{"id":8302,"date":"2026-10-19T15:18:46","date_gmt":"2026-10-19T06:18:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/parade.kyoto\/?post_type=sweetlore&p=8302"},"modified":"2026-10-31T18:49:35","modified_gmt":"2026-10-31T09:49:35","slug":"liege-waffle","status":"publish","type":"sweetlore","link":"https:\/\/parade.kyoto\/en\/sweetlore\/liege-waffle\/","title":{"rendered":"Li\u00e8ge Waffle"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Li\u00e8ge waffle is a waffle from Li\u00e8ge in eastern Belgium. It is made by mixing large pearl sugar into a thick, brioche-like yeasted dough and baking it. Hard grains of sugar remain inside the soft dough, and the surface bakes to a caramel color.<\/p>\n

Unlike the Brussels waffle, for which liquid batter is poured to fill the iron, this waffle is made by pressing portions of dough shaped into balls between the plates of the iron. As a result, the edges do not reach the four corners, and the outline is irregular.<\/p>\n

Sugar dissolved into the dough and sugar left as grains<\/h2>\n

A dough containing eggs and butter is kneaded and leavened with yeast. In the recipe (ingredient proportions and method) shared by La Str\u00e8me, an association of Li\u00e8ge waffle enthusiasts, the dough is first prepared in stages, then butter and other ingredients are added and the dough is rested again. Finally, pearl sugar is mixed in, the dough is divided according to the size of the iron, and it is left to rise further before baking.<\/p>\n

Sugar dissolved into the dough and sugar left as grains play different roles. While the hot upper and lower plates imprint the grid, some of the sugar melts and colors. The remaining grains, meanwhile, add a hard crunch to the soft dough.<\/p>\n

Simply adding the same weight of granulated sugar does not give the same crunch of sugar grains. The contrast between the inside and the surface comes not only from the quantity but also from the size of the grains and when they are added.<\/p>\n

There are irons with 24 holes and other layouts, but dimensions and weight vary by manufacturer and product. The number of grid squares is not an absolute requirement for the name. Compared with the Brussels waffle, which generally forms a neat rectangle from a light batter, the difference lies less in whether there is a grid than in the firmness of the dough and the sugar grains inside.<\/p>\n

The story of a cook responding to a bishop\u2019s request<\/h2>\n

According to the origin story told by the Li\u00e8ge tourist office, an 18th-century prince-bishop asked his cook for something new, sweet and delicious. The cook is said to have responded by adding pieces of sugar to a brioche-like dough and baking it. The story places today\u2019s characteristics\u2014a rich yeasted dough and grains of sugar\u2014in a scene of invention at court.<\/p>\n

The tourist office also explains that the waffle was once flavored with cinnamon, and that pearl sugar made from sugar beets from the nearby Hesbaye region was used later. The ingredients also changed before the waffle became today\u2019s dough with sugar grains.<\/p>\n

Rock sugar in 1893 and pearl sugar in the 1920s<\/h2>\n

According to research by culinary historian Pierre Leclercq comparing recipes and newspapers, an early example attached to a name is a recipe left by the Brussels confectioner L\u00e9on Rotty in the late 19th century. It was also reprinted in a French confectionery magazine in January 1893, and it combines cinnamon and rock sugar in a thick dough made with milk, butter and yeast. Adding grains of rock sugar to the dough uses a different form of ingredient from the later pearl sugar.<\/p>\n

According to Leclercq, pearl sugar that withstands heat and moisture appeared in the 1920s. A 1932 recipe collection from Verviers calls the brioche-like version with sugar grains a \u201chunting waffle,\u201d while its \u201cLi\u00e8ge style\u201d uses crystal sugar. Gaston Cl\u00e9ment\u2019s almost identical recipe was called a \u201clarge waffle\u201d in 1938, and its name was changed to \u201cLi\u00e8ge style\u201d in 1959. The form of the sugar added to a sweet yeasted dough and the name \u201cLi\u00e8ge style\u201d followed separate paths before coming together.<\/p>\n

In 19th-century Li\u00e8ge, large waffles were also a sweet for St. Nicholas\u2019s Day and the end of the year. Leclercq points to a connection with the rock-sugar brioche eaten in the same season and interprets this as how a sweet, rich yeasted dough came to be baked on an iron. This interpretation links the sweet bread eaten at the end of the year with the iron-baked sweet.<\/p>\n

Workshop production and eating at markets and on street corners<\/h2>\n

Gofrino has published the history of its production, which is based on a family business dating from around 1928. This is a modern record that follows the continuity of a named workshop and its products. Today it still sells waffles with sugar grains, cinnamon-flavored waffles and others, so there is a range of flavors under the same town\u2019s name.<\/p>\n

On the streets of the town, at the October fair and in caf\u00e9s, the waffles are eaten either warm or cold. Fruit or cream may be served alongside on a plate, but because the dough itself is sweet, the waffle is also sometimes held in the hand and eaten as it is. A single bite offers three textures: the softness of the yeasted dough, the sugar grains left inside, and the sugar on the surface that baked against the plates.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A waffle iron at Brussels-Central Station. Baked waffles and dough waiting behind them are visible. Photo: Romaine, 2019-03-12, Brussels-Central Station, Belgium. Original image<\/a> \/ CC0<\/a>. Reduced-size version from the source, with no further processing.<\/p>\n

