In December 2018, I will have owned my waffle iron for 50 years. Yes, it still works as well as it did in 1968. Made in America. But already I digress.

For the last 25 years or so, I’ve made an overnight yeasted waffle that is to die for.  My print copy of the recipe is stained yellow with age and spilled ingredients. If you’re still using wheat, Google Overnight Yeast Waffle. Many different versions. Most are good.

Although take a tip from my hard drive copy, which includes this note: DON’T ADD BAKING SODA BEFORE COOKING. Many of the newer versions give the dough an added pop with last-minute baking soda. Not necessary.

But …

I’ve given up grains for the duration. I’m eating like a caveperson. Almost. But I really, really wanted waffles for breakfast, necessitating a different kind of Google search.

Paleo waffles.

Again, I found many different versions. Some made with coconut flour, almond flour, tapioca flour or plantains. Some made with coconut oil and coconut milk. Or water. Or ghee. Two, three or six eggs. What to do?

Here’s the list of ingredients I ended up with:

• 1 cup fine ground almond flour
• ½ cup tapioca flour
• ½ cup coconut flour
• 2 TBSP ground flax and chia mixed
• 1 tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp baking soda
• ¼ tsp salt
• 3 whole eggs (do not separate)
• 4 TBSP or ¼ cup melted butter
• 1 cup Lactaid 2 percent milk
• 1 TBSP cider vinegar
• 1 tsp vanilla

A lot of recipes call for the addition of honey or maple syrup. Since I like pure maple syrup or jam or fruit ON the waffles, I didn’t add sweetener to the dough.

The method is what you’d expect. Mix all the dry ingredients together. Mix all the wet ingredients together. Be careful to cool the melted butter before adding it to the eggs.  Then mix dry and wet ingredients together until incorporated. Don’t overmix.

Follow your usual process for using the waffle iron. I used a bit more than 1/2 cup of dough per waffle, ending up with a thick waffle that didn’t quite make a perfect round.

The recipe is ALMOST Paleo because it contains dairy. For the Paleo purists among you, replace the milk with coconut or almond milk, although I have my doubts that Paleolithic humans had access to these substances.

And why do I call these ALMOST waffles? Jim called them ‘light and fluffy’ and scarfed them down. I found them somewhat dry and not-to-be-compared with my yeast waffles. But they did satisfy that I-need-a-waffle craving.

I may have to try Einkorn wheat—the wild wheat cultivated about 30,000 years ago—with yeast and see what happens. Definitely not Paleo, but genetically different—better?—than modern wheat.