I’m making savory waffles based on corn and very coarse cornmeal. Of course corn kernals and veg (like peppers) make it tricky because batter doesn’t stick well to smooth non-porous surfaces.
The standard combination of milk, eggs, and wheat flour works well enough as a binder, but only if added in a high enough ratio. If I cut back on the flour, the waffles lose their mechanical integrity and fall apart.
I’m looking for ideas for other binders. This is my speculative brainstorm:
- cheese
- honey
- bees wax
- maple syrup
- molassas
- agave?
- gluten (wheat flour, beer? (wheat beer or any beer?), glutinous rice?)
- cornstarch, wheat starch, tapioca starch
- chicken eggs (the whites thereof)
- vegan “eggs” like VegEgg powder (is that psyllium husk?)
- Aquafaba (chickpea water)
- baking soda (if fried?)
- PVA (polyvinylacetate aka wood glue)
For the gluten intolerant:
- Psyllium husk
- Agar-Agar
- Chia seeds, flax seeds
- Linseed (Flaxseed)
- Guar gum
- Xanthan gum
- Arrowroot
- Carrageenan
- Nonfat milk powder
Chicken eggs seem to be the most common additive that does the heavy lifting for binding -- used in cakes and even hamburgers not for flavor but just as an effective binder. I’m not vegan but I try to gravitate in that direction. I’ve switched to VegEgg -- a pricey powder that replaces animal eggs. I’m not sure VegEgg is as effective as animal eggs. I doubled the VegEgg dosage and it seems good enough but it would be nice to eliminate VegEgg as well just because it’s obscure and pricey compared to eggs. It’s likely a proprietary cocktail of other ingredients in bio shops. Aquafaba is perhaps what I should be considering.
Belgians separate the egg yolks from the whites and beat the whites into a foam for waffles. Is that just to get air into the batter? I don’t want fluffy airy waffles, so I guess I should skip the whipping if I use eggs.
I have no problem with gluten but gluten intolerant people need to use non-wheat flour (like coconut flour or almond flour), so they need to add something else to get the binding effect of gluten. Does anyone add the gluten-free binders to wheat flour just to amplify the binding?
Cheese has a special protein that gives it the sticky melting characteristic. There is an effort underway in the UK to synthesize that so a more convincing vegan cheese can be made (IIRC). But I don’t think we are there yet.
Beer is sometimes used in batter. I’m not sure if that’s for the bubbles, the flavor, or if the gluten in the beer helps as a binder. I have been using almond milk but I am tempted to try a flat beer instead (flat to get dense not airy waffles).
Waffle recipes often include confectioner’s sugar, apparently just as a sweetener. But if I need better binding, should I use honey, syrup, or molassas instead?
Baking soda increases browning, so I wonder if the crispy exteriour helps keep things together.
I mentioned PVA for completeness. Wood glue is strangely used on the heels of some cheeses (WTF?). But I am not seriously considering putting wood glue in my waffles. It might even be toxic in its liquid state.
Was going to title this edible glues but it turns out they exist with a different meaning- as a sugar paste to stick ornaments onto decorated cakes.