[icekitten97]

I recently got a great fudge brownie recipe. It calls for unsalted butter and also no salt in the recipe.
I made the brownies, needless to say they need the salt. I knew I wasn't going to be happy with the brownies without it.

My questions are:
How much salt should I add per stick?

Should I add the salt to the double boiler that is melting the 100% cocoa and unsalted butter?

It's not that I am a salt freak, but in my opinion baked goods get a great Carmel flavor with the salt.

For instance, Ghiradelli has the best chocolate chip cookie recipe I've ever tasted.
Why? Because the cookie itself has a Carmel flavor.
Whether that is good or not for fudge brownies, I don't know.

But the salt is definately lacking.

Any and all input is appreciated.

 

[brianshaw]

One teaspoon per pound of butter

 

[brianshaw]

Add with dry ingredients

 

[icekitten97]

Thank you Brian.

I did research on it and that's what some were saying. But, I wanted to make sure.

 

[icekitten97]

Should I add any extra salt for flavor?

Or should I leave it alone?

 

[brianshaw]

Unlike a lot of advise often given, I use unsalted butter always and don't reduce the salt already in the recipe. I also suggest tasting the batter and adjusting accordingly before baking.

 

[brianshaw]

For a brownie recipe with no salt as ingredient i'd use salted butter and no more tha a quarter teaspoon of regular salt

 

[icekitten97]

Well Brian,
I just put them in the oven. The good news is the batter is good.

The bad news was I had only 2 sticks unsalted butter, lol.
I used all salted butter and added the 1/4 t. Salt.

Thank you for your tips.

I'm so glad I stumbled across this forum. I'm sick of trying to search for answers the hard way.

 

[brianshaw]

So how did they turn out?  My mouth has been salivating all weekend thinking about your brownies.

 

[icekitten97]

Hi Brian,

Well, I cooked them for the time it said. The toothpick came out dry. It was suppose to be moist crumb. I used salted butter and added the salt you said. Needless to say they lost some of the "fudgyness".
So the next time I will use the unsalted butter and make up for the salt and extra like you said. The taste is fine but the texture wasn't exact. Also, I will check them earlier than 40 minutes.
As you can see I'm obsessed with perfecting this recipe, lol. I also put toasted pecans and white chocolate chips into the mix.
I used Ghiradelli Cocoa and chips for everything.

I'm not going to make them again until I can pawn this giant batch of brownies off the everyone. I've gotten rid of 2 bags so far today.
They taste great.

Here's the thread where I got the recipe, maybe your mouth s interested.

http://www.cheftalk.com/t/66664/classic-fudge-brownie-formula#post_439055

Thank you again for your help.

 

[brianshaw]

Loss of fudginess is probably overbaking. Recipes are often not exact due to differences in ovens, pans etc

I may try that recipe. My mouth continues to salivate for a brownie

 

[flipflopgirl]

I am not a huge FN follower but this brownie recipe changed my life.
Lol not really but it did open my eyes to the addition of brown sugar to cocoa recipes.
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/cocoa-brownies-recipe.html
I did add an extra 1/4 cup of flour because of the extreme tenderness.

The dry texture came from over baking.
Chocolate will scorch in a heart beat.
Could be the oven temp could be the time.
Start checking 5 min ahead of time with a bamboo skewar or toothpick.
You want to see large moist crumbs.
Get them out of the oven and out of the pan asap.

Helps to line your pan with buttered foil leaving enuf on the ends to have something to grab onto and lift straight to the cooling rack.

mimi

Now I need something chocolate.

 

[icekitten97]

Thank you Mimi!

I'm using my moms electric oven approx 10 years old. I'm not a big fan of it. But it's what I have access too at the moment. Using her aluminum pan that's probably from 1976 (lol) and has been used and used and so on and so forth. I lined it with parchment paper.
i will check it next time before Im suppose to.

I will check out your recipe. Thank you for your input. I love this website.

Lots of help from great people.

 

[flipflopgirl]

Lol.
You are welcome.
I don't completely switch recipes.....ever.
That one caught my eye and I never looked back.
Takes to a bit of booze nicely as well.

mimi