Science: White Sugar vs Brown Sugar - What You Use Can Dramatically Change Texture in Baked Goods

[@nuklear7]

i just learned something new today. seriously. thanks!

[@DavidRichardson88]

"This is all well and good, but who really cares about dried out slices of white bread? Let's apply this information to something YOU care about. Cookies." He knows me so well!

[@pinkponyofprey1965]

That's the stuff that creeps me out and I don't even dare to look over my shoulder ...

[@Therockerrick]

David Richardson to give the example

[@susansparke3462]

I was in high school when one of my friends gave me a container of cookies that she had baked for Christmas and she had placed a piece of sandwich bread in the container. When I asked her about the slice of bread she told me that it would help to keep the cookies soft. I've been using this trick ever since. I told my grandma about it too and she even tried putting a slice of bread in a package of red vines that had hardened and they softened right up! Grandma was so pleased with herself. So, even if your cookies are dried out, just add a soft slice of bread to the bag/container and give it some time to work and it can actually reverse and remoisten the cookies!!!

[@animamundii]

These videos are the best! I am a cook and love learning new things everyday. I love how cooking, is very much like chemistry, its about how ingredients react together, beautiful.

[@jmh6823a]

Since brown sugar is made up of both white sugar plus molasses, this actually means that it's the molasses that is making the cookies more flexible and chewy. That would have been great if they would have mentioned that.

[@osco4311]

True, thought it might be more accurate to say that white sugar is brown sugar minus molasses.

[@givemeyoureggs456]

@@osco4311 fun fact, alot of brown sugar are made by just adding molasses together with white sugar

[@stooge81]

if you prefer your brownies more fudge-like versus cake-like, try substituting some of (or replacing entirely) the white sugar with brown. it gives it an amazing depth of both flavor and texture.

[@o0Avalon0o]

Thanks for the tip!

[@CL-ty6wp]

less leavening agent might do the same too

[@sleepyhead27]

I love baking science! Makes me so proud.

[@Rhythmier]

so that's the secret to chewy cookies? just change the sugar? my life has been a lie...

[@talonviperchef4048]

I'm sure there's more to it. They even have some other video about storing chewy cookies!

[@elizabethshaw734]

rhytymic no you shortening instead of butter. shortening makes a chewy cookie. butter makes a crisp cookie.

[@tonydetuna1923]

Massuvius Krasserr And you'll also get more compliments on your head. Larger tips too!

[@dermeistefan]

You have to take the air moisture into account too. If you just let bought cookies sit there for a few days they will absorb moisture out of the air in time. Which i prefer. Try cookies are ...meh, imho.

[@mistershoujo1235]

That's part of it, the amount of protein in your flour, hydration amounts, the type of fat you choose, all of that has an effect

[@HeavymetalHylian]

I use some of both in mine. It makes them crispy around the edges and outside, while still being soft and slightly chewy in the middle.

[@akidojlaw537]

great video, I never thought brown sugar offered more than just taste, thank you Dan.

[@bjmessex]

that was an incredibly useful piece of information. thank you

[@Pocketfarmer1]

I work on a seagoing tugboat and have moved mountains of sugar around the country( 14,000 ton at a time ). Before it is processed,they treat it much like sand, bulldozers and clamshell cranes. This is before it would be called food. The difference between brown sugar and white is the amount of molasses that it put back in. And despite what the labels may say , they all come out of the dominoes mill.

[@loverofsunflowers]

FINALLY IT ALL MAKES SENSE NOW! Thank you for the video! where is the powdered sugar? I want to know what happens when you mix brown sugar and powdered sugar together.

[@dominicdo2719]

This is the video I was looking for. All the other videos kept talking about what was in it, which was more healthy blah blah blah blah. Brown sugar = more moist baked goods White sugar = less so Thank you that was all I needed

[@bonniepwtf]

Oh, so cute, baby Dan! So strange to see him without his humor & quit wit bursting thru.

[@EnteIexia]

I always like using brown sugar for all my baked good because of the color and texture. I use white sugar for more grainy meals.

[@Chun_Li123]

This information is really useful. Thanks for posting!

[@EugenieKitchen]

great info as always, thanks!

[@faizeljohns5460]

Thank you your little video just told me using brown sugar in my Crunchies is the missing link thank you kindly for this 💕💕💕💗

[@neiloppa2620]

Is molasses more hygroscopic than brown sugar?

