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I would like to make wafer paper like it is used as basis for some Christmas cookies or as used in church (oblates).

This seems to be too basic to be mentioned in usual recipes. Internet search results are so much spammed by recipes using wafer paper that it appears impossible to find clear instructions on how to make the paper itself.

I found only generic instructions like "Use flour and water, maybe sugar salt. Bake."

"Use flour and water" also applies to making pizza or bread and I would prefer to avoid too much experimentation.

How do I choose the ratio between flour and water? What type of flour should I use? How long and at what temperature to bake?

I know this requires experimentation, I am mainly looking for a starting point to reduce the parameters to try.

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  • A search for ‘how to make edible paper’ brings up results which appear to be promising – Spagirl Dec 14 '18 at 21:57
  • That only seems to lead to recipes for rice paper like used for Vietnamese spring rolls. And also here, hardly any recipe is complete in terms of ratios. Thanks anyway! – stewori Dec 15 '18 at 14:25
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As recipe writing is off-topic here, the starting point to reduce the parameters is to look for recipes containing "Sacramental bread recipe", "unleavened communion bread recipe", or even "edible paper recipe".

Just ensure to enclose the search items in-between double quotes (copy-paste the search terms above) and if you find a real church recipe, substitute the biblical grains like Spelt, Khorasan_wheat, ... by organic white flour without any additives if you cannot find the original easily and use a little less water.

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  • Okay, these searches indeed contain something promising, but it is still very difficult to find the right thing. E.g. the unleavened bread mostly leads to things like this: wikihow.com/images/thumb/9/90/Make-Unleavened-Bread-Intro.jpg/… which is not quite the goal. Christmas wafer (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas_wafer) is a good illustration of the goal, however this does not yield a recipe beyond naming the "Main ingredients". I'll keep searching... – stewori Dec 15 '18 at 15:00
  • Unfortunately, this is not a recipe-writing site. If I would give you a recipe, the Q & A would be deleted as "off-topic"... – Fabby Dec 15 '18 at 15:24
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    Yes, I know it's close to a recipe question and I also read the recipes-off-topic warning. However wafer paper is hardly covered by actual recipe writing sites. They perceive it mostly as an ingredient. I guess because it's mostly factory ware nowadays and proper machinery may matter a lot to get the right result. So, hints beyond a plain recipe might be required (or an industrial recipe book :/ ). I found youtube.com/watch?v=lGAi1YNAfVw promising to start so far. At least the result looks quite okay. Your hints are certainly helpful too! – stewori Dec 15 '18 at 15:49
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What is THE most important part of baking oblates is how you bake them. You need to put them in tight space so they come out thin and crispy. The temp is usually described as "very very hot" as you bake them for a short time. Usual recipe is:

  1. x spoons (soup spoons) of oil
  2. 5 times of oil measured in cups of flour
  3. x+2 spoons of powdered sugar
  4. Water - the amount of water should be used to make runny dough. a little more than crepes

So for example 3 spoons of oil is 1,5 cups of flour, 1/4 cups of powdered sugar.

The 'waffle maker" is usually heated over open flame and kept over that flame for the whole process, you just flip the press on the other side.

If you have pancake pan you can use it, just put a dash of the dough and spread it as thin as you can with some tool.

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    Perhaps a good use for a cast iron flat press to keep the heat + pressure! – Luciano Sep 4 '19 at 8:24
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    Most americans would think 'belgian waffle' when seeing 'waffle maker', but you really want one for making Dutch stroopwaffels or waffle cones (for ice cream). You might also be able to use a pizzelle maker. – Joe Sep 4 '19 at 16:40
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What you want to achieve is a very thin layer of batter that bakes to a crispy wafer. It's very comparable to baking Crêpes, where a rather liquid batter is spread out over a hot plate to create very thin pancakes.

I'd take the same approach here: Mix the given ingredients into a batter that is liquid enough to be spread very thin but thick enough to not run all over the place.

I assume (without having experiemented with it) that substituting some flour with starch may yield wafers more similar to commercially available products.

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