my brownies have a "domed" bottom..

[foodie3]

i made a simple brownie recipe in an 8" nonstick square pan lined w/buttered aluminum foil, baked it on a pizza stone at 350f for 25 mins (i have a thermometer inside). both the top and the bottom have uneven "doming".

any ideas what caused it - never seen this kind of an uneven bottom before?

[Ling]

It's probably just air. I had that happen once when I think I whipped too much air into my eggs. Did you bang the pan on the counter before putting it in the oven?

Edited May 13, 2006 by Ling (log)

[foodie3]

It's probably just air. I had that happen once when I think I whipped to much air into my eggs. Did you bang the pan on the counter before putting it in the oven?

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i didn't whip the eggs, just stirred them into melted butter/chocolate mixture. i did bang it on the counter, ran the spatula through it a few times, and poured it very slowly into the pan so that the batter was evenly distributed. i bought a new pan from williams sonoma - "goldtouch nonstick finish", don't think that's my problem. i am truly puzzled, i am not a novice baker and this is just a simple brownie.

any other ideas?

Edited May 13, 2006 by foodie3 (log)

[K8memphis]

Did you leave out the oil or butter or something??? It sounds like they glopped together rather than baked off. Nothing to relax it out into the pan & they just bound up kinda??? They domed on the bottom?? What's the formula??

[foodie3]

Did you leave out the oil or butter or something??? It sounds like they glopped together rather than baked off. Nothing to relax it out into the pan & they just bound up kinda??? They domed on the bottom?? What's the formula??

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no, i didn't leave out anything, the recipe is:

2 oz. semisweet chocolate

2 oz. unsweetened chocolate

5 oz. butter

3 cold eggs

1 cup sugar

2 tsp. vanilla

3/4 cup flour

pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 350. Grease an 8x8 pan.

Melt chocolates with butter. Stir in the sugar, vanilla, and salt. Stir in the eggs, one at a time. Stir in the flour.

Pour into prepared pan and bake until center springs back just a little when touched, 30 - 35 minutes. As soon as the brownies are out of the oven sprinkle 6 oz of chopped chocolate on top. Spread it smoothly after it melts.

[K8memphis]

I don't know what happened. Umm, my brownies I use 4 oz chocolate to one cup of butter and 1 cup flour and 4 eggs and 2 cups sugar so mine are much looser than yours. Was your batter thick???

Umm, also, I beat my eggs first until they are pretty pretty yellow, then add my flour stuff & mix then add the melted choco stuff. There's a good reason for beating the eggs first, I don't what it is scientifically but it makes great brownies.

So mine's got 3 oz extra butter, quarter cup extra flour, one cup extra sugar and an extra egg.

Umm, and I never use cold eggs.

You don't want to beat brownies too much--oh did you beat them too much??? That will do that!!!

[miladyinsanity]

There's a good reason for beating the eggs first, I don't what it is scientifically but it makes great brownies.

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I would like to know what that is, so next weekend I plan on making the same chocolate cake I made yesterday, but this time I'll beat the eggs first.

[K8memphis]

Well wait no it's different for cake than for brownies. I don't do this for cake necessarily.

[miladyinsanity]

Well wait no it's different for cake than for brownies. I don't do this for cake necessarily.

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Not this cake, K8.

It's 200g butter and chocolate melted together, 100g sugar stirred in, cooled some, then crack 2 eggs in mix. Last thing is stir in half a tbsp of flour. There is no leavening agent at all.

It's actually quite close to my brownie recipe which is adapted from Ling's, except that the eggs are beaten until pale with the sugar.

Sorry, I should have elaborated.

[K8memphis]

Oh, oh cool.

I heard Alton Brown say why this beating of eggs is good for some fomulas and I thought, "Oh cool, so that's why that works" but I don't remember what he said.

[alanamoana]

i made a simple brownie recipe in an 8" nonstick square pan lined w/buttered aluminum foil, baked it on a pizza stone at 350f for 25 mins (i have a thermometer inside). both the top and the bottom have uneven "doming".

any ideas what caused it - never seen this kind of an uneven bottom before?

←

when you say "doming" on the bottom, do you mean a large bubble sort of lifted up from the bottom of the pan?

it is possible that baking directly on the pizza stone could be your problem. at that high of a temperature, the batter could have seized up on the bottom first and then sort of pushed itself up.

i would bake on the rack to let the heat circulate more evenly around your pan. also, rotate halfway through baking.

[foodie3]

i made a simple brownie recipe in an 8" nonstick square pan lined w/buttered aluminum foil, baked it on a pizza stone at 350f for 25 mins (i have a thermometer inside). both the top and the bottom have uneven "doming".

any ideas what caused it - never seen this kind of an uneven bottom before?

←

when you say "doming" on the bottom, do you mean a large bubble sort of lifted up from the bottom of the pan?

it is possible that baking directly on the pizza stone could be your problem. at that high of a temperature, the batter could have seized up on the bottom first and then sort of pushed itself up.

i would bake on the rack to let the heat circulate more evenly around your pan. also, rotate halfway through baking.