[@MrDexxy13]

Neil oppa that's my question too... does the brown sugar retain more moisture because of the molasses?

[@JoseJimeniz]

Time for an experiment. Looks like you have some cookies in your future!

[@HaloInverse]

Apparently, brown sugar is between 85%-92% sucrose, while molasses is boiled cane syrup that has had most of its sucrose extracted, leaving behind mostly glucose, fructose, and the tasty impurities. Since molasses has a much higher proportion of invert sugars (glucose, fructose) than non-invert (sucrose), it's probably a safe bet that molasses _is_ much more hygroscopic than brown sugar.

[@joegolok]

Dan is so young here 😳

[@Prash1c]

Amazing, amazing, amazing science video! Thank you!

[@sweetea887]

Bread example was perfect for me I want to make a bread in my machine and do not have white sugar... I guess I need to get the white for this recipe

[@YogiliciousP]

Fascinating...Now I can better solve the dilemma of do I want a chewy or crunchy cookie! Question: can I use this information by looking at the ingredients list of packaged cookies to predict if the cookies will be chewy/crunchy or does bake time also play a role?

[@ClaudKaKeiYeung]

I miss this series

[@kuchinta2020]

makes more sense than Martha Stewart's Everyday Food explanation.

[@tiffany6811]

Wow this is seriously helpful and interesting!

[@miscgloryofficial4527]

So - banana bread and other cakes - often says add BOTH white sugar and brown sugar - so I am wondering what removing brown sugar would do in this banana bread/cake style recipe ??? I was trying to make a low sugar/lower calorie cakes/banana breads and so wanted to use erythritol/stevia blends (NATVIA brand here in Australia) so hoping someone can shed some light on possible ramifications of using just that minus brown sugar. ??? 😍

[@6hour26]

omg i absolutely love your videos. KEEP IT UP!!!!!

[@o0Avalon0o]

So, where can I find the recipe to that delicious-looking sandwich cookie from 0:23 ?

[@gailmcculloch6705]

What is the difference in brown sugar and white. On a daily basis in calaries and good for you. Thanks.

[@blainemitchell]

What about the molasses and honey? How did those affect the results?

[@TardyTheTurtleOG]

What's eating Dan?

[@CesarSandoval024]

Can someone explain the cookies. Why does regular snap and brown is flexible?

[@MegaBanne]

I would mix 50/50 white and brown.

[@remij9592]

i love this series and I love Dan

[@AmericasTestKitchen]

Thanks for being a fan!

[@mstrchang]

so for chewy/fudgey brownies, i should use brown sugar instead of white sugar?

[@ominous-omnipresent-they]

I make awesome oatmeal raisin cookies.

[@peterzwille8356]

Thank you for this awesome information!

[@isofleecie8808]

Really cool! Can we get demos about the other types of sweeteners too? I'm curious about honey and molasses especially.

[@Roof_Pizza]

Yeah but the cookie recipes call for both, what's the deal with that? Also, I've started to use cane sugar over brown. Love the added textures.

[@o0Avalon0o]

Changing the sweetener in the cookie effects the rise of the cookie. So to get a good shape, taste, & moisture, lots of recipes will use both. There are really great KZbin videos explaining why, but basically sugars are differing levels of acidity, effecting the baking soda &/or baking powder. (Baking powder is a whole nother interesting story.)

[@catherine_dong]

Huh, I always thought it was because of the molasses in the brown sugar. Thanks for this!

[@jlynn8843]

It is😊

[@enzyme20056]

I learned this the other day when I ran out of white sugar and had to use brown. But now I know why my cookies failed

[@greenlimabean]

could you would discuss sucanat. more natural, has a slight molasses taste, but it seems dry. wishing youd experiment with it.

[@AmericasTestKitchen]

You might enjoy reading our article on sucanat: www.americastestkitchen.com/articles/400-what-is-sucanat

[@user-wq6hr9xi2n]

Hmm interesting, thanks.

[@Owomp]

what about taste,love a chewy cookie but will it taste the same if i just use brown sugar?

[@silverlightx6]

I'm a brown sugar purist. I prefer the flavor and texture it gives to my baked goods.

[@matthewnoble1980]

A very informative video! Thank you for teaching me something today :)

[@AStemOfRedRose]

When the chocolate cake recipe asks for white sugar but I wish to use brown sugar, what then? Could you help with the ratio i.e sweetness and measurement required of brown to white sugar? Thank you.

