Adapted from the recipe found here: https://liegewaffle.wordpress.com/liege-waffle-recipe-liege-gaufre-recette/
Ingredients
1½ tsp active dry yeast
¼ cup whole milk at 110-115 degrees
2 tbsp + 2 tsp water at 110-115 degrees
2 cups King Arthur Bread flour, divided into ⅔ a cup and 1⅓ a cup.
1 large room temperature egg, lightly beaten
1 tbsp + 1 tsp light brown sugar
¾ tsp salt
8 tbsp soft room temperature unsalted butter
1 tbsp honey
2 tsp vanilla extract
¾ cup Belgian Pearl Sugar
Instructions
Place yeast, scalded milk, and heated water into the workbowl of a stand mixer. Let the yeast moisten for a minute.
Add the ⅔ cup of flour and the lightly beaten egg. Mix on a low speed to blend, scraping down the sides of the workbowl once or twice.
Dust the remaining 1 and ⅓ cups of flour evenly over the dough. Do not mix the flour into the dough. Cover the bowl with a cloth and let stand 90 minutes. The dough will push up through the flour during this time. (If it doesn't, your yeast has failed.)
Add the brown sugar and salt to the workbowl. Mix into the dough on a low speed to combine.
Continuing to mix on a low speed, add the honey and vanilla extract to combine. Then, add the room-temperature butter a couple tablespoons at a time. Mix 4 minutes at a medium-low speed, scraping down the sides of the bowl a couple of times. Let the dough rest for 1 minute and then continue to mix for 2 minutes.
Scrape the dough into a ball and then dust with a little flour. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let the dough rise at room temperature for 4 hours.
Place the bowl in the refrigerator for 30 minutes to slow down yeast respiration.
Deflate the dough with a rubber scraper, or if you are hands-on, with your hands. Collect the dough and place it on a long piece of plastic wrap. Flatten the dough in a long rectangle, then fold it in thirds like a letter. Wrap the plastic over it and refrigerate overnight. If not using the following day, the dough can be stored in an airtight container and frozen.
On the day of use, place the cold, tough dough in a large bowl and add the pearl sugar. Mix the pearl sugar in by hand. Piece will constantly fall out, but don't worry. Once mixed, divide the dough into 12 pieces of equal size. Any pearl sugar that has fallen out of the dough can be pressed into the surface of the dough. Shape each piece of the divided dough into a ball and let rise for 90 minutes.
Heat your waffle iron to it's baking specifications, and while the waffles are in the iron, watch you iron like a hawk. It is easy for the sugar to go beyond caramel to carcinogen. In particular, mind the caramel that accumulates after each batch of waffles. If you have a stovetop iron, make sure to flip ever couple minutes to avoid overheating each side.