Chocolate substitution

[paulraphael]

I've been struggling to adapt a brownie recipe. The original vesion is made with supermarket chocolate (baker's semisweet). The flavor is what you'd expect, but the texture is exactly what I want: dense, fudgy, smooth, just a bit of crumb.

When I substitute good chocolate (I've tried El Rey, Callebaut, and different versions of Valrhona) the flavor improves just as it should, but the consistency goes to pieces. they become tender, fluffy, and barely hold together under their own wieght.

I assume a good bit of this is due to cocoa butter percentages, but I really have no idea if that's it or even how to deal with it. Does baker's chocolate (which I've read is 55% cocoa solids) have more or less cocoa butter than the good chocolates?

And is there anything else i should be thinking about?

[chefpeon]

If the baker's chocolate you use is 55%, are you substituting straight across? For instance, when you use the Callebaut, or Valrhona, are they in the 55% category also?

[Art]

There are probably several things that are happening here. Baker's (baking) chocolate should be about 45% cocoa solids and 54% cocoa butter. This is on average the contents of the cocoa bean and that is essentially all that baking chocolate is.

These better chocolates that you mention will typically add additional cocoa butter as well as sugar. I suspect that it is the sugar that is causing the problem simply because with a 70% chocolate, you are talking about 30% of the weight being sugar -- which could be a lot depending on your recipe.

What I would do is reduce the amount of sugar you are adding. You may want to add additional good chocolate as well. This will help make up for the 30% you lose to sugar.

In addition, most all of these chocolates have additional cocoa butter added. I'd guess and say about 10% of the weight is added cocoa butter. This can vary depending on manufacturer and which product. (Some add less and then they will add soy lecithin to help achieve the thinning affect of cocoa butter.) Because of this, you may want to reduce the fat in your recipe to accommodate. (Though it should simply make it more fudgy IMHO.)

If you are using a regular semi-sweet, it is probably 50% cocoa solids and 50% sugar so the problem is more significant given this case. Since I don't know specifically which chocolate from these manufactuers you are using, I can't go into too much detail but this should give you an idea as to what is happening.

I'd imagine you will probably have to give it a couple of tries but I'm sure you will get it in the end.

-Art

[paulraphael]

If the baker's chocolate you use is 55%, are you substituting straight across? For instance, when you use the Callebaut, or Valrhona, are they in the 55% category also?

←

No, part of the reason I'm making the substitution is to get more cocoa solids. I'm using chocolates that range from 67% to 72%.

I know this is likely a factor; I just haven't figured out how to compensate.

[paulraphael]

Art, thanks for the reply. The original recipe used baker's semisweet chocolate. I've read this is about 55% cocoa solids, but I don't know how much of the remainder is sugar and how much is added cocoa butter, lecithin, or god-knows-what. For that matter, i don't know the formulas of the good chocolates I'm trying, either. I'm sure they have less sugar than the baker's, but I don't know if they have more or less cocoa butter. Thoughts?

I have so far tried

1) less sugar

2) less butter

3) less chocolate (thinking maybe the recipe was maxed out with chocolate to begin with)

4) more flour

some of these adjustments have helped the brownies hold together better, but none have given them the fudgy texture of the original.

There are probably several things that are happening here.  Baker's (baking) chocolate should be about 45% cocoa solids and 54% cocoa butter.  This is on average the contents of the cocoa bean and that is essentially all that baking chocolate is.

These better chocolates that you mention will typically add additional cocoa butter as well as sugar.  I suspect that it is the sugar that is causing the problem simply because with a 70% chocolate, you are talking about 30% of the weight being sugar -- which could be a lot depending on your recipe.

What I would do is reduce the amount of sugar you are adding. You may want to add additional good chocolate as well. This will help make up for the 30% you lose to sugar.

In addition, most all of these chocolates have additional cocoa butter added.  I'd guess and say about 10% of the weight is added cocoa butter.  This can vary depending on manufacturer and which product.  (Some add less and then they will add soy lecithin to help achieve the thinning affect of cocoa butter.) Because of this, you may want to reduce the fat in your recipe to accommodate.  (Though it should simply make it more fudgy IMHO.)

If you are using a regular semi-sweet, it is probably 50% cocoa solids and 50% sugar so the problem is more significant given this case.  Since I don't know specifically which chocolate from these manufactuers you are using, I can't go into too much detail but this should give you an idea as to what is happening.

I'd imagine you will probably have to give it a couple of tries but I'm sure you will get it in the end.

-Art

←

[merstar]

Regarding texture: A long, long time ago, I did a side by side taste test using 4 different chocolates in a flourless chocolate cake recipe (I made minis), and there was a big difference in textures. The 70% chocolates, Scharffen Berger and Lindt, produced a noticeably drier texture than the other two, Ghirardelli 60% and Callebaut (approx. 60%). For your brownie recipe, if substituting a higher percentage chocolate, I would recommend increasing, rather than decreasing the butter.

Also, I highly recommend Alice Medrich's book, "Bittersweet." She indicates in each recipe how to adjust the sugar, fat, and chocolate, according to which cacao percentage you're using. For the higher percentage chocolates, she not only increases the fat, but decreases the amount of chocolate, and increases the amount of sugar.

Here are the ratios in one of her brownie recipes:

4 ounces unsweetened chocolate

4 ounces (8 Tbsp) unsalted butter

1 1/4 cups sugar

6 1/2 oz. 66% - 72% bittersweet chocolate

7 Tbsp unsalted butter

1 c. granulated sugar

10 ounces semisweet chocolate (any chocolate without a percentage on the label or 50-62%)

5 tablespoons butter

2/3 cup sugar

Edited May 20, 2007 by merstar (log)

[chefpeon]

When manufacturers list the percentage of chocolate on a label (a practice common in Europe and gaining popularity here), they often use the terms "X% of cocoa solids" or "X% of cocoa." What they're actually referring to is the total percentage by weight of cocoa solids and cocoa butter combined, in other words, the total percentage of ingredients derived purely from the cocoa bean. The remaining weight of the chocolate will consist of sugar, lecithin (a soy-derived emulsifier), and typically vanilla. Lesser quality chocolates also include other fats (like palm kernel oil) and flavorings.

What these percentages don't tell you, however, is the proportion of cocoa butter to cocoa solids. About the only way to figure out whether one chocolate has more cocoa butter than another is to compare the nutritional labels. As long as you're comparing first-quality dark chocolates without any additives, the one with a higher fat content will be the one with more cocoa butter. This will most likely be the more expensive of the two as well, since cocoa butter is more valuable than the solids for its texture and richness. Also, check the ingredient list while you're at it, because if the chocolate contains any dairy products or other types of fat, this will skew the fat percentage.

Here is a link to Baker's Chocolate, which lists it's percentages:

Baker's Chocolate

I would think your solution would be fairly simple. By doing as suggested above, and figuring out whether the Baker's chocolate has more or less cocoa butter than, say, the Valrhona or the Callebaut, you can make the proper adjustments. You know you like the texture of the ones made with Baker's, so assuming you are using a 54-55% product, look for a similar percentage in the higher end chocolates....then look at the total fat content on the nutritional label to see if there is more or less cocoa butter than the Baker's.

[paulraphael]

Great suggestions, thank you.

I think I've been going the wrong way with the butter.