Wheat Bran and Cornmeal Waffles

Another thing I love is brunch. Not necessarily the out to a restaurant, spend $20, eat like a pig brunch, just the garden variety brunch you do at home with family. It is enjoyed approximately around noon, always involves bacon, and either pancakes, french toast, or waffles. This time I felt like waffles. Out of the freezer comes one of my pre-packaged frozen bags of bacon (I'll buy 3 or 4 pounds when on sale, go home and cut them in half and freeze in zip-locks), and into the frying pan whilst I cook up the waffles.

Happy Waffles. These have wheat bran,
cornmeal, and buttermilk.

We have one of those Cuisinart panini press machines, where you can interchange grill plates with griddle plates. I was considering buying a decent waffle iron when I came across waffle plates for the Cuisinart when browing around Canadian Tire one day. Very awesome. We really didn't need yet another small time-saving kitchen appliance.  This time the recipe came from the America's Test Kitchen book, almost unchanged. They turned out quite tasty, but all the extra work folding in whipped egg whites I don't think made a whit of difference.  The "plain-Jane" recipe that comes with the waffle plates is pretty much as good, although I really like the idea of substituting some of the all-purpose flour with wheat bran, and the addition of the cornmeal. Actually the honey is great too.  Notice in the photo the one measly slice of bacon...that was all there was left by the time I got through all the batter, snacking all the time. Good thing I saved some for SO and SSO. Had to have some fruit on top, usually some berries. For the first time in a dog's age we had almost no fruit in the fridge, so had to resort to, gasp!, pineapple in a can. Oh well, at least I drained it.

Next Time: I'd put a tad more cornmeal, and probably not bother with the whipped egg whites

Me: 7/10
SO: 7/10
SSO: 8/10

Wheat Bran and Cornmeal Waffles
This is lifted almost directly from America's Test Kitchen.
Ingredients

• 2 cups flour (substitute 1/2 cup for wheat bran)
• 2 Tbsp cornmeal
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 2 eggs
• 4 Tbsp (1/2 stick) butter
• 1 3/4 cups buttermilk (make your own with 1 Tbsp vinegar for each cup milk)
• pinch of cream of tartar

Method

1. Whisk together the flour, cornmeal, salt, and baking soda in a large bowl.
2. In another bowl, whisk together the egg yolks (save whites), melted butter, buttermilk, and honey.
3. Whip the egg white in yet another bowl with cream of tartar until stiff peaks.
4. Stir the buttermilk mixture into the dry, and whisk until just incorporated. The batter should still be a bit lumpy.
5. Fold in the egg whites.  
6. Let sit for a few minutes, the time will let the flour absorb liquid.
7. Cook 'em up!