Whole Wheat Brownies

[prairie fire]

Hey all, this is my first post, I'm a new kid, so be gentle, please?

I am working on a whole wheat brownie recipe due to dietary restrictions at my house. I have a pretty good recipe that I've cobbled together from different bar cookie and brownie recipes, and I'm on to something good, I'm just not getting quite the texture I'm after. Close, but not quite. It is at the moment as follows--

Sift:

2 cups whole wheat flour

4 tablespoons soy flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon kosher salt '

Beat together:

1/2 cup butter melted with 4 blocks of unsweetened Baker's chocolate (the big blocks)

1/2 cup canola oil

2 cups packed brown sugar

3 eggs

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1/4 cup of instant coffee granules

1/2 cup of very strong cold coffee

I then combine the two and bake in an 8x8 pan for a little over a half hour at 350 F. We definitely like the flavor of the recipe, but it's not quite as dense and solid as I would like, it's a little bit crumbly. I'm kind of considering adding some honey for its hygroscopic properties, and maybe replacing some of the whole wheat flour with more soy flour.

Thoughts?

[sugarseattle]

I haven't worked with soy flour so I don't know it's properties but...

my brownie recipe is just semi sweet chocolate, cocoa, egg, sugar, flour, a touch of baking powder, vanilla and salt

reg flour will pull moisture (making crumbly) so perhaps reduce overall flour amount by 10-15%

maybe more fat...that is a lot of coffee, which is essentially just adding water. perhaps take that out and replace with two eggs.

I don't know about oil...butter will give you better texture.

a lot of the texture of brownies depends on how long you bake them. to get more denseness, remove from oven when toothpick inserted has a few gooey crumbs on it.

hope that helps.

[Wholemeal Crank]

it's not quite as dense and solid as I would like, it's a little bit crumbly.

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Would first try simpler things, if you're almost where you want to be:

halve the baking powder

bake shorter time, so they collapse a bit after baking, which may add both denseness and makes them a bit moister and less crumbly.

And if you could mention what the particular dietary restrictions are, that would help us to make further suggestions that keep within the desired guidelines.

[Wholemeal Crank]

Breaking it down, this is how your recipe compares to the perfect brownies, which naturally are the ones I grew up with (and I have posted a variation on the original recipe here--

http://www.well.com/user/debunix/recipes/C...Brownies.html):

Ingredient Mine Yours

Chocolate, ounces 2 4

flour, cups 0.75 2.25

instant coffee, granules, cups 0 0.25

net dry ingredients, cups 0.75 2.5

butter or oil, cups 0.33 1

sugar 1 2

eggs 2 3

coffee, cups 0.5

baking powder, teaspoons 0.5 2

Yours have more flour and dry ingredients--here counting the coffee crystals as dry--even accounting for the overall near doubling of ingredients per pan for your recipe, for the amount of eggs. I think the eggs are the main binding ingredients here, and since you've dropped an egg to accomodate the coffee, essentially substituting water for egg, and added flour, that's made a crumblier brownie. I think you need to drop dry ingredients, and for a brownie that is not beaten to develop the texture of the gluten, it probably doesn't matter too much if you drop the wheat or soy flours first, maybe by half a cup net per pan.

And definitely drop the soda to 1 teaspoon per batch.

[prairie fire]

I agree that part of the issue is probably too many dry ingredients, the batter was pretty stiff. I think I will try cutting the whole wheat flour back by half a cup to start with. I've got the soy flour in there because it lends itself to density and moisture.

The dietary restriction is simply that we've gone whole grain and have eliminated as many processed foods as possible.

[Lisa Shock]

There IS whole wheat pastry flour, which should help the texture. I'd use that or King Arthur's White Whole Wheat, and a regular brownie recipe from, say the Brownie CookOff Thread.

Since you are already adding butter, the oil seems unnecessary. If it needs more fat, I'd up the butter or chocolate parts.

I agree that the coffee is adding water, which is an ingredient not usually found in brownie recipes, and which will negatively affect the texture. Cake has water content, not brownies.

I am also, personally, of the opinion that one shouldn't be masking the flavor of good chocolate. Are there faults with your chocolate that you feel need to be corrected with instant coffee of all things? If so, I'd use a different chocolate, or more of it. If what you want is a coffee flavored cake with a cocoa butter structure, then we can get you a recipe for that -one that uses better coffee that instant granules.

