Anna Wecker’s Sourdough Almond Waffels (1598)
“Take almonds of the finest grind/ as many as you like/Add well beaten eggs therein/the yellow is the best/make it not too thick/in a quarter measure of almonds four or five yolks is enough/rosewater so it tastes well/so a weight of sourdough/so a weight of sugar/work into the dough with fine flour//leave it alone to bubble/mound it/as before/ in the form/of the waffle iron/so it is hot/salve with a feather/ take sweet almond oil/lay it on with force/to press the iron closed/let it bake/ over a prepared small fire/ or place it near toward the fire/ when you then think/ that is has had enough had on the side/ turn the other side of the iron towards the fire/and then take it up/lay another on it/let it not get too brown/ you can keep them up to half a year.” (trans by by the fabulous jillwheezul, whose class on wafers and wafer irons I got to take at the WCCS 2013, see http://jillwheezul.livejournal.com/tag/waffle)
7 oz almond marzipan (1 tube of Odessa brand marzipan)
½ cup water
Apx 2 cups sourdough starter
1/2 c wheat flour
1/2 c almond flour
4 egg yolks
3 Tbl rosewater
1-2 Tbl sugar
Pinch salt
1/2 tesp almond extract (optional)
4 Tbl water (more or less as necessary)
Chop marzipan small and dissolve in water. Add eggs, sugar, salt, and almond flour. Beat. Add wheat flour/sourdough starter. Add rosewater and almond extract as needed/wanted. Bake in waffle iron (oil with sweet oil). 2.5 min in (my) hot waffle iron.
I had hoped these would be like the almond waffles one buys on street corners in Belgium, but alas, the sourdough (while wonderful) is not the same. For the next version of this I'm going to try a more modern, baking powder-based waffle recipe with marzipan.