Brownies - Joyofbaking.com *Video Recipe* (2024)

FAQs

What is the best temperature to bake brownies? ›

Temperature and baking time

The baking temperature depends not only on the mold, but also on the oven you use: In a convection oven, you should bake your brownie at 320/355°F (160/180°C). In a deck oven, the recommended temperature is 355/390°F (180/200°C).

Brownie textures fall into three general camps… Cakey, fudgy and chewy. Cakey brownies, like the name implies, are light, moist and airy, with a slightly fluffy, cake-like interior. Fudgy brownies are moist, dense and gooey, with almost the texture of fudge, but not quite as compact.

Brownies: Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C) and place the oven rack in the center of the oven. Line the bottom and sides of an 8 inch (20 cm) square baking pan with foil.

Middle. The default position. It's ideal for most foods since it situates the item in the middle of the oven, allowing the hot air to circulate evenly around the food, resulting in even cooking. Use this for a single tray of cookies, sheet-pan dinners, fish, brownies, banana bread, and so on.

Most recipes call for baking brownies at 350°. If a fudgy inside and crackly top is your goal, stick with that temperature. Brownies baked at 325° will take longer to bake and will become chewier in texture.

Fudgy brownies have a higher fat-to-flour ratio than cakey ones. So add more fat—in this case, butter and chocolate. A cakey batch has more flour and relies on baking powder for leavening. The amount of sugar and eggs does not change whether you're going fudgy or cakey.

Baking Tip: too much flour can cause your baking recipes to be dry or dense! Here's the proper way to measure flour for your recipes!

These are two different fats. In my books butter is always better though a brownie recipe using margarine will most probably make a lighter brownie. For a richer, fuller brownie always use butter.

If you make brownies or bake often, consider using or purchasing a metal pan to use in place of your Pyrex dish. Metal pans, specifically aluminum, absorb and transfer heat more consistently than glass, making them perfect for delicious, evenly-cooked, moist brownies every time.

If you think your brownies are baking too quickly, cover them with a layer of foil to help reflect some heat away.

What size pan is best for baking brownies? ›

Brownies are pretty versatile when it comes to pan size. Most are baked in 13x9x2-inch pans. Baking them in a 9x9x2-inch pan will give you thicker brownies.

Brown offers this easy way to remember which to use: "Sweet treat, parchment sheet. Grill or broil, go with foil. Messy prep or sticky candy, wax paper's handy."

The oven setting is important. Make sure you can turn off the fan setting on your oven (if it's fan assisted), and bake the brownies at 170C for 30 minutes. Removing the fan setting cooks the brownies a little more gently and slowly, which yields a lovely gooey brownie.

And while the ingredients and method do play some part in the texture, ultimately the most important thing might just be the brownie temperatures. Because even with a higher fat percentage, cooking anything for longer and to a higher temperature will eventually dry it out, solidify it, and crisp it up.

If you want to ensure that your brownie stays moist (or add more moisture to a dry or stale brownie), cover it in a damp paper towel while it cooks.

In terms of the temperature, most recipes and boxed brownie mixes will have you baking your brownies at 350 degrees Fahrenheit. However, by lowering your oven temperature by just 25 degrees, you can help ensure your brownies don't bake as fast, which can keep them gooey.

This means it takes longer than metal to heat up, but it also holds heat longer than a metal pan. Because of this, brownies baked in a glass pan will need more time to bake. That slow heat-up and additional time can result in brownies with hard, overly-baked edges and a questionably “done” center.