The Gellatly Brownie
Really, really excellent. Dense and fudgy, although it is possibly getting the advantage of being the first one I’ve not over-baked. In fact if anything I underbaked this one… Possibly does need 25 minutes. It is also cocoa-less, the brownies that use only chocolate already having established themselves as being my slight preference, and it uses only caster sugar which is interesting for two reasons:
One – I’ve been following US recipes that specify “granulated sugar”… I think caster is significantly superior than what I understand as chunky granulated sugar as it dissolves so much more quickly and I don’t think coincidentally this is the first time I’ve achieved a paper-thin, shiny slightly merengue-like top… Highly appealing visually and texturally;
Two – I’ve up to now been pretty insistent that brown sugar brownies are my favourite for flavour, and I stand by that, but if that top can only be achieved with caster sugar then that’s a hard choice to make.
This is also the most straightforward brownie of them all… Frankly it’s very appealing as is. However can you achieve this texture and topping while upping the flavour with some brown sugar, browned butter, egg yolks…? Not sure.
Tartine Vs Tasty
Similar brownies in that they used highly whipped eggs and sugar, but I prefer Tartine, with some respect due to ideas in the Tasty Brownie.
| Tasty | Tartine |
| 287.5g Butter | 170g Butter |
| 227g semi- or bittersweet chocolate | 455g bittersweet chocolate |
| 75g cocoa powder | no cocoa powder |
| 6 large eggs | 5 large eggs |
| 120g plain flour | 130g plain flour |
| 107g dark brown sugar | 395g light brown sugar |
| 400g caster sugar | no caster sugar |
| 1 tbsp of instant coffee | No coffee |
| 2 tsp vanilla | 1 tsp vanilla |
| 2 tsp salt | 1/2 tsp salt |
The technique is similar, basically:
- Melt butter
- Add to chocolate pieces
- Mix together until melted and smooth
- Whisk eggs, sugar, salt and vanilla until thick and pale (several minutes)
- Fold into chocolate mix
- Fold sifted flour into the above
- Pour into tin (glass for Tartine, metal for Tasty)
- Bake at 170c for 25 minutes for Tartine, 40 minutes for Tasty (with a bang in the middle).
Biggest difference being the half time bang of the tin in the Tasty recipe… Which I think might be a good idea to keep a handle on the raising and increase fudginess.
Facts
- Tartine tastes better
- But is just a smidge too intense if using strong chocolate?
- I overcooked both, so less than 25 minutes is required when halving the recipe in the 8×8 inch metal tin.
- Coffee is a nice addition, but the espresso I use adds moisture.
- I’ve considered it, and I’m not sure the pleasing, dense texture achieved with using oil is worth the loss in flavour. But using oil is indeed a good way to increase fudginess.
Possible Modifications to the Tartine Recipe
- Reduce chocolate by 50g…. 100g?
- Increase butter a little bit to compensate for lost fat (slightly less than amount of chocolate reduced)
- Or, reduce intensity of chocolate used? 60% cocoa?
- Add espresso
- Brown butter to reduce water content by amount of espresso added?
- Increase salt
- Increase vanilla (not sure if this is worth it… it feels like it gets lost in these intense brownies)
- Bang half way through the baking
- Use mix of brown and caster sugar to attempt to bring a shiny top?
- Doing this as well as reducing chocolate or cocoa content may not be ideal.
- Always add choc chips
Possible Modifications to the King Arthur Flour Brownie
- Replace some/all of the cocoa with chocolate
- This will change the texture… But will probably just make it less cakey, and I think that’s ok.
- May need to reduce butter to compensate
- Replace granulated with caster
- Replace some/all of the granulated with brown sugar
- Brown butter
- Espresso
- Reduce/remove baking powder… Feels a bit wrong…
- …These ideas (particularly the last one) significantly change what is already an excellent brownie beyond recognition.
- Always add choc chips
Possible Modifications to the Gellatly Brownie
- Use a mix of caster and brown sugar to see if the flavour can be enhanced without losing the shiny top.
- Use espresso
- Brown the butter (reduce water by amount in espresso)