I’ve been
quite lazy when it comes to recording my experiments in the kitchen but I feel
that this process can add more substance to my baking and get me reviews from
my followers. A little constructive criticism is always good for a good baker.
Baking is an art which requires precision unlike cooking where I always throw
in ingredients which I like, tasting as I go along and adding whatever I feel
will add flavor to the dish I am cooking. Lately, my inclination towards
cooking has increased because I like experimenting with food and am a desi at
heart. I simply love our Pakistani food and the spicier it is, the better. But
I finally came to that state of mind where I want to dedicate equal amounts of
time to baking and cooking, depending on the dish I want to try. Facebook has
been a great support, springing a new recipe on me every other day because that
is where I build up from. I get the basic idea and then I modify the recipe
based on the things I’ve learnt over the past seven years when I first entered
the kitchen.
Recently, I
became been obsessed with finding the perfect recipe for brownies. I feel like
I am the biggest critic for myself so even when my mom would congratulate me on
something, I wouldn’t take it to my heart even though praise doesn’t come easily
from her either. The world may have the perfect bakers but for me, my biggest competitor
is just plain, old me. Not being much of a sweet tooth myself, I don’t like
desserts immediately. So, it took me
quite a lot of time to finally get it right enough. This still needs some
honing but I feel that I have come up with a good enough version of the perfect
brownies.
First things
first, it is hard to find out whether the recipe we select is according to
metric measurements or American ones so it’s better to use a digital balance
because it is accurate to the nearest decimal place. Keep this in mind and your
baking episodes will be considerably smoother.
You need to
make sure that all your ingredients are at room temperature. This will help the
mixture achieve homogeneity better. For our recipe however, that only
constitutes eggs because we are going to be using melted butter. Moreover, in
this recipe, we use baking powder so it doesn’t require creamed butter to act
as a leavening agent. Plus, it’s easier to incorporate melted butter into the
mixture. You need to make sure that the size of eggs is large as called for
because that completely changes the consistency of the mixture. If you cannot
find the size required, you can use this conversion table which I found online:
One more
important tip before we start off. Traditionally, brownie recipes require less
beating but its modern counterparts involve the incorporation of chocolate and
it’s crucial that we beat it to the optimum amount because it’s very easy to
under-mix it.
Ingredients:
Bittersweet
Chocolate – 2 oz
Bittersweet
Chocolate Chips – 5 oz
Dutch
processed Cocoa Powder – 3 oz
Unsalted
Butter – 4 oz
Sugar – 8 ¾ oz
Eggs – 4 small
Vanilla
Extract – 1 tsp
Salt – ¾ tsp
All-Purpose
Flour – 5 oz
Baking
Powder – ¾ tsp
Method:
Firstly, you
need to mix all three forms of chocolate, butter and espresso powder and put it
on a double-boiler. Some recipes allow you to melt it in a microwave but it
could easily get out of control and become a grainy mess so I prefer this
method. After it gets incorporated, remove it from the heat to cool down.
Meanwhile, preheat the oven at 175˚C
and move on to the next
step.
Beat the
eggs with sugar and add in the salt and vanilla essence. This stage would yield
better results if castor sugar is used. Next, you should sift the flour and
baking powder and set it aside. The chocolate mixture should have slightly
cooled down by now. Roughly 10-15 minutes are enough for the cooling process.
After this, add it to the egg mixture. Beat it thoroughly. Then fold in the sifted
flour mixture until the mixture attains complete homogeneity.
Line an 8x8
baking pan with aluminum foil so that its easier for you to remove from the
tray once its baked. Then pour the mixture into the baking pan. At this point,
you can either refrigerate it for a while which gives it a richer flavor; or,
if you are short on time, you can place it in the oven and leave it for a good
thirty minutes. You will know your brownie is done when the sides start to
leave the edges of the pan and the center looks firm. Once you’ve removed the
brownies from the oven, let them cool down so that they can fully texturize.
TA-DA! Your
brownies are ready. You can top it with ganache or eat it with ice cream. They’re
yummy enough on their own though. A post on toppings will be coming soon so
stay tuned!
References:
Egg
Size Conversion Chart & Tips. (n.d.). Retrieved July 05, 2017, from https://www.incredibleegg.org/cooking-school/tips-tricks/egg-sizes-equivalents-and-substitutions/
Oregonian, S. T. (2011, May 24). Whether caky or
fudgy, the best brownies rely on technique. Retrieved July 05, 2017, from http://www.oregonlive.com/foodday/index.ssf/2011/05/whether_caky_or_fudgy_best_bro.html
Let’s Change the Way We Talk About Brownies. (2014,
September 01). Retrieved July 05, 2017, from
http://greatfoodforthought.org/2014/09/01/lets-change-the-way-we-talk-about-brownies/
