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Malta: Ħobż Malti (Maltese Bread)

Countries with cultures more than a couple of thousands of years old typically get very enthusiastic about their breads, and with reason: for them, bread was truly the staff of life in a world where the food supply could often be precarious. But their breads also speak specifically to how life has been lived for generations in those places: what you had to bake with, what kind of grains you had to work with, what you had to eat with the bread after the baker's work was done. And Malta is definitely no exception to this rule.

Ħobż is the word for bread in Maltese. It arrived in the language from the Semitic-Arabic side of things -- no surprise, as Maltese is as profoundly influenced by Arabic languages as by the Latinate ones. And of course the Romans were here too -- Malta was a self-governing client nation of the Empire -- which is probably one of the reasons that Malta's baking is so good. Rome left a plethora of excellent baking techniques and technology behind it, and Roman-influenced bakers remain some of the best in the world.

Malta's Ħobż comes in many shapes, with local variations (see Dina's shot of bread in the marketplace here, and this image of the bread type called ftira). The thing that all the varieties seem to have in common is that they're all breads raised using a starter, and therefore (at least technically) are sourdoughs. Though some modern recipes do call for commercial yeast, there are Maltese bakers who insist they never use it, and there's the normal bragging and arguing about who has the best recipe or the oldest starter.

The recipe we're adapting here is complex enough that it looks like a fair approximation of what you might get if you bought a loaf of this most basic style of bread in Malta -- at least, the flavor should be close. It produces a bread that isn't incredibly sour-tasting (EuroCuisineGuy, who isn't a sourdough fan, ate several slices before he could be stopped...) and which has a nice tender / springy crumb and a super crust.

Please note: if you're just getting started at bread baking, this is probably not a recipe to attempt just yet, as it's fairly labor-intensive and a little tricky in its final stages. Try something simpler, like the New York Times no-knead bread method.)

Click "read more" for the Ħobż Malti recipe.

Belgium -- Belgian Waffles

In this world of foods that people label as coming from one place when they actually come from somewhere else (like French fries) and dishes that people think everyone in a country eats when that's not the case at all (like corned beef and cabbage), it's a relief to find one food that actually comes from the country it's named after, and is really popular there as well. Into this class falls that shining example of sugary goodness, the Belgian waffle -- known to French-speakers on its home turf as the gaufre or gauffre, and to Flemish- / Vlaamse-speakers as the wafel, waffel or suikerwaffel.

This is where things get complicated, though, as it turns out there isn't just one kind of Belgian waffle. There are at least two main varieties -- possibly more, depending on who you talk to -- and a lot of minor regional variations.

But before getting into details about the recipes, it has to be said that in their native Belgium, waffles aren't eaten all that much as a breakfast dish -- though naturally tourists ask for them at breakfast, and get them. And though they appear as a dessert dish, again, there are lots of other desserts that are as popular among Belgians.

Where the waffle really shines in Belgium is as a casual snack food -- something you buy from a bakery or street stand, and eat hot and out of hand. (There is so much of this that there are lots of places, especially in the big cities, where you'll see signs like the one on the left, begging people not to bring waffles into shops or stand around eating them out in front and blocking the view in or out of the windows.)

The waffle that most North Americans would think of as a Belgian waffle is known in Belgium as gaufre de Bruxelles, "the Brussels waffle". General Belgian affection for it is sufficiently great that this waffle was chosen as one of the national "birthday cakes" for the European Union's fiftieth birthday celebrations.

The Brussels waffle is based on a batter raised with yeast -- as opposed to most North American waffle or pancake batters, which are raised with baking powder.


Gaufre de Bruxelles: Brussels-style waffle

This is where many North American attempts at the Brussels/Belgian waffle fall down: the yeast raising changes the chemistry of the batter, producing a tenderer crumb in the finished waffle than a baking-powder raising can. The yeast and the beaten egg whites which are folded into the batter work together to produce a light crisp waffle. The Brussels waffle is rectangular and usually about an inch thick, with fairly deep "dimples". When you buy it on the street or in a shop in Belgium, it usually comes dusted with a little confectioners' sugar / icing sugar, and maybe spread with chocolate or thick whipped cream. But you can also get it piled high with fruit and other goodies.

The other main kind of waffle is the Liège waffle, named after that city. It's oblong, more or less oval-shaped, a thinner and smaller waffle than the Brussels waffle. But it's also more substantial, and has a significant crunch due to the small nuggets of parelsuiker or "pearl sugar" that are added to the batter just before baking. These bits of sugar melt when being baked on the waffle iron and caramelize, producing a sugary crust like what's found on top of a creme brulée.


Gauffres de Liège | Liège-style waffles

(Pearl sugar is somewhat specialized. Some stores that specialize in cakemaking and other confectionery carry it, and there are some online sources, this one for example, and this one. If you can't get your hands on it, you can fake the pearl-sugar effect passably well by procuring "coffee sugar" -- the brown kind that comes in large granules -- pounding it well in a cloth with a wooden meat-tenderizing mallet, and sprinkling the crystals into the batter when directed in the recipe below.)

Click on "Read more" to see the recipes. (Francophones: see also this excellent page of minor regional waffle varieties such as the gaufre de Flamande, gaufre de Herve, gaufre de Verviers, gaufre de Perron, etc.)

Austria / Germany / Switzerland: Basic Sweet Yeast Dough (Leichter Hefeteig)

  • 1 1/2 oz fresh yeast (or 1 1/2 oz teaspoons dry yeast)
  • 2 teaspoons sugar
  • 2 lb plain / strong flour
  • 1/2 pint milk
  • Grated rind of 1 lemon
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 2 1/4 ounces granulated / caster sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • 5 ounces of butter, melted

Note: If using dry yeast, dissolve it in 3 fluid ounces of warm water and 2 tablespoons sugar. Allow to rise / "proof" in a warm place until bubbly. Proceed with the recipe as follows, remembering that no additional water need be added.

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