Second Bake: Whole Grain Double Fudge Brownies

So today is another weekend, which meant that I was baking yet another project. This time a King Arthur Flour recipe. It's included in the Whole Grain Baking book and also in the website so I tried it out. I have to say, though I followed almost everything to a T, the result was a semi-disaster :(


First of all, the Whole Wheat Double Fudge Brownies were...okay. Okay, which means they're passable but not great. I realize now that my tastebuds have become so demanding that almost anything I would come up with would not meet my expectations. I'm starting to think now that the reason I thought I was an OK cook back in Japan was that back then, my standards were quite low - as long as it's edible, I could live with it. But not anymore. So, I have my work cut out for me.

I did some modifications, some to suit my tastes and some because I had no choice. Here are the changes:

1. Used 1 cup + 1/4 muscovado sugar vs. 2 cups of dark/light brown sugar. I originally was planning only 1 cup because I was putting in honeyed walnuts, but I tasted the mixed liquid ingredients and thought they were too bitter so I added some more.
2. Used 2 tsps. First Pick Nescafe Instant Coffee Powder instead of 1 tsp espresso powder. The result wasn't bad, but I think I'll stick with the recommended 1 tsp next time so the brownies wouldn't taste as dark.
3. McCormick Vanilla Flavor, as I couldn't find Vanilla extract anywhere! *sigh*
4. 5 eggs instead of 4 large eggs, since eggs here are puny. I used the conversion guide here.
5. Added honeyed walnuts.

COMMENTARY:

I used a 500-gram bar of the Tulip brand of semisweet chocolate that I chopped up into morsels - bought at SweetCraft because it was ultra cheap (about Php 80). I tasted it a bit while I was chopping. It tasted like cheapo chocolate. Personally, I wouldn't eat it even if I was paid, but I guess it was OK for trying out baking with chocolate. I was hoping the cocoa and other stuff would cancel the horrible stuff out - and yes, that was what happened. It didn't taste horrible in the final product, but I'm going to buy something better (even if it was more expensive) next time!

The book recipe, which is what I followed, called for mixing the baking powder with the liquid ingredients, while the online version called for mixing the baking powder with the flour. I think I'll stick with mixing the baking powder with the flour as an extra protection against activating the baking powder.

I think I may have overmixed the batter a tad, but nothing so major. The BIGGEST BLUNDER I did, however, was that after I had the batter and the greased pan with parchment all ready, was that I realized I didn't have the oven preheated!! What a terrible mistake!! I'm afraid the extra time waiting for the oven to heat up may have negatively affected the batter. And not only that, I think I had some oven temperature problems. Because I was in a hurry, I may not have set the oven temperature right. Due to space constraints, the thermometer was in front of the oven door, and the temperature reading may have been lower than it really was at the middle. I set the temperature at 325F (25F lower due to a darker, nonstick pan), and according to the oven thermometer, the optimum setting was between 6 and 7. However, I'm thinking I may have had better results if I set the correct temperature during preheating in the first place, and not have to bother with constant readjusting, which may have had a negative effect. I set the timer at 24 minutes (5 minutes less than the recommended time), but the edges weren't shrinking so I set it another 8 minutes. I remember that I was smelling a slightly burnt chocolate smell about 15 - 20 minutes in. After 32 minutes, I realized the edges weren't shrinking at all, and when I pulled out the pan and checked the center with a toothpick, it came out totally clean - UH-OH. I didn't care anymore about letting the brownie rest in the pan overnight. I cut it immediately as soon as the pan would allow, and my fears were confirmed - overcooked brownies with very hard edges, no thanks to the nonstick dark pans.

So now I'm stuck with brownies with very hard tops and a dense cake-like texture, kinda like a cake that has gone hard. I'm very disappointed, but I'd like to try the recipe again with new strategies. Here are the modifications I'll do next time:

Planned Modifications:
1. Mix the baking powder with dry ingredients.
2. Use better chocolate
3. Use an aluminum pan - IMPORTANT!
4. Scale the recipe for a smaller pan - the yield is too high.
5. Check the cooking time very early - maybe as early as 15 mins. Laura did say that she takes out brownies early because they continue cooking while in the pan.