Wafers: Not Quite a Waffle ©

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wafers, waffles

“Still Life with Wafer Biscuits”, Le Dessert de Gaufrettes, painted 1630’s.  Baugin, Lubin (b. ca. 1610, Pithiviers, d. 1663, Paris).  Musée du Louvre, Paris

Wafers are thin crisp cookies, plain sweetened versions, or flavored with a variety of ingredients, baked in the manner of waffles.  They could be served flat or they could be wrapped on a round object as soon as they came from the oven which resulted in a rolled product.

The eminent diarist, Samuel Pepys, was among the 17^th century writers who made mention of eating wafers.  – Pepys, Samuel.  Diary.  1661.  London.

While not in recipe form, some of the earliest mentions of these cakes were by their French names.  A definition from 1706 stated these, “thin cakes or wafers, bak’d in Iron moulds”, were, “still called oublies by the French”.  – Kersey, John.  The New World of Words, or Universal English Dictionary.  1706.  London.  [First edition was pub. 1696]

Another dictionary from that time period spelled oublies obleè or obliè, again, called such by the French.  As will be seen in the following quote, the French have a long history of making and serving wafers.  – Cowel, Dr.  A Law Dictionary:  Or the Interpreter of Words and Terms, Used Either in the Common or Statute Laws of that Part of Great Britain, call’d England.  1708.  London.

There is a plaintive cry that rises from Paris streets about sundown, accompanied with the monotonous sound of a wooden rattle, that is delightful to the ear of  French children, and has been a familiar sound, through life, to the oldest inhabitant of Paris.  The street-seller of ‘plaisirs’ or oublies as they are called long, long years ago, is generally an elderly woman of somewhat lively temperament, dressed with scrupulous neatness, her head covered with a cap, white as mountain snow.  She must needs be amiable, and of a kindly habit of mind, for it is her business to please, and attract children to that magic round green box, in which she holds those frail crisp cakes, curled in the shape of sugar-bags, which have delighted—well, how many generations shall we say?  —of the vivacious, light-witted children of Lutetia.  These oublies of sweet paste, cooked between hot irons, have come direct down, according to some authorities, transmitted to the Paris bèbès of to-day, from the Obliophores, who used to cry their cakes, or obolios, about the streets of ancient Athens.  Certain it is, however, that the rising generations of Parisians have been delighted with the toothsome oublie or plaisir from a very remote period.  Time was, when the King of France had his Officer of the Mouth, whose duty it was to offer oublies to the royal guests.  Centuries ago the street vendors of oublies (which were carried about hot, in a basket laid out with white linen) tempted their customers to gamble with dice for their dainties.  Sometimes a very lucky gambler would win the basket and its entire load.  Levasseur, in his history of the working classes, describes how the students, when they had won a whole basket of oublies, were in the habit of hanging them outside their windows in triumph.  But when the makers of oublies, or oublayers, were formed into a corporation under regular statutes, the use of dice was prohibited, and the oublayers gradually developed into a great corporation [guild] of pastrycooks, making infinite varieties of pastry.  Considerable skill was demanded from the journeyman pastrycook, even in the thirteenth century, for then he was compelled, by the statutes of his corporation to prove that he could make at least a thousand of the cakes called ‘heules’ in a day…and time was when vassals were compelled, on certain days of the year to offer oublies to their feudal lords; so that the oublayer occupied a somewhat important position.  – Jerrold, Blanchard.  At Home in Paris:  and a Trip Through the Vineyards of Spain.  1864.  London.

Wafers were among the items meant for guests as a last course in their meal in the 1390’s.  The notation, “Hippocras and wafers to finish”, was listed following the dessert course.  – Greco, Gina & Rose, Christine, translation.  Le Menagier de Paris.  2009.  Cornell University.

In 1826, an article on food made the comparison between the sweet wafer and the item by the same name used in communion.  The similarity lay in the appearance and not the flavor of the two items.

The Wafer, by far the greatest favourite of the French, and common over Europe, was probably Grecian or Roman origin and was early known in the middle ages by the name oblatae, the term given to the holy cakes used in the Eucharist.  Hence the French oublie, which in that language, as well as wafer in our own, denotes both the consecrated and the common cake.  In form it was round and thin, and baked, as the Eucharistal one, between two flat hot irons, shutting together by a pivot, and ornamented inside, so as to leave the impression on the cake.    – The Gentleman’s Magazine, and Historical Chronicle.  “The Cries of Paris in the Thirteenth Century”.  Vol. 96, Part 2.  November, 1826.

