Skip to main content
Main

Waffles

A batter of flour, eggs, salt, butter, baking powder, and milk cooked in a waffle iron.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

Waffles

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the batter

  1. In a large bowl, combine the flour, eggs, salt, melted butter, and baking powder.

  2. Gradually add milk until the mixture forms a soft batter.

Cook

  1. Preheat your waffle iron and pour in the batter.

  2. Cook according to your waffle iron's instructions until golden brown.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  2. Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Flour + milktop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together78,219 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Flour
Forms the main structure that holds the waffle together as it sets.
Eggs
Add structure and richness, helping the batter bind and set when cooked.
Baking powder
Releases gas as it reacts with the batter, helping the waffles rise and turn light.
Melted butter
Adds fat for tenderness and flavor, and helps browning in the iron.
Milk
Hydrates the flour and sets the batter's consistency, providing moisture in the waffles.

The step that matters

Gradually add milk until the batter is soft. Adding liquid slowly lets flour hydrate evenly, preventing lumps. Mixing too vigorously develops gluten, which can make waffles tough rather than tender.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

More waffles recipes

Rice 92German 18Hominy 16Raised 16Flemish 12Newport 11 See all 105 →

You might also like

Tomato SoupTomato Soup526 recipesBrown BreadBrown Bread461 recipesMutton BrothMutton Broth292 recipesYorkshire PuddingYorkshire Pudding264 recipes