what is baking chocolate????

[bethie_alane]

on foodtv, jaime oliver, on his pukka tukka show, recently aired a recipe for sticky chocolate sponge pudding, part of the recipe is below.... he calls for using "cooking chocolate"
what the heck is that? is it semi sweet, bitter, unsweetened? i know i recently bought a bar of unsweetened baking squares.... can someone help me out??????



7 ounces sugar
7 ounces butter
7 ounces self-raising flour, sifted
1 rounded teaspoon baking powder
3 large eggs, preferably free-range
3 rounded tablespoons cocoa powder
8 tablespoons warm water
Handful flaked almonds
3 3/4 ounces cooking chocolate, broken up

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C / gas 4). Beat the sugar and
butter until pale and fluffy. Sieve the flour and baking powder into the butter
mixture. Add the eggs and mix it all together. Then mix the cocoa powder with 8
tablespoons of warm water, until smooth.

Fold the chocolate paste, almonds, and chocolate pieces into the cake mixture.
Pour the mixture into a greased baking tin, spreading it out evenly. Bake for
about 18 to 20 minutes.

[sandyl]

I'm thinking it is either semi-sweet or unsweetened chocolate. But I am stumped - how many cups (or portion of a cup) is 7 ounces of sugar? That will be a better indication of whether the chocolate is semi-sweet or unsweetened. If it comes out to a cup of sugar or more, I think it might be unsweetened chocolate... but could you really go wrong if you used semi-sweet???

And the squares you bought ARE baking chocolate.

Good luck!

[HappiestGirl]

Go to the baking needs aisle of your grocery store. You will see chocolate bars makreked "baking chocolate" Usually, you want the UNSWEETENED kind b/c the recipe calls for enough sugar.

Believe it or not "Baker's brand" is the most popular.

It is rare for a recipe to call for SWEETENED baker's chocolate b/c this is basically just a regular candy bar

[bethie_alane]

Originally posted by HappiestGirl
Go to the baking needs aisle of your grocery store. You will see chocolate bars makreked "baking chocolate" Usually, you want the UNSWEETENED kind b/c the recipe calls for enough sugar.

Believe it or not "Baker's brand" is the most popular.

It is rare for a recipe to call for SWEETENED baker's chocolate b/c this is basically just a regular candy bar

happiestgirl, (and sandy too)
thank you for the quick info! i checked my pantry and i indeed idd buy "baking chocolate" but i bought unsweetened. however, when i ran to the store today for a few other things, i went to the baking aisle and there are several "baking chocolate" bars but they are unsweet, semi-sweeet, bitter, etc......

Is it a good general rule that if the recipe has lots of sugar that you will probably use unsweetened or semi-sweet chocolate?

I'm just confused and new at baking, what is unsweetened chocolate? is it really chocolate? any info would be helpful....

btw, do you have an electronic kitchen scale? just wondering cuz we were planning to shop around for one over the weekend, just wondered if you had any brand recommendations....

[HoneyBeeMD]

This from "The Cake Bible" by Rose Levy Beranbaum:

Bitter chocolate and Bittersweet (semi-sweet) chocolate have different sugar content and different portion of chocolate liquor and cocoa butter. Since there is not a standard in the industry, this will also vary by brand.

Sugar content can affect the tenderness of cake recipes.

THis recipe sound hokey to me.

If you enjoy food TV, watch Good Eats with Alton Brown instead. He give you recipes that actually work in the real world.

BTW ... to convert 7 ounces sugar to cups look on the side of the bag of sugar for a conversion. Something like 1/4 cup = 3 ounces... I am making up the numbers since I do not have a bag of sugar in the house.

[sandyl]

I believe unsweetened chocolate is the real thing; semi-sweet and sweet chocolate just have sugar added to them!

Have you made your recipe yet? How'd it turn out?

[bethie_alane]

Originally posted by HoneyBeeMD
This from "The Cake Bible" by Rose Levy Beranbaum:

Bitter chocolate and Bittersweet (semi-sweet) chocolate have different sugar content and different portion of chocolate liquor and cocoa butter. Since there is not a standard in the industry, this will also vary by brand.

Sugar content can affect the tenderness of cake recipes.

THis recipe sound hokey to me.

If you enjoy food TV, watch Good Eats with Alton Brown instead. He give you recipes that actually work in the real world.

BTW ... to convert 7 ounces sugar to cups look on the side of the bag of sugar for a conversion. Something like 1/4 cup = 3 ounces... I am making up the numbers since I do not have a bag of sugar in the house.

i'm so impressed that you like good eats! i'm afriad the show will get canceled cuz it's not on as much as emeril who i think is the mascot for food tv (giggle)

i love watching good eats cuz alton incorporates kitchen science in a fun way so you can actually understand what you are doing and why you get the results you get.... very cool show. it's weird though cuz lots of times when he is at grocery stores they are in the atlanta/alpharetta/marietta GA area which is where i grew up, (i live in athens, GA now)

oh, and i haven't made the recipe yet... thought about and decided against it....
am making carrot cake from scratch, choc. chip cookies from scratch this weekend for part of a bbq....

[HoneyBeeMD]

I do not think Good Eats will be cancelled if the producers look at the FoodTV.com fan forum. He gets more postings then Emeril.

If you need an easy recipe, look up pumpkin bread at allrecipes.com. I got a lot of compliments on it.