Food 4 thought: The Science of Baking (or How to Trick Your Friends into Eating Vegan Brownies)

Food 4 Thought was a bi-weekly article written for a school paper several years ago. It was discontinued after moving to a new state.

THE SCIENCE OF BAKING
(or How to Trick Your Friends into Eating Vegan Brownies)

The phrase "vegan baking" can be enough to send an experienced chef into fits of nervous giggles. How can a cookie possibly be made without butter? Or a cake without eggs? Alas, the answer can be found in the science of baking. This science can be simple enough, and the basics learned through any recipe. Let's try it with my recipe for (Are they really Vegan?) Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Brownies.

Before we begin making our brownies, we need to learn about one of our ingredients. Flour is at the core of baking, providing the structure of any baked good. When water is added to flour to hydrate the ingredients, the proteins in flour are drawn to each other and bond to form what is called gluten. Gluten networks support the baked good. While dough rises, existing gluten threads touch and create more links. Later, inside the oven, the proteins and starches in the flour transform into the sturdy webbing inside a loaf of bread.

To begin our brownies, stir together 2 cups of sugar, 1/2 cup peanut butter, 1/2 cup apple sauce and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract. The peanut butter is providing the oil, or fat, for the brownies, keeping the texture light. In this way, the peanut butter is a substitute for butter or vegetable oil in other recipes. The apple sauce helps sweeten the brownies while keeping the peanut butter from making the batter too thick.

Sugar does more than make our brownies sweet. "If you think of baked goods without sugar, it’s bread, because it’s not tender,” says pastry chef Mani Niall. The sugar prevents gluten from forming, breaking down the structure created by the flour. This makes the brownies deliciously gooey.

Add 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder to make these chocolate brownies. With this add 1 teaspoon baking soda. Baking soda works by chemically reacting with the acidic cocoa to produce bubbles of carbon dioxide. These expand in the heat of the oven and make your baked goods rise. As a side-note, baking powder is merely baking soda with an acidifying agent (cream of tartar) already in it.

A pinch of salt is next. Salt is an ingredient in any baked good that has a leavening agent, such as baking soda. Salt slows the production of CO2, keeping the bubbles from getting too big. If there is too much leavening in a recipe the bubbles will rise to the top and pop, causing the brownies to fall flat.

Next comes 1 1/2 cups flour. Flour is added late in the process so that the dough isn't "worked" for too long, so as to keep the gluten complexes small. Pastries demand a more tender crumb than that of regular bread. Corriher explains that the lower protein content in pastry, cake, and all-purpose flour creates a less rigid gluten network and a finer crumb.

Beware when using All-Purpose Flour. “The problem with all-purpose flour is that it is all over the place in protein content,” Corriher says. “If you have a high-protein flour, it’s going to suck in water like crazy" and form a dough. Less protein-rich flour won’t come together with as much water. For our recipe add 1/3 c water. From here, add small amounts of flour and/or water until the desired texture is attained. Up to 1/2 cup of flour can be added before the rest of the ingredients need to be adjusted.

Last, add mini-chocolate chips or chopped peanuts. Bake at 350 degrees in a greased 9X13 pan for about 30 minutes. Congratulations! You have made amazing brownies! Serve to your non-vegan friends. When they ask how you baked such an unorthodox delicious desert, proudly answer, "With the power of science!"