Lehmans Cast Iron Waffle Maker - Two Piece Hinged Non-Electric Waffle Iron for Stovetop or Grill Makes 7 inch Round Waffles - Non-Drip Double Rim - 8 pounds

I love this waffle maker! I wholeheartedly recommend it and here’s why: • it makes delicious waffles that are just the right size—not too big, not too small—which means they are fluffy on the inside, crispy on the outside (mmmmm!) • it’s cast iron so there’s no toxic coating to disturb your breakfast, plus it adds iron to your diet • it’s smaller than an electric waffle maker & thus conserves storage space • there are no moving parts to wear out so I hope you like it because you’ll have it for the rest of your life • it’s a great value That said, there IS a learning curve to making waffles with this pan. You must follow the procedures precisely or you’ll get furious with your purchase and want to cast it aside (pun intended). If you wish to be victorious, you’ll need the following: • a good waffle—not pancake—recipe • a preheated pan • adequate oiling • medium-low heat • 2 minutes of cooking on each side It’s really not hard. It just takes some practice. Below is my own secret recipe, which I’ve developed just for this pan. I hope you enjoy. LAUGHING LAURA’S WILDLY WONDERFUL WAFFLES Ingredients: 1 cup all-purpose flour 3/4 cup almond flour 1/2 teaspoon fine grain Himalayan salt 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon 1 Tablespoon sugar 3 eggs 7 Tablespoons vegetable oil + more for oiling pan 1 1/2 cups buttermilk 1 teaspoon vanilla extract Directions: Combine all-purpose flour, almond flour, salt, cinnamon & sugar in a bowl. Make a well in the dry ingredients & add eggs. Beat lightly with a fork. Add oil, buttermilk and vanilla extract & stir until just moistened (some lumps are fine). Preheat the pan for at least 4 minutes over medium-high heat. Brush generously with vegetable oil. Pour 3/4 cup of batter onto the center of the pan & close the lid. Flip it over to the other side so batter sinks into all the crevices. The pan is heavy so use both hands for flipping. It’ll be hot! Wear oven mitts! Cook on medium-low heat for 2 minutes then flip it and cook another 2 minutes. Don’t estimate the time! Use a timer (trust me). If you’ve oiled sufficiently, the waffle will come right out with a fork. Add your favorite toppings and enjoy the world’s best waffle! I recommend fresh strawberries and real whipped cream. It’s a good idea to brush a little more oil on between each waffle but you be the judge of how greasy you want your waffles to be. Not necessary but helpful notes: This recipe makes 4 1/2 waffles with this waffler maker, which is perfect for two hungry people and maybe a hungry dog or a not-that-hungry pig, although I think they are too good to share with my pig. The almond flour is the key to exquisite fluffiness so don’t substitute with all-purpose flour. And buttermilk kicks ass. It gives your waffles the right sweet-sour balance. If you don’t have any on hand, you can make it by adding a little vinegar to regular milk. Of course, if you’re vegan you can replace the eggs with flax and the buttermilk with a nut or soy milk. It will take some practice to get your heat exactly the way you want it—especially on a gas stove—but don’t lose hope! You can do it! Triumphant waffles are awaiting you!

After searching forever for a well reviewed and well liked cast iron waffle maker NOT made in China, and coming up dry, I decided to go with this one despite its origin simply because no other good option was available except an extremely expensive European one that looked like the waffles it made were too thin. Overall, I’m glad I went ahead and got this one. I read many of the reviews before purchase so I knew ahead of time to reference them and expect some trial and error. The top review from the US by D. with the waffle recipe included was especially helpful, and I highly suggest reading it as you make your first waffles and using that recipe (double for your first go around so you can chuck the first fails as you learn how to do it). 2 things we had to tweak for our glass stovetop was to lower the temp to medium (medium high was too much, medium low not enough) and cook for 1.5 mins per side not 2-3. But that was just our particular stove. It only took 2 waffles in to figure that out. Another thing we learned was not to oil it again until right before you pour more batter on. If you oil it right after removing a waffle and then let it heat again on the stove or flip it over to heat the top, oil will pour out everywhere. A few reviews said the waffle iron will not stay open to pour the next waffle and takes 2 hands- one to hold the iron open and one to scoop batter in. This is true and false. There are 2 sides to the waffle iron. It stays open at 90 degrees without assistance from one side, but if you flip it to the other side and try to open it 90 degrees it will not open all the way. If the rounded “hook” that holds the hinge together is curve side up, that’s correct and the “top” of the pan. The waffles themselves were crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside. I was worried about it being too shallow of a pan and it isn’t. Makes good Belgian waffles. Not as puffy as my old traditional waffle maker but definitely not too thin, and honestly I like them better than the mega tall waffles I thought I loved. I was also concerned they’d be too small and they aren’t. They’re a good size, and if the waffle iron was any bigger the weight of it would be annoying. I had better luck with lard (or bacon grease) than vegetable oil for keeping waffles from sticking. Applied with a basting brush. Not sure why. Just worthy of note in case you’re having issues with that. Could be your oil type. Great product.