←

thanks, i think the pizza stone may be the problem, though it supposedly minimizes the temp. fluctuations in the oven.

[alanamoana]

the pizza stone minimized temp fluctuations by holding the heat in itself...it's fine to have in the oven, but for baked goods in a pan (other than pizza and bread) all that heat on the bottom isn't usually good. i keep my stone in the oven and just put my cakes and things on the rack above the stone to allow for circulation.

[foodie3]

i made a simple brownie recipe in an 8" nonstick square pan lined w/buttered aluminum foil, baked it on a pizza stone at 350f for 25 mins (i have a thermometer inside). both the top and the bottom have uneven "doming".

any ideas what caused it - never seen this kind of an uneven bottom before?

←

when you say "doming" on the bottom, do you mean a large bubble sort of lifted up from the bottom of the pan?

it is possible that baking directly on the pizza stone could be your problem. at that high of a temperature, the batter could have seized up on the bottom first and then sort of pushed itself up.

i would bake on the rack to let the heat circulate more evenly around your pan. also, rotate halfway through baking.

←

this is truly puzzling!

made these brownies again, removed the pizza stone from the oven and baked them on a rack - the top is less uneven, but the bottom still has these large "bubbles".

i line the pan w/aluminum foil for easy/clean removal, do any of you think this may cause eneven bottom?

[aidensnd2]

Hmm, your recipe sounds fine, technique sounds fine. Interesting that it happened again without the pizza stone, I was expecting that to be the problem. I would try getting rid of the foil and seeing if that changes anything, not sure why it would though...

As far as beating eggs for brownies; if you don't beat them you end up with a fudgy brownie, if you do beat them you get more of a 'cakey' brownie. Either way is fine, just personal preference.

[K8memphis]

I baked for years on stones and I never had that problem. I make uber fudgie brownies with very well beaten eggs. Baking is such a strange ironic process.

The reynolds wrap is not the reason either.

Umm, how long are you beating this mixture? Exactly what kind of flour are you using? And what kind of pan? How thick is your batter??

edited to say--Ok I re-read your process. Adding the eggs one at a time is working up the gluten in the flour & you are making chocolate bread that is why it is doming. Use beaten eggs. Put them in all at once. This will improve your brownies but I still think you need a bit more liquid in there.

Edited May 23, 2006 by K8memphis (log)

[foodie3]

Hmm, your recipe sounds fine, technique sounds fine. Interesting that it happened again without the pizza stone, I was expecting that to be the problem. I would try getting rid of the foil and seeing if that changes anything, not sure why it would though...

As far as beating eggs for brownies; if you don't beat them you end up with a fudgy brownie, if you do beat them you get more of a 'cakey' brownie. Either way is fine, just personal preference.

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a fudgy brownie is what i am aiming for!

think i'll just go back to a. medrich's recipe, though this one was quite tasty - quite sure its the valrhona and scharfenberger chocolates.

[miladyinsanity]

Hmm, your recipe sounds fine, technique sounds fine. Interesting that it happened again without the pizza stone, I was expecting that to be the problem. I would try getting rid of the foil and seeing if that changes anything, not sure why it would though...

As far as beating eggs for brownies; if you don't beat them you end up with a fudgy brownie, if you do beat them you get more of a 'cakey' brownie. Either way is fine, just personal preference.

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a fudgy brownie is what i am aiming for!

think i'll just go back to a. medrich's recipe, though this one was quite tasty - quite sure its the valrhona and scharfenberger chocolates.

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Maybe try Ling's recipe? I use this one, except I use 10 rather than 8 ounces of chocolate, even though 8 gives you a really fudgy brownie already.

[Ling]

^If you decide to try my recipe, foodie3, you might want to lower the amount of sugar a bit. The 2 cups of sugar is a bit less than most recipes when you take into account the amount of unsweetened chocolate, but I usually use 1 3/4 cups of sugar myself. I wrote down 2 cups of sugar in the recipe as I sometimes prefer desserts a bit less sweet than most people. Just thought I'd mention that.

(And miladyinsanity--do you add an extra 2 ounces of unsweetened or bittersweet to your batter?)

[miladyinsanity]

^If you decide to try my recipe, foodie3, you might want to lower the amount of sugar a bit. The 2 cups of sugar is a bit less than most recipes when you take into account the amount of unsweetened chocolate, but I usually use 1 3/4 cups of sugar myself. I wrote down 2 cups of sugar in the recipe as I sometimes prefer desserts a bit less sweet than most people. Just thought I'd mention that.

(And miladyinsanity--do you add an extra 2 ounces of unsweetened or bittersweet to your batter?)

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I use 10 ounces bittersweet, and half a cup of sugar. But I double the amount of cocoa.

The first time I made it, I was out of unsweetened, and then I just stuck to it.