\n\"Li\u00e8ge\n
Li\u00e8ge waffles packed in a bag (February 6, 2024; location unknown). Several baked, grid-patterned waffles are stacked together. Photo: Valereee \/ Wikimedia Commons<\/a> \/ CC0<\/a>. Reduced-size version obtained from Commons. No content changes or cropping for this use.<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

Waffles in which pearl sugar remains are also made by Manneken in Japan. The company carries out the mixing, fermentation, baking and packaging of its bagged products in its factory, and the factory also makes frozen dough that is supplied to its shops for baking there. Behind the sweets that are baked and handed over on street corners is a production system that prepares dough in bulk.<\/p>\n

\n\"Manneken\u2019s\n
Manneken\u2019s shopfront on \u014ctemae-d\u014dri, Himeji (April 6, 2016). The shop displays a Belgian flag and waffle signs and sells its products facing the street. Photo: DimiTalen \/ Wikimedia Commons<\/a> \/ CC0<\/a>. Reduced-size version obtained from Commons. No content changes or cropping for this use.<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

Glossary<\/h2>\n

\u2022 L\u00e9on Rotty<\/strong>: A Brussels confectioner and author who published a Li\u00e8ge-style recipe in the late 19th century.\n\u2022 Gaston Cl\u00e9ment: A 20th-century Belgian cook and cookery writer who presented recipes in newspapers and elsewhere.\n\u2022 Verviers: A city in eastern Belgium where a regional collection of confectionery recipes survives.\n\u2022 St. Nicholas\u2019s Day: A saint\u2019s feast day in early December, with a custom of giving gifts and sweets to children.\n\u2022 Pearl sugar: A confectionery ingredient made of sugar formed into grains. It is also used so that some of the grains remain intact in the dough.\n\u2022 Brioche: A bread dough rich in eggs and butter and leavened with yeast.\n\u2022 Li\u00e8ge: A city in the Wallonia region of Belgium.\n\u2022 La Str\u00e8me: An association of enthusiasts that keeps the Li\u00e8ge waffle tradition alive. The tourist office presents its recipe.\n\u2022 Pierre Leclercq: A Belgian culinary historian who compares the history and techniques of waffles.<\/p>

References<\/h2>\n

  1. \u2022 Maison du Tourisme du Pays de Li\u00e8ge, \u201cAuthentic Li\u00e8ge Waffle\u201d<\/a> \u2014 Preparation in stages with sugar grains added last, individual portioning, eaten on the street, at the October fair and in caf\u00e9s.\n\u2022 Cultures Sucre, \u201cLa Gaufre li\u00e9geoise\u201d<\/a> \u2014 Thick yeasted dough, partial melting of the sugar grains and the grains that remain.\n\u2022 Gofrino, \u201cNotre histoire \/ Nos gammes\u201d<\/a> \u2014 The company\u2019s predecessor from around 1928, the court story explicitly described as a legend, multiple sizes and products.\n\u2022 Pierre Leclercq, \u201chistoire de la gaufre,\u201d March 2026<\/a> \u2014 The abstract compares the late-19th-century Li\u00e8ge style and the technical history of brioche dough and sugar.<\/p><\/li>

  2. \u2022 Li\u00e8ge tourist office, \u201cLi\u00e8ge gourmande\u201d<\/a> \u2014 The outline of the legend of a prince-bishop\u2019s request and a cook\u2019s trial version, and an explanation of the cinnamon type and the beet sugar from Hesbaye that was added later.<\/p><\/li>

  3. Pierre Leclercq, \u201cLa gaufre li\u00e9geoise, aux origines d\u2019un d\u00e9lice brioch\u00e9,\u201d 2022-09-26<\/a> \u2014 Rotty\u2019s recipe reprinted in 1893, sugar grains and names in 1932\/1938\/1959, comparison with the culture of year-end sweets.<\/li>

  4. Editorial notes (Japanese re-edit)<\/h3><\/li>

  5. The origin story about the prince-bishop\u2019s request does not give the cook\u2019s name or an order document from the day. It is not treated as a record proving that today\u2019s pearl-sugar dough existed in that form in the 18th century.<\/p><\/li>

  6. Manneken, \u201cManneken\u2019s Commitment to Quality\u201d<\/a> \u2014 Belgian pearl sugar, a production line for bagged products that includes fermentation, production of frozen dough for shops. The parent agent read lines 10\u201323 and 41\u201343 of the main text directly for this edit. The current product formulation is not inferred from the 2016 photo.<\/li><\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    The edges of a Li\u00e8ge waffle do not form a neat rectangle. This Belgian sweet is made by pressing a rounded piece of dough in an iron and baking it with a grid pattern. Pearl sugar mixed into the dough gives it sweetness and crunch.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":6952,"menu_order":57,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_parade_sweetlore_meta":{"en":"Li\u00e8ge Waffle","subtitle":"The Li\u00e8ge waffle, with grains of sugar that melt into the dough","topics":"Pearl sugar \/ Yeasted dough \/ Rounded shape \/ How it differs from the Brussels waffle","country":"Belgium","show_toc":true,"ingredients":[],"texture":["fluffy"],"occasion":[],"method":["baked","fermented"],"season":[]},"footnotes":""},"sweetlore_category":[166],"class_list":["post-8302","sweetlore","type-sweetlore","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":{"sweetlore_related_products":null,"sweetlore_related_faqs":null,"sweetlore_related_voices":null,"sweetlore_related_mode":"manual","sweetlore_related_articles":[8301,8274,8286,8287,8295,8296,8303,8304]},"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t