutes in the waffle iron, then remove. Caution: some of the pearl sugar might get stuck in the grooves of your waffle iron. This will make for a yummy next batch of waffles
4. Repeat until all your Belgian waffles have been made, then enjoy! You’ve earned it!