bokmann/browniechew.md

## browniechew.md

      
    Raw
  

              browniechew.md
            
          
    For about 2 months I've been making brownies.  I've consulted dozens of cookbooks, websites, and TV shows looking for the ultimate chewy brownie recipe.  I think I have constructed it from several sources:

James' Beard's 1972 American Cookery
Cooks Illustrated "The Science of Good Cooking"
Good Eats Reloaded "Art of Darkness II"

Elements of this recipe are taken from all three sources, along with testing in my own kitchen.  I still have more tests of this recipe to do before I call it 'final', but enough people have been asking for it I've decided to share it as a 'beta brownie'.
Brownies fall someplace in the 'brownie triangle' between cakey, chewy, and fudgy.  IMHO, brownies are the only true form to get 'chew' out of a baked good beyond a pizza crust... if I want cake I'll eat that.  So I want something on the fudgy/chewy side of the triangle, leaning toward the chew. I've pulled every trick I can find from every cookbook to get that to work.
For the chocolate, I like a good 'endorphin rush'.  If you've ever eaten a good truffle, you know what I'm talking about.  If you don't, I feel sorry for you... some people look at me like I'm crazy when I talk about this semi-caffeinated-opioid-flush a good chocolate can bring.  While a box mix like "Duncan Hines Chewy Fudge" can bring the texture, it falls way short for the chocolate experience.  This recipe is here to fix that.
Details that may or may not be relevant:

from my own testing, I've found a dark metal pan makes the chewyest brownie with the kind of edge preferred by brownie afficianados.
I prefer this recipe in a 9x9 pan.  It also works for an 8x8 pan or a 9x13 'all edges' brownie pan.  For a 9x13 pan, you'll want to multiply this recipe by 1.5 to get the right thickness
I have not yet tested it between my different ovens.  This recipe has been tuned in my electric oven.
I'm including the brands of components in the recipe, only because I've been carefully tuning the ratio of saturated to unsaturated fats.  I'm sure it works well with different brands, but I thought that detail relevant to my tests.

Prep:

preheat your oven to 350f.
grease a non-stick, dark metal, 9x9 pan. (I do not use a 'brownie sling' technique. The grease in the non-stick helps develop the classic brownie 'edge').

dry ingredients:

1 cup King Arthur Bread Flour (gluten in the bread flour develops the chew)
1/4 cup Ghirardelli Majestic Premium Cocoa Powder (used for the high cocoa butter content)
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp Medaglia D'Oro Instant Espresso

mix these together and set aside.
wet ingredients:

4 oz Scharffen Berger 99% Cacao Unsweetened Chocolate (really its just a hair under 4 oz because the bar is metric)
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp water
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs

Assembly:

melt the unsweetened chocolate, butter, and vegetable in a large sauce pan over low heat.  Turn off heat just before chocolate is fully melted and let the carryover heat finish it.  You don't want it to get too hot and pre-cook the eggs.
add 2 tbsp water and 1 tsp vanilla and stir until combined (I still have experiments to perform with the amount of water.  It both reduces the 'graininess' of the final brownie and helps develop the chewy gluten of the bread flour.
add the 2 cups of sugar and stir until it looks like wet sand. the sugar will not fully disolve in this much oil.
add the two eggs and stir JUST UNTILFULLY COMBINED. The texture will change - it'll seem like a big chocolate clot. but you don't want to overbeat eggs and sugar... it creates a tougher batter.
add the dry mixture at this point and FOLD UNTIL COMBINED. There may still be light streaks of the four mixture, but there shouldn't be dry clumps.

Baking:

Pour into prepared metal pan
let sit 10 minutes (water and flour are making gluten without overworking the batter! it's chewy magic!)
put into 350f oven for 15 minutes
take out of over for a 10 minute rest (this suggestion came from Alton Brown.  He says it equalizes temperature - I think it's another opportunity to develop gluten)
put back into over for 15 minutes or until a stick thermometer registers 188f (carryover will take it past the magic 190f for egg proteins. a toothpick might not come out totally clean because of how 'wet' these brownies are when done.

Eating:

let stand until completely cool.
these can be cut into big 'bakery style' brownies or little 'brownie bites'.
save a corner for me

Further Experiments:
According to Cooks Illustrated and America's Test Kitchen, the saturated/unsaturated fat ratio determines the chewiness of the final product.  In my testing I've found the bread flour, water, and rests make a bigger difference. You can try replacing the 1/2 cup of veg oil with a stick of butter, and the 2 tbsp butter with 2 tbsp veg oil and see for yourself.  I've been meaning to retry this.
I want to try the recipe with different brands of ingredients to see how the recipe changes.  I'm sure it'll be delicious, but the ratios of fats and proteins will change and will definitely affect the final outcome.
I'm Going to try the recipe with 4 tbsp water (a 1/4 cup) and see if that changes gluten development.
I haven't yet tried adding anything like chocolate chips or nuts to the recipe yet.