I’ve been experimenting with sourdough for a while now. As much as I’ve always loved the taste of store-bought and bakery sourdough products, I’ve never been able to convince my wife. I’m still failing with that on the homebaking front when it comes to sourdough bread… but I don’t like being beaten so I’ve been reading a lot of recipes and doing a bit of trial and error tests to see to what extent sourdough could be used in sweeter dishes which has led to these amazing brownies!
I’d never really thought of using sourdough in sweet dishes until joining a few groups on social media and seen other folks making cookies, cinnamon buns etc. I was tucking in to some of my favourite brownies from Costco recently and that’s when the question popped in my head – I wonder if I can make brownies with my sourdough starter? I had a quick search on social media and online and found that other people had indeed gone there!
Brownie Must Have Characteristics:
I’m really fussy with brownies! I don’t like them overly chocolately in flavour, I prefer them almost fudgey with chocolate chips throughout. I’ve had bad experiences and disappointment with brownies in the past where they’ve been really dry and too chocolately and it was just like eating cocoa powder kind of glued together.
After discovering the brownies at the Costco bakery, I haven’t really tried anywhere else because when you find perfection why bother continuing to look for something better… Until you get a new hobby, or pet as it sometimes feels, with a sourdough starter and you want any excuse to prolong the novelty period and try out new recipes. I’m glad I did try it because these do go above and beyond Costco’s.
The oil and white chocolate in my recipe both contribute to the gooey fudgeyness and added depth of flavour.
The Verdict?
Unanimously amazing. Friends, parents, fussy grandparents and a wife who wanted nothing more to do with sourdough after numerous bad experiences has declared these the best brownies she’s ever had… and the reason Steve the starter lives on. Check out the recipe below.
Sourdough Double Choc Brownies
Ingredients
- 110 g Unsalted butter
- 200 g Milk Chocolate bar(s)
- 100 g Milk Chocolate chips
- 100 g White Chocolate chips
- 50 g Cocoa Powder
- 2 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 2 Eggs
- 4 tbsp Groundnut Oil (any neutral oil will work)
- 200 g Caster sugar
- 100 g Brown sugar
- ½ tsp Baking powder
- 125 g Sourdough Starter (Discard, not active)
- 120 g Plain Flour
- ½ tsp Salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 160°C (fan oven).
- Melt the butter in a pan over a low heat then add the chocolate bar, half the chocolate chips, vanilla extract and cocoa powder. Heat and stir until fully melted and smooth. Set aside to cool for now.
- In a separate bowl, beat the eggs, caster sugar, brown sugar, and groundnut oil for around 5 minutes. You can do this by hand but it’s much quicker and easier with a mixer. Hand mixers work fine.
- Add in the sourdough starter discard, and all of the recently cooled chocolate mix from step one. Mix thoroughly together until combined.
- In a small bowl, weigh out your flour and then add in the salt and baking powder. Mix through the remainder of the milk and white chocolate chips.
- Add the flour mix to the other bowl with your brownie mixture and stir with a spatula. Don’t over mix it, just go until it’s come together and there are no lumps of flour visible.
- Line a square baking tin with parchment paper and pour in the brownie mixture. Use the spatula to smooth over the surface.
- Bake in the centre of the oven for 40 minutes (keep an eye on it as every oven is different. When it has the matte finish on top and is beginning to crack on the edges, take it out)
- Let the baking tray sit until cooled, the brownie is still cooking in it. Don’t be tempted to cut in early!
- Once cooled, carefully remove the brownie from the tray and cut into 16 squares, serve up and enjoy.
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BEST BROWNIES EVER
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