Article: How a Bondi doctor gave Australia the jaffle
How a Bondi doctor gave Australia the jaffle
People have toasted bread over fires for centuries. Hinged "pie irons" were sold in America from the 1920s. But a hot sandwich had one big flaw. The moment you bit into it, the filling escaped.
Melted cheese, stew or baked beans dripped out the sides. It was messy at the kitchen table and worse around a campfire. Cooks needed a way to lock the filling inside the bread.
The jaffle iron
In June 1949, Dr Ernest Smithers, a doctor from Bondi in Sydney, registered a design for a new sandwich iron. Two hinged metal plates on long handles clamped shut over the bread. Unlike earlier irons, they pressed and sealed the edges, trapping the filling inside a neat, crimped pocket.
Smithers named it the jaffle, probably a play on "waffle". First advertised as a "pressure toaster", the iron worked on a stove, a barbecue or an open fire.
Jaffle fever
By the early 1950s, Australia had caught on. Jaffle irons were given out as prizes at shows, demonstrated at cookery classes and sold in single and double models. In 1950, Edgell promoted a tinned Meat and Spaghetti made especially for jaffles. The jaffle iron also found a permanent place in the camping kit, where it remains today.
Breville goes electric
In 1974, Sydney appliance maker Breville turned the jaffle electric. Its Snack'n'Sandwich toaster sold 400,000 units in its first year, reaching about one in ten Australian homes.
In 1976 Breville added its scissor action, which cut and sealed each sandwich into two triangles. The machine went on to sell in more than 50 countries. In Britain, toasted sandwiches became known simply as "brevilles".
Down and back again
In the 1990s, cafés dropped jaffles for focaccias and paninis. A generation later, the jaffle returned as retro café food in Australian cities. In 2014 Breville released The Original '74, an anniversary model with bigger plates for modern bread.
The coin
The $1 Jaffle Maker coin is part of the Royal Australian Mint's 2026 Bright Ideas collection. It may be the most relatable coin in the set. Most Australians have made a jaffle at some point.