Wafers also referred to wax disks used to seal letters, but for this article we will concern ourselves only with the definition of a, “thin round cake, often formed into a roll, sold by pastry cooks; this seems to be the Earliest use of the name in England, and the persons selling them were formerly called waferers”.  – Ripley, George.  The New American Cyclopaedia:  A Popular Dictionary of General Knowledge.  1863.  NY.

They were baked on wafer irons which opened and closed scissor-fashion, with two flat round surfaces on the end.  They were made of iron and are fairly heavy to handle in making any significant quantity of wafers.  The flat surfaces were inscribed with a design of some sort which pressed the decorative design into the wafers.

To bake the wafers the cook was to, “Heat an iron on both sides over a moderate fire.  Rub it inside with a little butter, put a tea-spoonful of the wafer batter into it, close the iron upon this almost immediately, and put it on the fire.  When cooked upon one side, turn it upon the other.  Cut away the superfluous paste round the edges, and roll the wafer on a stick while it is still warm.  Put in another piece of batter and repeat until all the batter is used.  Keep the wafers in a tin box in a dry place till wanted.  They are generally served with the sweets”.  – Cassell, Ltd.  Cassell’s Dictionary of Cookery.  1883.  NY. 

Do not expect that there was any consistency in the receipts as to the thickness of the batter as it varied from a thick batter poured onto the heated surface of the iron by a spoon to pinching or cutting off small pieces and laying them onto the iron.  Even receipts within the same book varied a great deal in the thickness of the batter or dough.

Flavoring agents used in 18^th century receipts included chopped almonds or pistachios, mace, nutmeg, cinnamon, orange zest, orange-flower water, rose-water, and lemon, etc., later, the 19^th century saw a variety of spices and flavorings added to the repertoire such as ginger, vanilla, and cardamom.

At the turn of the 20^th century, the rolled wafers were often filled with whipped cream. 

Cafes in Paris served flat wafers imprinted with the name of the café along with various ices.  – By an American.  Ice-Cream and Cakes.  1909.  NY.

Let’s compare receipts, for a pourable batter, and for making balls of paste to be placed in the irons.  In so doing, we may also compare receipts from the 16^th century through the 19^th.

Gervase Markham’s receipt for wafers was surprisingly easy to follow considering the early date of publication. 

To make the best Wafers, take the finest wheat-flower you can get, and mix it with Cream, the yelks of Eggs, Rose-water, Sugar, and Cinamon, till it be a little thicker than Pancake-batter, and then warming your Wafer Irons on a charcoal-fire, anoint them first with sweet Butter, and then lay on your batter, and press it, and bake it white or brown at your pleasure.  – Markham, Gervase.  A Way to Get Wealth.  1668.  London.  2.  Markham, Gervase.  The English Huswife.  1615, Michael Best edition.  1986.  McGill-Queens University Press.  Kingston and Montreal.

By, “anoint them first with sweet Butter”, he means to grease the heated irons with butter to prevent the wafers from sticking. 

John Nott’s cookery book [1723] contained five receipts for wafers, a good indication of their popularity.  Two versions were made primarily of flour and cream, another was made with, “the yolks of 4 Eggs, and three Spoonfuls of Rose-water, to a Quart of Flour; mingle them well, make them into a Batter with Cream and double refin’d Sugar, pour it on very thin, and bake it on Irons”.  – Nott, John.    The Cooks and Confectioners Dictionary.  1723.  London. 

Nott’s second receipt was quite lengthy, requiring the flour and cream to be mixed and left to sit overnight before mixing in sugar and orange-flower water to the consistency of milk.  A spoonful and a half of the mixture was poured onto the heated iron to bake.  He advised rubbing both sides of the wafer iron with butter periodically to prevent the wafers from sticking.  The cook was to, “open your iron a little, and observe, if it come to a good Colour, it is enough”.  When done, the wafer was removed with a knife and rolled, “round the same” where it was allowed to cool.  Once cooled, the sugar hardens and the wafers retain the rolled shape. 

Take two Spoonfuls of Cream, two of Sugar, the same of Flour, and one Spoonful of Orange Flower Water, beat them well together for half an hour, then make your wafer tongs hot, and pour a little of your batter in to cover your Irons, bake them on a Stove Fire, as they are baked roll them round a Stick like a Spiggard, as soon as they are cold, they will be very crisp; they are proper for Tea, or to put on a Salver to eat with Jellies.  – Raffald, Elizabeth.  The Experienced English Housekeeper.   1769.  Manchester.

