Brownie baker's percentage (fudgy)
Brownies are the extreme end of baker's math: there is more than twice as much sugar as flour, and more butter and eggs than flour too. Pick your pan and get every ingredient in grams.
Formula baker's % of total flour
Batch size
Preferment
Water temperature
Use water at 90°F
78 × 3 − (70 + 72 + 2) = 90
This dough has no added water, so use the temperature for the liquids you add (milk, eggs).
Your recipe
| Ingredient | Baker's % | Total formula | Mix |
|---|---|---|---|
| All-purpose flour | 100% | 183 g | 183 g |
| Water | 0% | 0.0 g | 0.0 g |
| Salt | 2% | 3.7 g | 3.7 g |
| Sugar | 200% | 365 g | 365 g |
| Butter | 150% | 274 g | 274 g |
| Eggs (whole) | 130% | 237 g | 237 g |
| Cocoa powder | 55% | 100 g | 100 g |
| Vanilla extract | 3% | 5.5 g | 5.5 g |
| Baking powder | 1% | 1.8 g | 1.8 g |
| Total | 641% | 1,170 g | 1,170 g |
Fudgy brownies formula at a glance
Yield 1 pan (9 × 13 in) · 1,170 g dough or batter · 121.5% effective hydration from eggs, milk and butter · about 2 hours start to finish.
| Ingredient | Baker's % |
|---|---|
| All-purpose flour | 100% |
| Water | 0% |
| Salt | 2% |
| Sugar | 200% |
| Butter | 150% |
| Eggs (whole) | 130% |
| Cocoa powder | 55% |
| Vanilla extract | 3% |
| Baking powder | 1% |
Batter weight by pan size
Assumption: about 10 g of batter per square inch (1.55 g/cm²) gives brownies about 1 inch thick. Flour, sugar and eggs are for that batter weight.
| Pan | Batter | Flour | Sugar | Eggs | Bake |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 × 8 in square 64 in² | 640 g | 100 g | 200 g | 130 g (2.6 eggs) | 22–26 min |
| 9 × 9 in square 81 in² | 810 g | 126 g | 253 g | 164 g (3.3 eggs) | 24–28 min |
| 7 × 11 in 77 in² | 770 g | 120 g | 240 g | 156 g (3.1 eggs) | 24–28 min |
| 9 × 13 in 117 in² | 1,170 g | 183 g | 365 g | 237 g (4.7 eggs) | 28–32 min |
| 12 × 17 in half sheet 204 in² | 2,040 g | 318 g | 637 g | 414 g (8.3 eggs) | 30–35 min |
Eggs are counted at 50 g each without the shell (a US large egg).
Why these percentages
Because flour is so small a part of a brownie, its baker's percentages look wild — 260% sugar, 150% butter — but they tell you exactly what kind of brownie you have. Flour is the only structure apart from eggs, so the lower its share of the batter, the fudgier the result. In this formula flour is only about 14% of the batter weight.
To move along the fudgy–cakey scale, change one lever at a time. Cakey brownies raise flour (lower every other percentage by about a quarter), add milk and raise baking powder to 2–3%. Chewy brownies add some brown sugar in place of white and an extra yolk. Fudgier brownies cut flour further or replace some cocoa with melted dark chocolate — about 2 g of chocolate for every 1 g of cocoa you remove, since chocolate is roughly half cocoa butter and sugar.
Cocoa is counted outside the 100% because it does not form gluten. It does absorb liquid, though, so if you add more cocoa, add a little more egg or butter to keep the batter glossy.
Method
- Melt. Melt the butter and stir in the sugar, cocoa and salt. Let it cool until warm, not hot.
- Whisk in the eggs. Whisk in the eggs and vanilla, then whisk hard for about a minute until glossy — this builds the shiny, crackly top.
- Fold in the flour. Fold in the flour and baking powder just until no streaks remain.
- Pan. Weigh the batter into a lined pan (see the pan table) and smooth the top.
- Bake. Bake at 350°F (175°C) until the edges are set and a toothpick from the center shows moist crumbs: about 22–26 minutes for 8 × 8 in, 28–32 minutes for 9 × 13 in.
- Cool. Cool completely in the pan before cutting — fudgy brownies finish setting as they cool.
Tips
- Whisk eggs and sugar hard for a crackly top
- Pull them when crumbs are still moist
- Cool fully before cutting
- 9 × 13 in pan ≈ 1,170 g batter
Baker's percentages work for any bake with flour. See baker's percentages explained, or compare all the sweet and pan bakes.
FAQ
What is the baker's percentage for brownies?
Fudgy brownies run about flour 100%, sugar 220–300%, butter 130–180%, eggs 110–160% and cocoa 45–65%. Cakey brownies have roughly half those ratios relative to flour.
How do I scale brownies from an 8 × 8 to a 9 × 13 pan?
Scale by area: 9 × 13 in is 117 square inches and 8 × 8 in is 64, so multiply by 1.83 (almost double). The table below does it for you, keeping the same depth.
Why do brownie percentages add up to so much more than bread?
All percentages are relative to flour, and brownies have very little flour. The total here is about 700%, so flour is only one-seventh of the batter.