Unsweetened>bittersweet Chocolate

[sazji]

I live where unsweetened baking chocolate is unavailabe. So far I've managed to get it brought by good-hearted guests from the US, which is fine for me. But now several people want the recipe for a vey good brownie I make, and I'm not sure what to tell them. I can get bittersweet chocolate here. The local bulk stuff is about the same sweetness is Nestle's morsels, as a guideline.

Can I increase the chocolate and cut sugar, and get a decent result? I will be experiementing myself of course but if anyone has any guidelines it would be appreciated! I have no idea what the percentage of sugar to chocolate is with bittersweet chocolate.

[miladyinsanity]

I can get unsweetened chocolate here, but since I don't keep it in the house, I usually just cut down the sugar and use all bittersweet. That's what I do when I make brownies.

[Desiderio]

I do as well use always only bittersweet , because I dont have any unsweetned and I always forget to buy it , so whenever I make brownies I use bittersweet

[WhiteTruffleGirl]

Yes, you can adjust your recipe and get good results. You'll also need to adjust your fat content as well (to account for the increased cocoa butter in the bittersweet chocolate), but it will work.

Actually, if you have access to Alice Medrich's book Bittersweet, she goes through a number of conversion formulas in there that would be helpful to you. Otherwise, it might be helpful if you posted your recipe here so we could give you an idea of how you might adjust it.

[Art]

Yes, there are some guidelines that you can use.

Semisweet is approximately 50-55% sugar typically. Bittersweet typically has a bit less sugar but there is no hard and fast guideline as to what "bittersweet" is so it can technically be anywhere on the map.

When a chocolate says that it is say ... 70%, that means that there are 70% cocao solids. The rest is sugar, vanilla, and an emulsifier (usually lecithin). The amounts of vanilla and emulsifier are less than 1% so effectively the other 30% is sugar. This is all calculated by weight.

So for example, if you are working with semi-sweet and you recipe calls for 8oz unsweetened, you would use 16oz semi-sweet then subtract 8oz of sugar from your recipe.

This isn't a full 100% conversion however. Typically, with chocolate, about 10% by weight is added cocoa butter and a semi-sweet might have even more to deal with the added viscosity from so much sugar being added. Baking chocolate on the other hand typically has no additional cocoa butter. So, you will have a bit extra cocoa butter to contend with which will increase the fat content of your brownies slightly. You may want to consider cutting down on your butter or similar but even that won't be a 100% solution since cocoa butter has a higher melting point. I'd give it a try first without adjusting your recipe's oil/fat content and then keep this in mind for any further adjustments you might make.

One final note that is worth pointing out. Typically, the baking chocolate that is sold on the stores is made with the lowest quality beans that are available. The thinking by the chocolate makers is that the baking chocolate will be used for baking and that people will not notice the lower quality ingredients that are used. They will keep their better quality beans for their bars etc. where people will taste the chocolate more carefully. Because of this, by using semi-sweet chocolate you may end up with better tasting brownies than you would otherwise.

Hope this helps,

-Art

Edited June 25, 2006 by Art (log)

[sazji]

Thanks, this is very interesting information; I ended up learning more than I thought I would.

The brownie recipe I use calls for:

6 oz unsweetened chocolate

2 sticks unsalted butter

4 ex-large eggs

1 c sugar

1 c b sugar

1 c flour

1/2 t salt

Baked in a 9x13 pan. Which I also had brought from the states specifically for brownie baking.

[IslandGirl]

...Typically, the baking chocolate that is sold on the stores is made with the lowest quality beans that are available.  The thinking by the chocolate makers is that the baking chocolate will be used for baking and that people will not notice the lower quality ingredients that are used.  They will keep their better quality beans for their bars etc. where people will taste the chocolate more carefully.  Because of this, by using semi-sweet chocolate you may end up with better tasting brownies than you would otherwise...

-Art

←

Greetings. I'm always on the hunt for a good quality unsweetened chocolate, and it's VERY hard to find up here in Canada, retail.

Can you tell me anything about the qualities of this one? I'm not familiar with the brand:

LaFrancaise Unsweetened at icaviar

Thank you!

Edited July 5, 2006 by IslandGirl (log)