A few weeks back, my wife made Brownies from scratch using a recipe from “fine Cooking.” Sadly, the result was less than grand. Tonight, my wife went shopping using a Brownie recipe from “Cook’s Illustrated” but could not find Dutch-Process Cocoa in either of the local grocery stores. Can someone please let me know about a substitution using a different baking Cocoa? My wife and belly will thank you.
TIA,
Joe
This is not necessary really.
The reason it was put in some recipes is due to supposedly better solubility but this has been disproven.
That being said, Valhrona and Special Dark Chocolate from Hershey’s are probably your easiest and best flavored for Dutched products. These are cocoas that have been treated with alkali.
Don’t know about solubility, but in baking you get different leavening effects from Dutch-processed vs. natural cocoa powder: http://whatscookingamerica.net/Q-A/CocoaTypes.htm
The “Dutch process” language frequently appears only in the fine print on the back label.
Interesting…
This is why I leave the baking to my wife!
Yeah, cooking is art but baking is PHYSICS. You can really screw things up with tiny deviations.
Here is a great source for high-quality chocolate and cocoa:
http://www.worldwidechocolate.com/shop_cocoa_powder.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Exactly. I can cook anything by feel. You can’t bake anything without a lab coat.
Baking is chemistry, isn’t it? Even in Portugues, I believe
BT Bob,
The chocolate doesn’t do the leavening. As a matter of fact Dutch chocolate is totally neutral so it requires a full leavening agent such as baking powder to allow the product to rise.
Here is a great piece below from the Joy of Baking that say’s it better than I.
With the neutral Dutch chocolate, all the leavening is done by baking powder which is a self contained agent.
With unsweetened chocolate, it is the interaction between the acids in the chocolate and baking soda that allows the release of CO2 from the baking soda.
This is the leavening agent. Baking soda activated by the chocolate. You could use any acid not just chocolate to activate the soda.
For brownies, I like a very deep chocolate flavor so I prefer to use unsweetened versus Dutched chocolate. I think the textures are not that different. That however is what Cooks Illustrated disputes. They feel the texture with Dutched chocolate is better. I also think they like the more subtle cakelike flavor. Ah well. To each his own. Give me those dark chocolate gooey ones!
FWIW.
"Dutch-Processed or Alkalized Unsweetened Cocoa Powder is treated with an alkali to neutralize its acids. Because it is neutral and does not react with baking soda, it must be used in recipes calling for baking powder, unless there are other acidic ingredients in sufficient quantities used. It has a reddish-brown color, mild flavor, and is easy to dissolve in liquids. Its delicate flavor makes it ideal in baked goods like European cakes and pastries where its subtle flavor complements other ingredients. Droste, Lindt, Valrhona, Poulain and Pernigotti are some popular brands.
Natural Unsweetened Cocoa Powder tastes very bitter and gives a deep chocolate flavor to baked goods. Its intense flavor makes it well suited for use in brownies, cookies and some chocolate cakes. When natural cocoa (an acid) is used in recipes calling for baking soda (an alkali), it creates a leavening action that causes the batter to rise when placed in the oven. Popular brands are Hershey’s, Ghirardelli, and Scharffen Berger."
Nah . . . consider bread. It’s like sex. The force of the rise is the product of the mass and the velocity squared.