Whole Wheat Brownie Recipe, Atta & Jaggery Brownies, Step by Step - Edible Garden (2024)

FAQs

What happens if you add too much flour to brownies? ›

Too much flour? Go back to your edges - if they're not burnt, look a good colour (similar to the centre) but the brownie is too cakey and dry throughout, the recipe probably included too much flour.

You can replace some but not all of the all-purpose flour with whole wheat flour when baking. Swapping equal amounts results in baked goods that are too dense with an off-putting flavor.

Brownie textures fall into three general camps… Cakey, fudgy and chewy. Cakey brownies, like the name implies, are light, moist and airy, with a slightly fluffy, cake-like interior. Fudgy brownies are moist, dense and gooey, with almost the texture of fudge, but not quite as compact.

Flour's primary role in brownies is to bind and set the matrix of ingredients. “Sugar sweetens; chocolate, vanilla and salt boost flavor; eggs contribute structure and mouthfeel; and flour provides the backbone,” Phillip says. “The beauty of this is that brownies can be made very well with gluten-free flours.”

Too much flour will render your dough too hard to knead and when you bake it you will have a baked brick. Too much flour results in a dry, crumbly dough that's unpleasant and difficult to work with. It doesn't stick to itself and tends to fall apart when kneaded.

Overmixing is exactly what it sounds like: the process by which a dough or batter gets mixed too much, typically yielding dense, tough, or deflated baked goods. Overmixed doughs and batters may have an unappealing look or feel, which remain just as unappealing when they're baked.

Whole wheat flour includes the bran and germ, which act like little “shards” cutting the gluten strands while the dough is mixing and resting. This leads to a bread that is more dense and less elastic.

Generally speaking, substituting whole wheat can result in a drier, denser product. This likely isn't a problem when you're making muffins or quick breads, but using all whole wheat flour may be too heavy for cakes and cookies.

“The bran cuts through the gluten and detracts from the airy texture of the cake or the flaky texture of the pastry, making it dense and pasty and generally undesirable.” Whole-wheat flour will also alter the flavor of your baked goods, leaving them slightly bitter.

Did you know that Brownies were originally called 'Rosebuds'? Rosebuds was established in 1914 for girls to join before they became Guides. Just one year later, the name was changed to Brownies. Brownies are the second-youngest members of the Girlguiding family, for girls aged between 7 and 10.

What makes brownies fudgy instead of cakey? ›

Fudgy brownies have a higher fat-to-flour ratio than cakey ones. So add more fat—in this case, butter and chocolate. A cakey batch has more flour and relies on baking powder for leavening. The amount of sugar and eggs does not change whether you're going fudgy or cakey.

Fudgy brownies benefit from less cocoa powder and the addition of chopped chocolate, which gets melted with the butter to create a thick, molten base. Pulling them out of the oven before a toothpick comes out clean also ensures the center stays fudge-like and gooey.

In some cakes, brownies and cookies, melted butter adds richness to dough and allows ingredients to blend together easily. Melted-butter desserts are often very simple for new cooks to make, and the desserts often require no special equipment.

Craft your crust

More granulated sugar creates a sweeter, slightly less dense batch of brownies that boasts a crust that's comparatively dry. This helps to create the wavy, slightly crackled top favored by many.

It depends on how much less. If we're talking half a cup less, they'll probably end up really sticky. If you don't use enough flour, they won't harden up at all.

If you think about the main characteristic that stands out in a cake, it is probably its fluffy texture. Therefore, to get this extra volume, you want to have more little flour granules in your batter, all swelling together.

It's not easy to get flour out of a recipe once it's been mixed in. So you add more of everything else to get back to the same ratio. If it's just a little extra flour, like not 4x or 5x as much as you wanted, you can just add liquid to get the 'balance' that gives you a dough with the consistency you want.

Fudgy brownies have a higher fat-to-flour ratio than cakey ones. So add more fat—in this case, butter and chocolate. A cakey batch has more flour and relies on baking powder for leavening. The amount of sugar and eggs does not change whether you're going fudgy or cakey.

If your brownie batter is too thick to spread, thin it out with a tablespoon or two of milk.