The waffles came out in crumbles. Nice idea but didn't work well.

This pan is a bit tricky to use especially coming from a Teflon-coated electric model. I was thrilled to find a solid cast iron version, though, because I love my cast iron pans and I hated finding the Teflon flaking off on my electric model, indicating I was eating it! First time using this took a little get-up-to-speed time. You do need to make sure both sides of the pan were heated up on HIGH before putting batter in there. If it's a little too cool it will stick badly even with oil on it. So high heat to start, a quick spray (yes it drips everywhere as it heats up and runs down) and then batter and closed. I wish the handles were better designed for flipping and that there was a better grip on the hinge area because to grab it and flip is tough being that it is so heavy. Also some of the edges were not cleaned up well and they are sharp. I think quality control on this item is lacking that way. But I did manage to make a big batch of waffles that came out beautiful with crispy crusts and fluffy interiors. So I'm overall happy, but not a 5-star happy because of the design and quality. Hope this helps.

I don't take many photos of items, and I should have when making these today. I was worried that it would be hard, maddening, messy etc and it wasn't at all! I followed someones's recipe I found, her name was Laura. Great recipe and I followed the directions for the maker just at they were noted. The waffle maker came seasoned, so all i needed to do was wash it and dry it. I did use Bakers Joy to spray the waffle maker with before pouring batter. This stuff sprays out and is messy, so I suggest taking the pieces apart and spray in the sink. I did this each time before I poured another waffle and with a fork, when done, they came right out, no issues whats so ever. Super easy to clean...didn't have anything to get out other than the oil, so i used a mild detergent with a soft brush and washed it well. Dried it on the stove and then seasoned it with coconut oil before storing. This is what I do with all my cast iron skillets and they don't rust. The ONLY thing that is funky about this item is: The connection of the two pieces. They are a little tricky to pull apart. I did heat up both sides separately on burners before using it. Once i felt they were ready, I took each piece with mitts on and held it in the sink and sprayed it with Bakers Joy. Sat it down on burner, sprayed the other side and then connected the together. Then, i slightly lifted the top to pour in some batter...filling just enough before the edges. I put the lid down and set timer for 2 minutes. Well, it took a lot longer then 2 minutes. Just keep checking and then flip, using mitts and holding both ends of waffle maker. I flipped back and forth a few times actually because I like waffles golden and a bit crunchy. The bottom part is what cooks, obviously, but that's why I kept flipping every 3-5 minutes. I got the hang of it real quick and my husband said they were really tasty. This will last a lifetime and is a healthier option than cooking with those non-stick brands....which aren't always non-stick and tend to overflow. I didn't have any spillage, and was surprised with this as well. I decided to make an extra batch and keep in fridge, then toast when ready to eat. Not an easy thing to make for guests, as it's a slow, one waffle at a time kind of process, so making them in advance and toasting quickly should work, i hope. Good luck everyone! Easy to use, just a tad heavy but read other peoples ideas on how to to make and handle this item and you'll have a great experience.

Reading through other reviews, I was kind of worried for the usability of this product, specifically for sticking and being too hot and heavy to handle. Having said that, this product looked like the main non-generic option in this price and size (it's compact in size) range, so I got it and I'm happy with the results. It did not stick at all, it's heavy, and some special care is needed in order to not get yourself burnt, but it's not that hard to handle, and the results are much better (crispy) than my electrical waffle maker. If you have some basic know-how of working with cast iron cookware then it should be relatively simple to make it work without any issues.

