Hi Guys!
Thanks to @jaybird for hosting (Always a win meeting peeps over a sandwich) and @lizelle for introducing me to this contest!
I happened to have a veritable buttload of Bolognese sauce left from dinner last night, as well as a good chunk of dough from gyros I made earlier this week. Add a good chunk of mozzarella and a waffle iron and we've got ourselves a jaffle!
Anyhow, here are the necessary ingredients.
The Dough:
(This makes enough dough for about 100 waffle jaffles, I'd make a loaf of bread or some buns or doughnuts or flatbreads or cinnamon rolls with the rest-it's the most versatile dough in the world)
Ingredients:
- 1 Tbsp active dry yeast
- 3.5 cups All-purpose flour . Save a little extra- about half a cup- for dusting or adjusting if it’s particularly humid (I’ve also tried it with cake flour and it works just fine. This dough, you guys.)
- 1 tsp Salt
- 3 tbsp White or light brown sugar. (The really treacle-y brown stuff is great for monkey bread or cinnamon buns)
- 1/4 cup of melted butter
- 1/2 cup of milk
- 1/2 cup of water.
- 1 Egg (Can be omitted if you have at least 30 mins to prove the dough. Replace with an extra tablespoon of butter or
oil.)
METHOD:
Put all but one cup of flour and salt into a large bowl. I keep the extra cup aside to more easily incorporate the liquids and make sure the dough doesn’t end up too dry. We’re going for the texture of soft, warm play dough.
In another bowl, heat the milk and water until it’s just hot enough for you to stick a finger in it without burning it. This takes around 40 seconds in the microwave, or 4 minutes in a pot.
Remove from heat and add the butter and allow it to melt (This helps cool the mixture a little).
Add the sugar and yeast to the milk mix and stir. Give it a minute to dissolve and go nice and foamy on top. Add the egg and stir to combine.
Make a well in the flour and pour in the liquid all at once.
Use a spoon to bring it all together, until it just forms a ball. If it’s more sauce than dough, sprinkle in flour a little at a time until starts coming together.
Now, tip it out onto a wooden surface (if you have one, it just helps keep the dough nice and warm, speeding up the rising process, otherwise just turn it out onto the warmest surface in your kitchen- a counter that is, not it your stove top, an open fire or a family member) and gently knead until it forms a soft, silky ball of dough.
Rinse your mixing bowl and don’t bother drying it. To make it even easier to handle, swipe it with a little oil. Put the dough back in bowl and cover it with cling film or a clean, dampened kitchen towel and leave it in a nice warm corner until your sauce is ready and cooled (or buy some sauce, that works great!)
If you have 3 hours to kill, however, make this sauce. It kicks ass. (It's from my grandma. Grandma's know things.)
Bolognese Sauce:
Ingredients:
- A good Glug of Olive Oil.
- 500 grams Ground Beef
- 2 white Onions, Diced
- 3 heaped Tbsp Garlic, minced
- 1 large Carrot, grated
- 2 medium Zucchini, diced
- 4 large Brown Mushrooms, diced
- 1 Large Green Pepper, diced
- 500 ml Dry White Wine (it's not a waste, I promise. A cheap box of Cardbordeaux works a charm)
- 1 Litre Beef Stock
- 1 Tbsp Dried Oregano
- 1 Tsp Fresh Rosemary, chopped
- 50 Grams Tomato Paste
- 300 Grams Peeled Roma or Plum Tomatoes (the canned stuff is great. Use it. No one has time to peel a tomato)
- 1 Tbsp Natural Brown Sugar
- A good Glug of Balsamic Vinegar
- 50 Grams Finely Grated Parmesan
- Salt and Freshly Ground Black Pepper to Taste.
Method:
- Pour a good splash of olive oil in a large, heavy based pot. Add beef, season with salt and saute on high until brown.
- Add onion and garlic and saute until soft and translucent.
- Add carrot, zucchini, mushroom and green pepper and leave to cook for a couple of minutes, stirring intermittently until a good fond forms on the bottom of the pot (the brown bits that make flavour happen)
- Stir in tomato paste, oreganum and rosemary until aromatic and deglaze the pot with the wine (get the flavour bits off the bottom and get them to mix with the other bits)
- Allow the alcohol to cook off( you can try and catch some in the steam, but you'll burn your face) before adding the roma tomatoes and beef stock.
- Cover with a lid and simmer for at least 3 hours, stirring occasionally, until reduced by half.
- Stir in parmesan and season to taste
Waffle Jaffle Assembly time!
- On a flour-dusted work surface, break dough into an equal number of grape-sized balls, depending on how many you want (20 balls will give you 10 jaffles, etc.)
- Roll them out to 1/2cm or 1/4inch thick discs.
- Spoon in 2tsp bolognese mixture and a thumb-sized sliver of mozzarella onto half your discs.
- Lay the other half of the dough discs on top and seal edges with a fork.
- Brush waffle iron with butter (only the inside bit will do, no need to butter the entire machine) and waffle-ise 2 discs at a time until brown and bits of cheese have formed a crunchy skirt around the outside.
- Eat them while they're too hot and burn your mouth.
That's the waffle jaffle, folks. Fill it with other stuff,
FILL IT WITH FALAFEL AND MAKE A WAFFLE FALAFEL JAFFLE
send me a link!!