What are you Baking the Week of June 6, 2021?

[Mike Nolan]

No baking plans here for the next few days.

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[BakerAunt]

On Sunday, I baked the Apricot Oatmeal Bars (at Nebraska Kitchen), but I used my strawberry-blackberry jam. I also replace the AP flour with white whole wheat and reduce the light brown sugar to ½ cup. These will be dessert through Wednesday.

[cwcdesign]

Yesterday, I made Claire Saffitz “Forever” brownies. She uses Dutch process cocoa, semisweet chocolate (64-68%), malted milk powder and milk chocolate. I used double Dutch cocoa, 72% chocolate and semisweet with a little bit of milk chocolate for the add-in. Turns out Nestle’s semisweet is only 47%.

I doubled the recipe which she said you could do. With my hand I’m not sure I whisked as well as the recipe said. Will really likes it. Last night I wasn’t sure if I liked it as well as my KAF brownies, but I will eat them - hah. I may also try making them without doubling.

[BakerAunt]

CWCdesign--sometimes brownies improve on the second day, or maybe that's just the chocolate talking....

[Joan Simpson]

No baking except for corn bread.

[cwcdesign]

Everybody else likes them. The flavor is good, but they’re too fudgy for me. I might try malt powder in the KAF brownies - it was a nice addition

[aaronatthedoublef]

I've tried KAF raisin bread twice. The first time I didn't let this rise enough and had no oven spring.

The second time I may have over-proofed it. Our kitchen was about 75 instead of about 67 and I forgot to put the dough in the refrigerator when we went out so it rose in the pan at room temp for about four hours. It had a nice high crown over the pan edge but not only did it not have any oven spring it actually fell back some in the oven.

CWC, I'm with BA. Some brownies really are better the second or even third day.

I looked at the recipe and it has you melt the chocolate and butter together. This makes it fudgier. It's denser because you're not beating air into the butter. If you cream the butter with the sugar and add the eggs, chocolate and oil, and cocoa and water, it should make them cakier.

[BakerAunt]

Although it is in the 80s and humid, I baked Whole Grain Pumpkin Bread, a recipe posted at Nebraska Kitchen that I adapted. I baked it as 5 small loaves, so they required 40 minutes rather than the 30 minutes that six would, but I think they fill the pans better when I bake the recipe as five. I will freeze most of the loaves for quick desserts later.

[Joan Simpson]

Only baking I did today is buttermilk biscuits.

[cwcdesign]

Thanks Aaron. I admit they are getting better but still not my texture. I don’t like cakey brownies - as Claire says you might as well have chocolate cake. I like the texture of the KAF fudgie brownies - they are not as dense.

Claire says these ar supposed to be chewy and this batch is not. I think it’s because my hand is still not strong enough to whisk vigorously as she says to do in the last step before folding. I do want to try making them again without doubling the recipe.

[Janiebakes]

Cwcdesign, when my boys were very young and we baked brownies together, sometimes the brownies were cake like and other times they were fudgie. I could never figure out why. We used the recipe in Joy of Cooking which calls for two cups of sugar. Finally, one time they turned out cake like and I found the second cup of sugar still on the counter. Bingo! One cup of sugar made them cake like and two made them fudgie. Some one better at food chemistry could probably tell you why.

[BakerAunt]

What Janiebakes says makes sense. My favorite fudgy brownie recipe (no longer baked since butter can no longer be a major food group for me) called for melting the butter and heating the sugar with it. The melting of the sugar gave the fudginess, and I seem to recall that recipe also had 2 cups sugar. So, the more sugar to melt, the fudgier the brownies.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Interesting! I never thought about melting the sugar but that makes sense. These days I melt half the butter and cream half the butter with the sugar. I may try melting some of the sugar.

I've also started adding about a TBSP of freeze-dried coffee too. Supposedly brings out the chocolate.

[cwcdesign]

The melting of the sugar and butter is why the KAF brownies are so good. PJ even did a blog post about them way back when. The first time I made them my husband and I ate almost the whole batch in a day or 2!

[BakerAunt]

I agree about the coffee with chocolate, Janiebakes. I've been using the King Arthur espresso powder for years. My husband cannot stand coffee, but he does not detect it in chocolate items, because, as you say, it enhances the chocolate.

I tried coffee extract one time, and that he did not like.

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