Woody’s Black and White Brownies

January 1, 2015

Volume Grams Ounces

I found that the center came to 190 degrees in the first 20 minutes, but the edges weren’t close to being set. So I waited for the edges to be firm, leaving the center temperature way past 190. Based on the texture of the finished brownie, I think I baked it correctly, but I’m still not sure.

How many times does one have to separate white chocolate before she learns not to over heat it? I thought that the butter would temper the chocolate so I took my eyes off it and left it too long. WRONG. I get so irritated with myself when I did stupid stuff like this. It’s such a waste of money. So, the second time, I melted the butter then took it off the heat and added the white chocolate a little bit at a time. This way, it melted perfectly smooth.

I added the egg and cooked it to 160 degrees, but isn’t 168 degrees the minimum temperature that an egg is cooked. I think I read this in the Cake Bible.

Also, when I measured the custard for the final buttercream, it measured something like 265 grams!, when the recipe called for 306 grams. It was so strange. My first thought was something was wrong with my scale, but I tested it with known items and it seemed fine. The only other cause would be evaporation, but holy holy holy. Can white chocolate custard evaporate that much? In spite of this, I got lots of volume with this buttercream. You can see it in the finished product.

I did it again: the chocolate separated while making the ganache. What the%*@#. On the second try, I saw a few droplets of cocoa butter appearing, so when I stirred in the rum, the glaze came together perfectly. I then went back to my original mess and added rum to it too, and poof, like magic, it emulsified. So in the end, I didn’t have to remake the ganache a second time. But what’s going on with me lately???

The brownie block lifted out of the pan easily and a hot blade slid through the layers easily. I didn’t go to the trouble of levelling the brownie with a serrated knife, and I probably should have. I didn’t take much care to cut them straight.

WHAT ARE THE ALPHA BAKERS? : Here’s how it works: once a week, for the next two years, 25 Alpha Bakers commit to baking their way through every recipe of Rose Levy Beranbaum’s newly published The Baking Bible. Each week we post our experiences on our blog sites: our successes, our failures, our likes and dislikes. The recipes are scheduled in advance so that everyone is baking the same recipe at the same time. No recipes can be shared in my Alpha Bakers The Baking Bible posts due to publishing restrictions enforced by the publisher, but if you love to bake, this is a must-have book. You can see other tutorials for the same recipe at the following link The Baking Bible Alpha Bakers at http://rosesalphabakers.blogspot.ca/.