The brownie recipe
The brownie recipe! Yes, it is uploaded HERE. This is my recipe for a brownie, chocolatey, gooey, not too sweet. I made it one day when friends were visiting between the very short time of ending a bushwalk and them getting back on the road with what was going to be an empty stomach.
I have read a number of good posts about brownies, wondering when I would finally find a recipe I would really like. This blogger went on a mission of recipe testing, others (there is a good post I read a couple times, just can’t find it now) discuss the different versions: with cocoa (which I must say I have not yet tried) vs with chocolate, more cake-like, more fudge-like. As for me I tend to like a brownie with some texture and a melting centre.
The brownie must be not too sweet, this is important as many brownies recipes have enormous amounts of sugar. Note that it is not sugar free either. One of the keys of a good brownie is using brown sugar. It holds moisture better than white sugar due to the molasses.
Another important ingredient is the chocolate you use. I like using 70% dark cooking chocolate. For some of you, it may be a bit strong, you can then use a bittersweet chocolate or 60% dark chocolate of good quality. If you are going to use milk chocolate for the choc chip in this recipe, decrease the white sugar by 40 g. Now if you want a brownie for the children, try this brownie recipe with dulce de leche (i.e. caramel sweet concentrated milk) , my children love it!
Bread and brioche
A good brioche is a treat. I use this start brioche recipe on this blog but do not necessarily shape it as a star brioche. How beautiful! Note that for a nice brioche, you will need a dough hook mixer.
This bread is our usual family stapple, I have now years of baking our bread. If you started on the journey and ended up with a brick, don’t be disheartened, try again. If you have started going into sourdough bread making, you may want to read the tips on my sourdough bread making recipe. I do mostly baguettes now (I started with loaves, balls). Sourdough baguettes are made from pretty much the same recipe but wetter (i.e. more sticky), see HERE.
