Grandma's Sourdough Waffles

When we were kids, my grandmother used to make this waffle recipe for us every time we would visit. I loved these waffles, but no matter which restaurants I visited I could never find any I liked as well. I recently bought a waffle iron, and my grandmother sent me the recipe. It tastes best, of course, with real maple syrup. Just a warning: this recipe must be started the night before. I've found, in my own experience, that the taste is stronger if you let it sit for 10-10.5 hours instead of, say, 7.5-8 hours. (I've tried it both ways.) We like it stronger. Note: Down below I included the overnight time under "cooking" since it is considered passive work time. The waffles do NOT cook for that long, of course! Enjoy!

• Ready In: 8 hrs 15 mins
• Serves: 4
• Yields: 8-9 waffles

Ingredients

• 3  cups white flour
• 1  package dry yeast (1/4 oz. OR 2.25 tsp., depending on your system of measuring)
• 2 1⁄2 cups  lukewarm water
• 2  eggs
• 2  tablespoons  oil or 2  tablespoons milk (I like milk)
• 1  teaspoon baking soda
• 2  tablespoons sugar
•  nonstick cooking spray
•  butter or  margarine (for serving)
•  syrup (for serving)

Directions

1. The night before you want your waffles, mix the flour, yeast, and lukewarm water.
2. Put in tall bowl, as it will rise quite a bit.
3. Cover with towel and let sit in room temperature overnight.
4. In the morning, uncover and stir.
5. Don't be put off by the texture. It is supposed to look weird. Really.
6. Add the eggs and oil/milk, enough to make it thin enough to use.
7. It might be a little tough to make it all mix together, because it tends to be a bit sticky, but keep at it.
8. Usually helps if you've mixed the eggs a little in a separate bowl, so you're not dealing with a whole yolk.
9. In small, separate bowl combine baking soda and sugar. Mix until no lumps.
10. Add to soda & sugar mixture to bowl with waffle dough.
11. Stir until mixed in.
12. Let sit about fifteen minutes. (A good time to start preheating your waffle iron.)
13. Spray waffle iron with cooking spray. You'll need to repeat this occasionally as the spray wears off.
14. Experiment with amounts of waffle dough to put in the iron and times. For us, we use a ladle and cook each waffle for 3-5 minutes. Those sizes and times work perfectly for us, but I'm sure waffle irons vary in size and cooking times.
15. You can get creative with adding other ingredients. I haven't tried any of these yet, but I've heard adding crumbled bacon, blueberries, grated apples, etc. to the mix before making the waffles works well.
16. For us, the recipe usually yields 8-9 waffles, enough for 3-4 people. It might differ for your waffle iron.