Wafers, Dutch.  Put seven ounces of flour upon a pasteboard, and work it to a smooth stiff paste with three ounces of butter, the grated rind of an orange, five ounces of powdered sugar, and one egg.  Divide the paste into pieces the size of a pigeon’s egg, form these to an oval shape, and bake in an oval wafer-iron.  – Cassell, Ltd.  Cassell’s Dictionary of Cookery.  1883.  NY. 

Imprint on the inside of the plate of an 18^th century wafer iron.  The wafer bears the imprint of whatever design is carved into the plates. 

At various time periods through the 18^th and 19^th centuries, receipts are found which instruct the building of a confection on top of a wafer, in essence, the wafer forms the base or foundation.  Such wafers can be purchased from the King Arthur flour catalog and the description reads that they are designed to cradle certain German cookies. 

Modern redaction:  4 Tablespoons unsalted butter, 2 eggs, ½ cup sugar, 1 teaspoon vanilla, 1 teaspoon orange-flower water, ½ teaspoon cardamom seeds, grated zest of 2 oranges, 2 cups unbleached flour, butter or piece of pork fat for oiling the iron. 

Melt the butter and set aside.  Break the eggs into a bowl, and whisk in the sugar until well blended.  Whisk in the melted butter, being careful it has cooled enough not to cook the eggs.  When this mixture has cooled, add the vanilla, orange-flower water, cardamom seeds and orange zest.  Stir in the flour until the mixture is smooth, but do not overwork the dough.  Let the dough rest for 20 to 30 minutes.  Turn onto a floured surface, dust with flour, and form into a long roll about the diameter of a small egg.  Cut this dough into about 18 pieces of equal size.  Roll the pieces of dough into balls.  Cover to prevent drying while baking.

Place a tripod over coals that have been pulled out of the fire onto the hearth.  Place the wafer iron on the tripod and rotate it to heat both sides of the iron.  When ready to bake, grease both plates of the wafer iron, then place a ball of dough onto the center of the wafer plate.  Close the iron.  Bake until the wafer begins to brown, rotating the iron as needed.  Usually one to two minutes is sufficient time.  Remove the wafer from the iron and place onto a rack to cool.  OR, if desired, roll the wafer onto a round form and allow it to cool.  Add more coals underneath the tripod as needed in order to maintain an ideal baking temperature. 

Note:  Wafer irons changed little in design over two or three centuries, other than perhaps the degree of skill and the subject matter of the design imprinted on the plates.  Those in the collections of museums in the U.S. and Europe dated to the 17^th century or earlier are no different from the ones in my collection which I estimate to be early to mid 18^th century.  Irons from the 17^th century and earlier often depict Biblical images or images associated with heraldry, whereas flowers and leaves, geometric patterns, or patriotic images were common later on.

For those who have an interest in serving wafers, but either don’t want to bake them or don’t have a wafer iron to bake them on, see www.stashtea.com, and type in “wafers” in the search box.  They offer wafers, “faithfully baked following a 200 year old European recipe”.

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Waffles: A History© [Part One]

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waffles

Peasants Eating Waffles in a Tavern on a Fast Day, 1693.  Jan Brueqhel the Elder, b. 1568, d. 1625.  Brueghel, referred to as, “the elder because his son carried on his style of painting after his death, had an eye for detail and a painting style that takes us back into the 16^th century.  Because of his desire for accuracy, historians can zero in on a single topic, waffles, in this case, and know how they looked at the time he painted them.   Each person in the setting has a rectangle-shaped waffle. 

Discovering how waffles were made and eaten and what they looked like in the 18^th century requires enough patience to compare accounts, paintings, and receipts published before, during, and after a target date.  Fortunately, there are enough accounts surviving to enable us to form a good opinion of this article.

Some accounts from the early 19^th century claim waffles date back to ancient Greece, and they well may have, however, the first account I can quote dates from 14^th century France. 

Waffles are made in four ways. In the first, beat eggs in a bowl, then salt and wine, and add flour, and moisten the one with the other, and then put in two irons little by little, each time using as much batter as a slice of cheese is wide, and clap between two irons, and cook one side and then the other; and if the iron does not easily release the batter, anoint with a little cloth soaked in oil or fat. – The second way is like the first, but add cheese, that is, spread the batter as though making a tart or pie, then put slices of cheese in the middle, and cover the edges (with batter: JH); thus the cheese stays within the batter and thus you put it between two irons. – The third method, is for dropped waffles, called dropped only because the batter is thinner like clear soup, made as above; and throw in with it fine cheese grated; and mix it all together. – The fourth method is with flour mixed with water, salt and wine, without eggs or cheese.

