All-Grain Sweet Potato Chia Waffles (WFPB)

Shout out to Alton Brown for the base recipe here that I modified to make it more WFPB friendly:

https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/sweet-potato-waffles-recipe-2013843

This version replaces the white flour with a home ground blend of organic hard red winter wheat, spelt and Ohio grown soft white wheat (2:1:1). The egg whites are replaced by ground chia seed gel — which can’t be whipped to stiff peaks and folded in like the egg whites, but still provides good binding power for the waffle batter.

• 1 1/2 cups peeled and cubed sweet potatoes
• 2 cups all whole grain flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3 tbsp ground chia seeds
• 9 tbsp warm water
• 1 cup almond or coconut milk
• 1/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar (optional)
• 1/4 cup avacado or nut oil
• 1 tablespoon grated orange rind
• Vegetable spray, for waffle iron

1. Steam cubed sweet potatoes for 20 minutes until tender. Mash and set aside. 
2. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt and set aside. 
3. In another bowl combine the sweet potatoes, non-dairy milk, brown sugar, oil, and grated orange rind. Add the mashed sweet potato mixture into the flour mixture and thoroughly combine.
4. Grind chia seeds in a spice or coffee grinder and stir into warm water and set aside to gel for a few minutes.
5. Blend gel into the rest of the batter and spoon onto a waffle iron for 5-6 minutes until evenly browned. This is much longer than normal waffle mix — by about double, so don’t take it off with the usual built in light/timers on most waffle irons.