Alton Brown's Trick For Fudgy Brownies Is A Game-Changer
There are so many ways to enjoy brownies — hot out of the oven, topped with some cold ice cream, devoured at room temp — and even more ways to make brownies. And when it comes to making brownies, Food Network personality Alton Brown has them down to a science.
Some prefer their brownies light and cakey, others with nuts or chocolate chips inside. And for some, like Brown (as evidenced by his Cocoa Brownies: Reloaded recipe), the fudgier the better. The good news for all fellow fudgy-brownie-lovers out there: Brown's new and improved recipe from "Good Eats: Reloaded" (Brown's favorite project) contains the secret to achieving "a perfect fudgy brownie."
A secret like this comes as no surprise from someone like Brown, whose cookbooks, blog, and social media content are full of cooking hacks and kitchen tips for his fans to digest. So, what's Brown got up his sleeve this time?
Take your brownies from fudgy to fudgier
In "version 2.0" of his original brownie recipe, Alton Brown makes one key change that results in perfectly fudgy brownies with a flaky, crispy crust and a gooey center. As BuzzFeed explains, the trick is in the baking time. And all it takes is a little patience.
Instead of cooking the brownies to your desired doneness in one go, Brown's trick is to break up the baking time, allowing for a period of resting time out of the oven in between the baking. According to the recipe, you bake the brownies for 15 minutes at 300 F, take them out and let them rest for 15 minutes, and then bake them for another 30 minutes or so. Brown's exact internal temperature for ideal fudginess is 195 F.
Bake, remove and rest, bake again. It's the easy-as-1-2-3 brownie hack we didn't even know we needed.
The science behind the fudginess
As the host of a show that heavily revolves around food science, Alton Brown is known for backing his recipes in science and technique. And his cocoa brownies, which he describes as "proof positive that technique is just as important as ingredients," are no exception. We know the technique now, but what about the ingredients? What makes a fudgy brownie fudgy?
According to Martha Stewart's chef and culinary EVP, Thomas Joseph, the ratio of fat to flour is what affects the consistency of a brownie, making it either fudgy or cakey. For fudgy brownies, you need a higher fat to flour ratio, which is exactly what you'll notice about Brown's recipe. He calls for a hefty amount of natural cocoa powder (aka fat), which, along with the butter (also fat), drastically outweighs the amount of flour. That rich cocoa powder makes for a thick batter and becomes the star of these gooey, chocolatey brownies.
It's no secret that Brown knows his brownies — and now we know his brownie secrets.