A Challenge and an appeal to all bakers out there.

[bajaespuma]

My latest obsession: making brownies from scratch that have that beautiful shiny, glossy crust on top! I'm a professional Pastry Chef with over 35 years experience and I can't believe that I have to admit that it's driving me CRAZY that I can't consistently produce a pan of brownies that have that light shiny top you get when you make brownies from a mix like Duncan Hines. I will admit freely that I love mix brownies, but I'm on a quest to make them from scratch with at least some butter rather than all shortening to achieve a great taste (which I've accomplished), a great chewy texture (ditto), and that &%(#()*()#$* crust!!!

 

Any and all constructive comments welcome and appreciated. HOW THE HELL DO YOU DO IT???

 

BTW, I used to love Pillsbury's "Roll and Bake brownies" NLA. Like their chocolate chip cookies, the raw dough was as good as the baked product.

 

[ea56]

Ken

try the link below, it gives a great deal of info on how and why brownies can be baked with a shiny crust.
Eddie

How to make brownies with shiny crust

Inquiring bakers want to know: what's the secret to making brownies with shiny crust? Some brownies have a dull, matte-brown crust. And some brownies have a a mere glimmer of satiny sheen.

www.kingarthurflour.com

 

[earthling177]

Well, I'm not sure I should even mention this, some might claim my mom cheated, but her brownies always had a thin layer of chocolate ganache or something very similar to that. Yummy.

 

[vacerator]

Brownies, etc.

none until after some lbs. drop off.

 

[bajaespuma]

Eddie

Thank you for that link; it's brilliant! Plus there were so many responses to the article that I'll have formulas to experiment with for a long time. Hard to believe that the answer is chocolate chips and many of the respondents contradicted her results, but at least that seems to be one way to achieve what I want. Trouble is, I'm not a big fan of lots of crap in my brownies. In fact, my favorite brownies tend to have nothing at all in them.

 

But thank you for that lead; it's going to be a lot of fun doing the trials and trying to figure this out. I'm also beginning to suspect that using butter instead of shortening may be the problem but also, unfortunately, using good quality unbleached and unbromated flours may not work as well as using the old-fashioned crap from the supermarket shelf.

 

[ea56]

Ken

You're welcome, glad I could help you out.
Eddie

 

[appnut]

I've found PJ Hamel to be quite helpful.  She's been responsible for similar endeavors, the ones I"ve pursued I found for her were for converting white to wheat flour baking for cakes, cookies, breads, batter breads, ...

 

[gfm8959]

The King Arthur Flour website has a recipe which they claim is supposed to create the shiny top by melting the butter with the sugar and heating just until warm.

Fudge Brownies

These rich brownies combine the ultra-moist texture of fudge brownies with the subtle rise of cake-like brownies for the best of both worlds. Bake a batch of Fudge Brownies today with King Arthur!

www.kingarthurflour.com

 

[norgeway]

Re Flour

I use either Adluh or Virginias Best, both are old fashioned flours made with 100 percent soft winter wheat, yes they ARE bleached, I don't care for grey baked goods especially biscuits, I really think the soft wheat flour makes a real difference in texture in any kind of cake or quick bread, of course when making yeast bread I want a harder wheat flour.

 

[delaneymeegan]

 

 

 

How about a simple sugar glaze?

 

[mixguy]

I can so relate to your quest!

I too have been searching for a from scratch version of the brownies like the bakery I grew up had. My neighbor makes brownies that are just like them but uses a Betty Crocker mix and has a special brownie pan. The closest I found recipe requires beating the eggs and sugar until light, uses melted chocolate and a 1/4 c. of light corn syrup.

 

[Practigal]

Fudge

My experience has been that the closer the recipe is to making more of a fudge than a brownie, the shinier the tops will be.