Translated from German, the word Waffel means "honeycomb" or "cell". The most curious of them often ask themselves, why are wafers always in a box? Try to answer.
Who invented the waffles and when?
The name of the ancient chef who invented this confectionery was not preserved. It is only known that in ancient times waffles had a complex recipe and consisted entirely of natural products. Therefore, only noble and wealthy people could afford this dish.
Interesting fact: The waffle recipe for a long time belonged only to the royal court and was kept secret. For his disclosure, both the talker and the cook were threatened with death. Only in the 16th century did the recipe become available.
On August 24, 1869, a real waffle boom began. On this day, New Yorker Cornelius Swarthout introduced everyone to the waffle iron invented by him. With its help, they began to bake products that are most similar to modern ones. Now it is a national American holiday, which is indicated on the calendar as "Waffle Day."
Soon the product became a real find for culinary specialists. This type of baking began to be used as the basis for all kinds of pastry masterpieces. Various European peoples contributed to its improvement. So, the Dutch bake syrupy waffles, the Czechs - "spa" with a special filling of sugar and nuts, the Belgians - Liege, resembling donuts. In the US, they are especially popular with bacon, cheese or farm meat.But, despite the fact that the whole world prepares waffles according to different recipes, they are united by one thing - a similar cellular structure of the surface. But she is not at all a quirk of confectioners.
Why checkered waffles?
On the surface of this confectionery product there are necessarily small recesses, somewhat reminiscent of honeycombs. It turns out that they are necessary in order to better hold the filling, not allowing it to spread over the baking plates. As you can see, their purpose is almost the same as that of bee honeycombs. A filler - condensed milk, jam, whipped cream, cream is much better on a ribbed surface. That is why medieval confectioners so loved the “checkered cookies”. They simply rejoiced that they had finally found a dough, on which the filling does not “slip”.
Making wafers completely flat is impossible for another reason. Small bumps on waffle irons are designed to absorb excess dough when baking. Thanks to this, wafer sheets are thinner and crunchier. The dough is much better baked on corrugated metal also because in this case the area of its contact with the heated working surface increases significantly.
So why are they still in the box? Modern designers of wafer rolling mechanisms simply set off on the path of least resistance. The geometric cell is the most affordable, simple and economical design. Instead, it can be applied to any other. For the confectioner, the main thing is that there should be at least some cellular relief on the surfaces of wafers baked between two hot metal baking sheets.
As you can see, the favorite delicacy of many gourmets - waffles have long been prepared with cells or cells on both sides. Their function is not at all decorative. Thanks to the presence of convex cells, any filling is better held on the finished surface of the products and wafer sheets are much better baked. Without a pronounced relief, beloved waffles run the risk of becoming ordinary cookies.
