As a food photographer, it’s safe to say that I know a thing or two about food and whenever the weather’s bad and I need a winter warmer, I always go with my delicious homemade waffles. It doesn’t matter whether I have them for breakfast, brunch, lunch, dinner, or as a midnight snack even, I can’t get enough of them.

I’ve snapped my fair share of waffles for work over the years. From berries and vanilla waffles to fried buttermilk chicken and maple syrup waffles, I’ve tried the best of the best and have picked up waffle making tips over the years, which I’ll be sharing with you now.

Here are my 4 tips for the ultimate homemade waffles.

Use quality ingredients

Ever wonder why some foods seemingly made from the same ingredients can vary so much in taste? If so, it all comes down to the quality of the ingredients.

When making waffles, for your toppings, head to a quality fruit producer such as local Surrey farms and pick up fresh fruit such as blueberries and raspberries. The quality of fruits from local picking farms or own garden over supermarket fruits is like night and day. Planting blueberries and raspberries in my Woking garden was one of best healthy “investments” done during Covid-19 lockdown.

Use a good quality flour, go with organic or free-range hens or duck eggs, and use whole milk along with a good source of fat such as clarified butter or organic coconut yoghurt.

Invest in a quality waffle maker

Obviously if you want to make waffles, you’re going to need to invest in a waffle maker.

When I first got the cravings for waffles after snapping pictures of some maple syrup and mixed berries waffles for a breakfast shoot, I rushed out and picked up the cheapest waffle maker I could find, and dude, was I disappointed!

The waffles stuck to the waffle iron, they were burnt on the outside and stodgy in the middle, and they just weren’t nice at all. I ended up spending some more money and buying a good quality waffle maker and the difference it made was astonishing.

The waffles were crispy on the outside, fluffy on the inside, beautifully golden, and they didn’t stick.

Use enough fat to go non-stick

I can honestly say, that one of my biggest struggles when making waffles was when they would stick. They’d stick, I’d have to scrape them off and I’d end up with a mess on my plate.

Don’t get me wrong, topped with fresh yoghurt and Surrey berries the taste was great, but the presentation wasn’t. To fix this, I Googled to use more fat.

When snapping some amazingly golden, lightly crusty, and perfectly formed waffles for a breakfast photoshoot, I was told that the secret to non-stick waffles was to use more fat.

I added extra clarified butter to my waffle batter before pouring it into the waffle maker and they came out perfectly. You can also use a good quality vegetable oil, or even lard for a more savoury waffle.

Separate your eggs

Finally, to really make the ultimate fluffy waffles, be sure to separate your eggs when making the batter.

When mixing your batter, add the beaten egg yolks to the wet ingredients and mix it in well before adding to the flour. Meanwhile beat your egg whites until they form stiff peaks, and then fold them into the batter mixture at the end.

When adding the whites, gently fold them in using a spatula so as to not knock all the air from them, as this is what will make your waffles light and fluffy.

Just have a look at this yummy waffles made by JD :)