The Best Gluten-Free Brownies in the Known Universe

It is probably time to move on from the postmodern Twinkie, a.k.a. NOT-winkie, and formulate something truly useful, such as a baked treat that people like to eat. One reliable figure of merit is: what sells the best at bake sales?

At a recent high school fundraiser, I had the misfortune to sample a gluten-free brownie that was mushy, gummy, starchy, and too dang sweet; probably came from a box with the usual xanthan or guar gum. And I donated a buck for this?

Well, this shall not stand, thought I. Therefore it was off to the lab to develop a suitable GF brownie that would be a pleasure to eat, be nutritious, and notably lack the exotic GRAS gunk that the big food processors think is okay to sneak into as food.

And so below:

The Best Gluten-Free Brownies in the Known Universe

Makes: 24 or 30 plump, chocolatey brownies.
Prep Time: I don't really know, actually

Recommended equipment: 

• Stand mixer with at least 5 qt.-capacity bowl.
• Accurate kitchen scale measuring in grams units
• Jellyroll pan, 15"x10"x1", nonstick if available
• Baker’s parchment, 15" wide
• Baking stone at least as large as jellyroll pan
• Household grain mill, e.g. the L’EQUIP NutriMill
• The usual bowls, measuring spoons & cups, scrapers etc.
• Still-air oven—verify that the oven temperature setting is accurate.

Ingredient Notes: 

·   Weight measures are preferable to volume measures, and will give more consistent results.

 

·  The rice flour recommended is finely milled from Tamaki Haiga germ-retained white rice, a good-tasting and extraordinarily nutritious rice. In the L’EQUIP NutriMill, set the mill to highest speed and lowest feed rate.

 

·  The cooked-rice flour is the same Haiga rice: parboil as typical, pressure-cook at 1.2bar for 20 minutes. Wrap and cool slowly overnight, dry in an oven or food dryer at 160ºF or 71C until quite dry, then mill finely as above.

 

·  The flax hydrocolloid is a dry powdered extract of hulled, defatted non-GMO flaxseed; it is actually food, and replaces the weird and exotic xanthan and guar gums found in 99% of mainstream GF flour replacers. A sample of Optisol 5300 may be ordered from Glanbia Nutritionals. Possibly finely-ground flax seed could be substituted, but with no guarantees of a successful bake or good taste.

 

·  The rice bran extract is Nu-Bake, used for its properties in enhancing texture and moisture in typical GF formulas. A sample may be ordered from RIBUS Inc. of St. Louis, Missouri. Its use is optional. 

 

·  The potato and tapioca starches can be of the Bob’s Red Mill brand.

 

·  The baking powder is any nontoxic (aluminum-free) double-acting type, such as Red Star or Rumford.

Prep: Mill uncooked and cooked/dried rices as described above. Place baking stone in cold oven, preheat to 320ºF or 160C. Prepare pan by buttering, overlaying with parchment, then buttering the parchment. Squeeze out any air “blisters” trapped under the parchment; set aside.

Process: 

Ingredient                    grams     U.S. volume measure 
Butter, Unsalted Irish         190       ½ cup + 5 Tbs + 1 tsp

Olive Oil, extra light          23      1½ tsp

Sugar, Superfine Granular      500      2½ cup + 1 Tbs

Cocoa Powder                   118       1 cup + 3 Tbs

·  Melt butter and oil in a stainless saucepan over medium-low heat. Add sugar, and whisk occasionally until sugar has melted, and mixture becomes uniform,  light and cohesive; whisk continually until it becomes frothy and light. Pour cocoa into mixer bowl. Remove melt from heat, pour over cocoa, and stir with paddle attachment until mixture is just warm; scrape bowl and beater as necessary. Meanwhile measure & sift together the drys listed below.

Ingredient                    grams     U.S. volume measure 
Vanilla Extract                  7       2 tsp

Eggs, Whole, medium            250       5 eggs

·  Restart mixer on low speed, add vanilla, then eggs; then beat at medium speed with scraping until smooth and glossy.

Ingredient                    grams     U.S. volume measure 

Flour, White Rice              63      7 Tbs + 2 tsp (½ cup less 1 tsp)

Starch, Potato                 54      6 Tbs

Starch, Tapioca                49      7 Tbs + 2 tsp (½ cup less 1 tsp)

Flour, cooked & dried rice     19      2 Tbs

*Flax Hydrocolloid, Dry        9.5    4 tsp

**Rice Bran Extract              1.4    ½ tsp (optional)

Baking Soda                     3.8    ¾ tsp

·  Sift together the above drys. Add drys to pre-batter and beat a full seven minutes at medium-high speed until thick and smooth. Scrape down bowl sides and beater as necessary to ensure uniformity of mix.
*   Alternate: try 2 Tbs. golden flax meal instead of the Glanbia Optisol 5300 flaxseed extract.
** Update: given the very real concerns about trace heavy metals such a cadmium present in rice bran, this ingredient is no longer recommended. The manufacturer of this particular extract, Nu-BAKE®, has failed to respond to a product analysis request.

Ingredient                    grams     U.S. volume measure  
Baking Powder                   7.7   1¾ tsp (Aluminum-free)

Sea Salt, Fine                  5.0   1 scant tsp

·   Stir together baking powder and salt. Stop the mixer, scatter the powder-salt mix uniformly over the batter surface, and beat an additional two minutes, scraping bowl and beater as needed.

Ingredient                    grams     U.S. volume measure 
Milk Chocolate Chips           100     ½ cup

·  Stop mixer, dump in chocolate chips, and stir batter at low speed until uniformly well-incorporated. Scrape bowl once or twice for uniformity.

Turn batter into pan and smoothen it until uniformly level. Set pan on hot baking stone in oven and bake at 320ºF or 160C for 36 minutes. If using a different-sized pan, baking time may have to be adjusted. Test with toothpick: the brownies are done when the toothpick comes out with just a bit of moist cake sticking to the very tip; a clean toothpick means they’re getting overdone and crunchy.

Cool pan on wire rack for an entire hour. Cut downward with a soft-bladed cheese knife into 24 rectangles in a 4 or 5 x 6 array. Gently slide parchment out of pan, and separate squares for placement onto serving tray or storage tin.

So there you have it. These brownies are consistently well-liked, appreciated by the GF crowd, and are profitable at bake sales. They are long gone by the time the usual cupcakes and store-bought stale cookies are left behind in their lonely embarrassment.

 

The corresponding video for this preparation may be found at:

The Best Gluten-Free Brownies in the Known Universe 

Beekeeping for Poets

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