This is a recipe by Bill Sewell of All Saints Café in Hereford which I have permission to use.
Well. These are extraordinarily good brownies. Chocolatey and deliciously gooey but with just a trace of salty graininess.
I never want to make, eat or serve in my cafés a gluten-free or dairy-free or anythingelse-free dish that is less good than its conventional equivalent. However, we do get an increasing number of customers looking for gluten-free food and this had got me thinking. Then a few weeks ago I tried a gluten-free brownie in the café at the top of the Tate Modern that overlooks the Thames and the City and I thought this brownie was pretty good.
So I embarked on a voyage of experimentation in the world of gluten-free cooking!
I don’t think I’ve ever tried quite so many different versions of, ostensibly, the same thing. And many of them I have to say were really quite nasty. So I felt like Einstein discovering relativity when after considerable tinkering I came up with what I think is a stunning and reliable recipe. You will create love and adoration amongst gluten-avoiding friends if you make these for them. Or better still come and buy them from us!
The only weird ingredient is Xanthan gum which is used to replace the gluing-together effect of gluten.
Xanthan gum is a natural product but fairly potent. You can buy it in powdered form from health food shops or the ‘free from’ sections of supermarkets. Be careful of your measurements and use proper chefs’ measuring spoons. If you put in twice what you need it will make the brownies too solid. Use the correct amount and they’ll be perfect.
INGREDIENTS
500g good quality dark chocolate chopped into 2cm-3cm sized chunks
300g salted butter cut into 2cm-3cm pieces
6 eggs
400g light muscovado sugar
Half a teaspoon Xantham gum powder
Half a teaspoon salt
METHOD
Grease and line with baking parchment a straight sided baking tray 32cm x 25cm or similar
Melt the chocolate and butter together in a saucepan over a very low heat. Put to one side to cool.
Put the eggs and sugar in a large bowl and whisk until the mixture has tripled in volume and is much paler in colour and texture. (Either use a handheld electric whisk or a Kenwood-type mixer with the K blade)
Add the cooled chocolate mixture to the egg/sugar mixture and quickly mix. Then quickly mix in the flour/salt/Xantham gum
Pour into the prepared baking tray and bake for 30 minutes at 150C in a fan oven (a bit hotter for a non-fan oven) until crusty on top but only just set. One of the world’s worst crimes is overcooked brownies….but they’re not nice when they’re not properly cooked either. They start to crack just a little on the surface when they’re ready.
Leave to cool and then portion.
ENJOY!
Written by Bill Sewell
