Wholegrain waffles are a great healthy way to start the day. When people ask me about simple gluten-free breakfasts, I often point them to waffles. Once you have a good waffle iron the rest is simple.

The basic recipe is this: freshly ground flour from a grain or your choice, ground seeds/nuts, salt, water.

The grains I usually choose for waffles:

• buckwheat
• brown rice
• quinoa (combines well with brown rice flour)
• millet
• fine cornmeal (combined with another flour type)

For the ground seeds I usually go for ground linseeds (gold or brown, doesn’t matter except for aesthetically if you want to disguise!) – apart from being really healthy and a great way to start the day, I find the linseed gelling helps the consistency of the waffle, and it helps it not stick to the waffle iron! With ground linseeds in the mix I don’t need any oil or fat in the mix. The other go-to seed I use in waffles is ground pumpkin kernels – they are high in zinc and iron and a great source of protein. Of course you can use ground nuts (almonds, cashews, hazelnuts etc) with excellent results, but I usually go for seeds in waffles as they are a lot cheaper, full of health benefits and a great thing to include in our daily diet.

Generally I just use water as the liquid, however I do find that if I’m using millet flour the result is better with some kind of milk (soy milk, nut mylk etc).

Baking these kind of whole-grain seedy waffles takes longer than traditional lighter-than-air butter/sugar waffle batters, so allow around 5 minutes per waffle. You can also reheat waffles in the toaster – if you are planning to do this I would bake them for a shorter time initially so they don’t dry out. If you are seriously into waffles (like we are) you may want to invest in a really good quality double waffle iron – I got mine from Germany. Here’s a link to Cloer’s website (sorry it’s in German) the pics give you an idea.

Topping ideas

• unheated organic nutbutter and sliced fresh fruit is hard to beat
• homemade “jam” – that is fresh fruit cooked with 25% sweetening (not 100% like regular jam) and thickened with agar agar. Highly recommend plums, apricots, blackberries. I use 250g sweetener (usually honey or rapadura) per kilo of fruit, and around 2 level tsp of agar agar. I just bring it to the boil, simmer gently for a few minutes (3-5 mins), test a spoonful in the freezer to make sure I like the consistency when cold, then place in sterilised glass jars. Totally delicious 🙂
• sliced avocado and bragg seasoning
• tasty savoury spread made by combining elaion (margarine), yeast flakes and bouillon powder

Here are a couple of specific recipes but don’t feel limited to these, substitute grains and seeds as you like and get a feel for your favourite waffle combinations.