[Wholemeal Crank]

The dietary restriction is simply that we've gone whole grain and have eliminated as many processed foods as possible.

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In that case, I'd drop the soy flour, because that's a pretty highly processed item in and of itself, adds nothing to keep them from crumbling, and unnecessarily complicates the recipe by requiring you to measure and add two flours instead of one.

[Wholemeal Crank]

The dietary restriction is simply that we've gone whole grain and have eliminated as many processed foods as possible.

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And as a confirmed wholemeal crank myself, I have adapted a lot of recipes like this, and put some thoughts about that here....

http://www.well.com/user/debunix/recipes/W...l#Substitutions

[prairie fire]

As far as the soy flour-- silly me, I think I may have veered too far into the low carb dark side. I think I'll get myself back over to the *healthy grain* spectrum. I added the instant coffee because I have seen a great deal of brownie recipes employing it, I thought that it would lend itself to a darker flavor. My chocolate is good, so I will try it on its own.

[Wholemeal Crank]

I added the instant coffee because I have seen a great deal of brownie recipes employing it, I thought that it would lend itself to a darker flavor.  My chocolate is good, so I will try it on its own.

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nothing wrong with the coffee, if you like that flavor. That's entirely a personal thing.

[djyee100]

Have you tried the King Arthur recipe for whole wheat brownies?

http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/tas...brownies-recipe

I baked this recipe years ago, with regular whole wheat flour. The taste and texture were very good.

[tsquare]

As far as the soy flour-- silly me, I think I may have veered too far into the low carb dark side.  I think I'll get myself back over to the *healthy grain* spectrum.  I added the instant coffee because I have seen a great deal of brownie recipes employing it, I thought that it would lend itself to a darker flavor.  My chocolate is good, so I will try it on its own.

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Baker's chocolate is convenient and serviceable. Much better options out there for flavor. But I'm not an expert. Cook's Illustrated did a comparison in 2002. Online article doesn't give you the results - and many new companies have started producing in the last 7 years.

I prefer cocoa based brownies, so we may not have much in common here.

[Margaret Pilgrim]

Consider adding a half cup grated carrots for moisture.

[DanM]

+1 for using KAF White Whole Wheat. I use it in most of my pastry baking as an alternative to AP flour with no noticeable side affects. I have even used it for croissants with no problem.

Dan

[Aloha Steve]

I added the instant coffee because I have seen a great deal of brownie recipes employing it, I thought that it would lend itself to a darker flavor.  My chocolate is good, so I will try it on its own.

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Hi Everyone this is my first post, I have just been excepted as a posting member, thanks to the acceptance committee.

I have been using a brownie recipe by the Barefoot Contessa which calls for instant coffee.

I've cut down the amount called for by 2/3 and the result is a very rich chocolaty tasting brownie.

Three questions please:

I use Baker's chocolate which I purchase at my local supermarket. Would you folks recommend a 'better' chocolate to use ? I will cut out the coffee totally when trying your recommendations. My choices for shopping are limited as I live in Honolulu.

How do I make the brownies more chewy ?

As a general rule for baking, how do I make the result less crumbly ?

[Wholemeal Crank]

I use Baker's chocolate which I purchase at my local supermarket.  Would you folks recommend a 'better' chocolate to use ?  I will cut out the coffee totally when trying your recommendations.  My choices for shopping are limited as I live in Honolulu.

How do I make the brownies more chewy ?

As a general rule for baking, how do I make the result less crumbly ?

I enjoy the 70% scharffenberger for general eating, and these days keep their 99% for baking, which is the same mix of beans as the 70%. But I've never done a head-to-head comparison to see how much difference it makes for brownies vs Bakers, which is what I used to use. It might not be that much, in the brownies I make, because there is so much sugar, butter, egg, and nuts that may compete with the fine nuances of the chocolate for your the taste buds.

How do I make the brownies more chewy ?

Bake them less.

As a general rule for baking, how do I make the result less crumbly ?

More moisture and more binder--more egg, more/higher gluten flour, develop the gluten more via beating/stirring/kneading more.

[Aloha Steve]

Thanks Wholemeal Crank

[Kerry Beal]

I underbake my brownies to get the texture I'm after. I look in the oven at 18 minutes - if the top has developed a bit of a shiny wrinkly look - out they come. It takes about 20 minutes in a non convection oven. So might be worth a try taking them out earlier and seeing if it cures the dry and crumblies.