Item, waffles can be used when one speaks of the “large sticks” which are made of flour mixed with eggs and powdered ginger beaten together, and made as big as and shaped like sausages; cook between two irons. – Le Menagier de Paris.  1393.  Paris.  Trans. Janet Hinson. 

Waffles and wafers are similar, and made using similar irons; however, a wafer was generally flatter, thinner, and crispier.  The two words were used somewhat interchangeably.  For example, similar receipts are used to make flat wafers and what are obviously waffles in William Jarrin’s 1826 book.  The latter, which he called Flemish Wafers, were made in, “square irons engraved half an inch in depth, with the two halves to correspond”, and due to the depth of the “engraving” is obviously a waffle.  – Jarrin, William Alexis.  The Italian Confectioner.  1827.  London.

A wafer iron opens and closes like a waffle iron, but its two circular plates close almost together to produce a flat wafer.  The plates have a decorative design which transfers to the wafer during baking.  [It is possible the translator erred and the Menagier’s account should read wafers instead of waffles.]

The French ate Gaufrettes which were, “a kind of waffle”, sometimes dispatched by boys in white caps and aprons.  They were sometimes waffled, but not always.  The term was not uncommon through the 19^th century.  – Peixotto, Ernest C.  Through the French Provinces.  1909.  NY.

 The next comparison is a Dutch receipt from ca. 1683.

For each pound [one English pound] of Wheat-flour take a pint of sweet milk, a little tin bow[l], of melted butter with 3 or 4 eggs, a spoonful of Yeast well stirred together.  De Verstandige Kock.  Translated and edited by Peter G. Rose.  1989.  Syracuse. 

The thickness of the batter varied from a thin pourable batter to one stiff enough that a piece of dough could be cut off and put into the hot irons.  There was no consistency with regard to the thickness of the batter even in comparing multiple receipts published within the same book. 

The receipt below tells us the batter from which some waffles were made was perhaps best called dough since the writer tells us to lay a small piece of it on the hot iron rather than pouring, or dropping it on as one would do with pancake batter.

DUTCH WAFFLES.  These form a delicious article in the shape of puff cakes, which are instantly prepared and exhibited for sale in stalls or tents, in the fairs of Holland, where they are eaten hot as they come from the plate or baking pan, with fine sugar strewed over them.  Mix together three pounds of fine flour, a dozen eggs, a pound of melted butter, half a pint of ale, some milk, and a little yeast.  Beat it well, till it forms a thick paste, and let it stand three or four hours before the fire to rise.  Lay it in small pieces on a hot iron or frying pan, with a pair of buttered tongs, till it is lightly browned.  Eat the waffles with fine sugar sifted over, or a little sack and melted butter.  – Eaton, Mary.  The Cook and Housekeeper’s Complete and Universal Dictionary.  1822.  Bungay.

A writer [1818] described waffles as, “a soft hot cake, of German extraction, covered with butter”.  No mention was made of syrup in the earliest located receipts.  They were eaten with butter and sugar instead.  – Birkbeck, Morris.  Notes on a Journey in America:  From the Coast of Virginia to the Territory.  1818.  London.

Robert Smith did not specify the thickness of his batter when his receipt was published in 1725.  The dough still contains wine, as did Le Menagier’s. 

Take flower, cream, sack, nutmeg, sugar, eggs, yest, of what quantity you will, mix these to a batter and let them stand to rise; then add a little melted butter, and bake one to try.  If they burn, add more butter:  Melt Butter, with sack, refin’d sugar, and orange-flower water, for the sauce.  – Smith, Robert. Court Cookery.  1725.  London.

Cooks who added sugar to their batter could be in no hurry to have the waffles bake as the sugar caused them to burn unless baked at lower temperatures.  When waffles did not brown as well as wanted adding syrup or sugar to the batter remedied the situation.  – Whitehead, Jessup.  The Chicago Herald Cooking School:  A Professional Cook’s Book For Household Use.  1883.  Chicago.

This receipt published in 1821, is a little more specific as to the amount of ingredients.

Take four eggs beat well with half a pound of flour; melt a quarter of a pound of butter in a pint of milk; let the milk and butter stand till they are almost cold, then mix them with the flour and eggs with one spoonful of yeast and a little salt; be sure to beat them well; let it stand three or four hours to rise before you put it in the waffle iron, and bake them on a quick fire. – Hudson & Donat, Mrs.  The New Practice of Cookery, Pastry, Baking, and Preserving.  1804.  Edinburgh.

