The Reason You Should Bang The Pan When Making Brownies

Brownies are one of those baked goods that everyone has particular preferences about. Some prefer a more cake-like texture, while others want an incredibly dense, fudgy, chocolate-packed treat. There are individuals who prefer the middle pieces, while other brownie connoisseurs are edge-piece devotees — there are even special brownie pans that will yield many more edge pieces than your typical brownie batch (via Baker's Edge). If you fall into the camp of brownie-lovers for whom a brownie can never be fudgy enough, there's a simple trick that will totally change the way you make the chocolate-packed favorites and it doesn't even require any extra ingredients or equipment. Although, be warned: It may cause a bit of a ruckus in your home.

You may have heard of tapping the tray you're making macaron shells on against the counter in order to remove any air bubbles in the dough, per Bigger Bolder Baking. However, did you know the same principle applies to brownies as well? As baker and cookbook author Jerrelle Guy said in The Kitchn, for the perfect fudgy brownies, you'll want to remove your pan from the oven about halfway through baking and bang it on the counter. Then, when you're finished baking them, you'll want to repeat the move one more time, really giving the pan a good whack against the counter. Note that you'll want to hit the bottom of the pan, not just a random corner.

Why the tip works

As The Kitchn explained, the science behind this hack is simple — banging the brownie pan against the counter twice during the cooking process helps force out any excess air in the dough. For macarons, this step ensures the delicate confections don't have any large air bubbles that ruin the structure of the cookie. For brownies, it simply makes them deliciously dense. As an added bonus, the tip encourages extra cracking along the top as well, which is perfect for those who relish that part of brownies.

If you're looking for a few more tips to craft the ultimate fudgy brownies, there were a few more pointers. In terms of the bake time, you'll want to err on the side of less is more. While the method of sticking a toothpick or fork into your baked goods to see if it comes out clean works for cakes, for brownies, you don't necessarily want to rely on that tip — unless you want cake-like brownies. Subtract a few minutes from the bake time indicated by the recipe if you want a super fudgy brownie, and trust that the baked treat will set and firm up as it cools.

And, in terms of ingredients used, you'll want to swap some or all of the granulated sugar with brown sugar. The presence of molasses in brown sugar means that your brownies will achieve that dense, fudgy texture.