It is nearly impossible to figure out how to make waffles with this thing. They should include whatever waffle recipe they use, or at least some sort of an idea of the consistency needed from the batter, the temp, maybe a how-to video somewhere. Both my husband and I had our own separate incidences with this contraption where we almost set the kitchen on fire, ruined a perfectly good batch of waffle batter, and ran panicked across the kitchen, while clutching this ridiculously heavy (did I mention this thing is so heavy, at first you’re like “no big deal” but it it quickly becomes a big deal) any way back to running through the kitchen with the flaming hot ridiculously heavy waffle iron in our in our silicon oven mit, then tossing it. Tossing it sounds wrong, I mentioned how heavy it is, shotputting, that’s the correct word. Shotputting a cast iron waffle iron (say that five times fast, okay only medium difficult but fun) shotputting a cast iron waffle iron out the back door, over the porch and onto the grass, where each time, it burned, its own waffle iron shaped brand into my back yard. Then, each time it took multiple soak and scrub attempts to clean the “project” we had made. Yes, we used oil. But we were looking for something that made waffles- we did not get so that’s where I removed stars but WE WERE LOOKING FOR SOMETHING THAT DID NOT HAVE AN ANTISTICK COATING on it. So this gets two stars because it did provide that.

I held off buying the "Lehman cast iron waffle maker" for a while because it had a few negative reviews concerning its construction and ability to cook good waffles. After searching and searching for something better in the same price range, I came up empty handed and decided to take a chance on it. Too bad I wasn't also buying a lottery ticket that day. It arrived, securely held in its sturdy packaging, and looked beautiful when I pulled it out. We have a glass topped/induction stove which they recommend against, but it's what we have and we (very carefully) cook on it with cast iron all the time. Following the instructions I gently washed it, made up my batter, took the two halves apart, spritzed them with vegetable oil and set them both on separate burners to heat them up at the same time. When I thought the heat might be right (3 - it wasn't... too cool), I poured in the batter, let the recommended time go by and... it was a disaster (of course, the first waffle always is, right? :-p) Fortunately, in the next attempt they came out perfectly, here's what I did, after cleaning out all the mess: (times are approximate, and likely the actual time was 5-8 seconds longer than what I wrote given the time to move things around etc. - this whole cooking thing is more of an art than science of course, and everyone's environment is different. Practicing a few times will hopefully yield similar amazing results though) I took it apart, spritzed the insides with a healthy amount of oil, then spread that all around with a brush, and heated up each side on a separate burner set to 5 (out of 10/Hi). When they started gently smoking, I turned the burners down to 4, poured the batter into one and capped it with the other. (actually on our induction stovetop, when the cookware is removed the burner automatically turns off after a few seconds, so I didn't really do anything with that burner anymore, it went off) Cooked for about a minute on the one side. Flipped the contraption and bumped the heat back up to 5 (to reheat the top side which had been cooling for the past minute), brought back down to 4 after about 30 seconds (or a bit longer), cooked for the rest of the minute (another 30 or so seconds). At that point, it was a matter of intuition, Holy Spirit leading, or crystal gazing, whichever one suits you better, to figure out when to pull it off, just don't do it for too long. I also would try and gently pry to see if it came easily or not, and was kind of watching how much steam was still coming out, the effusion of which had diminished quite a bit by the time the golden awesomeness inside was ready to be offered up on a plate! Although I gave 5 stars for "easy to clean," NO waffle iron is easy to clean if you've baked stuff on - so it's no different from any other waffle iron if you messed things up in the process. But used properly, it was completely spotless when my waffles came out, what you would expect from any good cast iron product.

This waffle maker made me realize how much I hate waffles! It's terrible

This is a great waffle iron! Full recommendation!

very good quality, if at first your waffles don't succeed - keep trying because with proper heat and lube you will have excellent waffles! Love the healthy factor of cast iron.

Good product. Just need to learn to handle it

Keep it seasoned well and enjoy delicious waffles.