Mary Randolph’s receipt published in 1838 contained cooked rice to bolster the batter.  The addition of cooked rice may sound odd but it was not terribly unique.  Two gills of rice, boiled until quite soft, were mixed with three gills of flour, a little salt, and a couple of ounces of melted butter.  Two well beaten eggs were added with enough milk to make a “thick” batter.  It was then beaten until very light and baked in the hot irons.  – Randolph, Mary.  The Virginia Housewife.  1838.  Baltimore.

Englishman, Philip H. Gosse left an excellent description of the early waffle iron.  Woffles he was served in Alabama in the 1850’s were, “square thin cakes, like pancakes, divided on both sides into square cells by intersecting ridges…at the end of a pair of handles, moving on a pivot like a pair of scissors, or still more like the net forceps of an entomologist, are fixed two square plates of iron like shallow dishes, with cross furrows, corresponding to the ridges in the cakes; this apparatus called a woffle-iron, is made hot in the fire; then being opened, a flat piece of dough is laid on one, and they are closed and pressed together; the heat of the iron does the rest, and in a minute the woffle is cooked, and the iron is ready for another.  They are very good, eaten with butter; sometimes they are made of the meal of Indian corn (as so little wheat is grown here as to make wheat-flour be considered almost a luxury), but these are not nearly so nice, at least to an English palate”.   – Gosse, Philip Henry.  Letters from Alabama.  1859.  London.

Again, the writer instructs putting a piece of dough in the iron instead of pouring batter into the iron.  Gosse’s account, penned in 1838, still makes no mention of topping the waffles with syrup, only butter.

Eliza Leslie instructed us in the use of a thick, but pourable batter made from six eggs, a pint of milk, a quarter of a pound of butter, a quarter of a pound of white sugar, a pound and a half of sifted flour, and a teaspoon of powdered cinnamon.  The milk was warmed and the butter cut up into it.  The eggs were beaten and poured into the milk and butter mixture.  Half the flour was gradually stirred in with the powdered cinnamon and sugar.  The other half of the flour was added in increments, as needed, until it became a, “thick batter”. 

Heat your waffle-iron; then grease it well, and pour in some of the batter.  Shut the iron tight, and bake the waffle on both sides, by turning the iron.  – Leslie, Eliza.  Seventy-Five Receipts for Pastry, Cakes, and Sweetmeats.  1830.  Boston.

As early as the French version from 1393 writers instructed in greasing the irons well with lard, or butter tied in a piece of cloth, and heating the irons “very” hot before putting in the batter to prevent the waffles from sticking to the irons. 

The only remedy for waffles sticking to the irons is to keep the irons in constant use with scraping and rubbing out with lard while hot, and avoid letting them burn with nothing in them.  To bake waffles, pour in one side a spoonful of melted lard, shut up and turn over the iron two or three times then place a spoonful of batter in each compartment.  Shut and turn over to the fire frequently till both sides are brown.  – Whitehead, Jessup.  The Chicago Herald Cooking School:  A Professional Cook’s Book for Household Use.  1883.  Chicago.

Sarah Hale left us with an idea of how long it should take a waffle to bake.  “Bake on a bed of coals.  When they have been on the fire between 2 and 3 minutes, turn the waffle-irons over-when brown on both sides they are sufficiently baked”.  – Hale, Sarah Josepha.  The Ladies New Book of Cookery.  1852.  NY. 

The heavy irons described by Gosse, and others even earlier, remained in use into the 20^th century. 

Waffle irons, with long handles, that bake one big, square waffle, at a time; waffle irons of Colonial times were they, and still in use in many parts of the South and old states.  – Halleck, Charles.  Forest and Stream.  Jan., 1915.  

Dozens of accounts from various locations in the U.S. specified serving waffles with butter and sugar through the mid-19^th century, and almost as many advised spreading the waffles with butter and powdered cinnamon.  A receipt in Peterson’s 1858, suggested serving them with butter and honey. 

Mrs. Haskell’s cookbook instructed putting maple syrup on the waffles in 1861, but cookbooks continued to suggest the accompaniments of butter and sugar.  – Haskell, E.F.  The Housekeeper’s Encyclopedia of Useful Information.  1861.  NY.

Sarah Annie Frost still gave her readers a choice between eating the waffles with maple syrup or cream and sugar in 1870.  – The Godey’s Ladies Book of Receipts and Household Hints.  1870, Philadelphia. 

American ladies were eating waffles with molasses at least by the 1890’s. That is about the time when syrup seems to have become the expected accompaniment.  – Cobbe, Francis Power.  The Life of Frances Power Cobbe.  1894.  London.

Continued………………