[@donafaithleipwenceslao]

can someone please tell me, can i use washed sugar instead of brown when making chocolate chip cookies?

[@NilsAschlak]

Very interesting. Thanks for the tip :)

[@mtl10]

Is there a kind of "sweetness conversion" for brown sugar to white sugar (and vise versa)? Like, in order to maintain the same amount of sweetness of 1 Tbsp of white sugar, how much brown sugar should be used in it's place? I'm thinking along the lines of substituting Splenda, which is like 4x (guessing) as sweet, so you need 1/4 Tbsp Spenda per 1Tbsp sugar

[@HeavymetalHylian]

you can do 1:1 but personally, I use 3/4 of whatever the recipe calls for. So you could make the cookies with 3/4c brown sugar instead of white or if you want a cookie that is crispy and chewy, you can do 1/2c sugar + 1/4c brown sugar to equal out to 3/4c of sugar total.

[@Mekratrig]

Wot about palm sugar, coconut sugar, and molasses sugar? All if which taste bettar to me than plain regular sugar. Pls do a bakeoff between them, yes?

[@joestallings6993]

great video.

[@jlynn8843]

Thanks for the video!! I didn't know what a difference in the type of sugar could make.. I'm a little confused though.. would you want to make white bread with white sugar to keep it soft or will brown sugar make it soft?? I want to make my own white bread but haven't tried it yet and want to start out using the right sugar😊

[@susansparke3462]

Breads don't typically contain sugars. They usually contain flour(s), water, salt, yeast or some other raising agent such as baking soda (Irish Soda Bread) and that's it. Flatbreads don't even use raising agents. Enriched breads such as brioche and challah will have additional ingredients such as eggs and dairy products, usually whole milk, which increase the fat content (dairy products obviously contain lactose sugars), and some enriched doughs will use olive oil and the addition of fats increase the length of time required to proof the dough. If you want to make some sort of a filling for a sweetened yeasted bread such as something like cinnamon rolls, a babka, a povitica or a pastiche, then the majority of the sweetness will be in the filling itself. Two good resources for you to check out would be websites called Breadtopia and King Arthur Baking Company. Both have tons of great information and all sorts of ingredients and tools, gadgets and equipment for the home baker to purchase. Here on KZbin, there is an excellent baker and published author who has a show on Food 52's channel called "Bake It Up A Notch with Erin McDowell" and she provides such indepth knowledge of her craft that it feels like you're watching a masterclass. Good luck to you and happy baking!!! P.S. If I had to guess, then I would probably try adding something like a touch of honey, molasses, malt syrup, sorghum syrup, golden syrup, light or dark corn syrup, agave nectar, maple syrup or some such "liquid" as opposed to a granulated sugar. A lot of it depends on what type of bread you're baking, your personal preferences and how you want it to look. A white sandwich bread will be very different from say a darker wholegrain-type of bread, and both are entirely different from a sourdough (contains no added sugar) or even something like a copycat recipe of Outback Steakhouse's Honey Wheat Bushman Bread, which is very dark in color. Remember to have fun with it too! Gemma Stafford of Bigger, Bolder Baking has a wonderful KZbin Channel, is a professionally trained chef and is a published author as well. She makes her recipes very accessible to people, especially to beginners. If you have an Amazon Prime account, then you can also watch episodes of The Great British Baking Show and they are very entertaining as well as educational. They make so many recipes which I had never heard of prior to watching the show, so it's fun to learn about the wide world of baking!!!

[@JA-gx4hb]

Sugar in bread is for Subway and McDonald's.

[@paamellla]

Wow a good thing to know

[@BigStuffedRhino]

I really love this series :)

[@morshedulalamsohel]

Wow...

[@deezynar]

Put brown sugar into container with bread, the brown sugar pulls the moisture out of the bread and holds onto it. Put brown sugar in cookies and the cookie is moist. I do not refute the evidence of those two things happening, however, I do not see how the brown sugar makes the cookie moist. Does it do a better job of holding onto the moisture that was originally in the cookie dough, while the white sugar did not hold onto it? He didn't really say.

[@AznSyKc0]

deezynar the brown sugar takes the moisture from the bread and stores it in itself. since the brown sugar is IN the cookie the moisture it retains is part of the cookie itself making it chewy. The moisture is held inside by the brown sugar and not loss as a result of the baking process.

[@deezynar]

That makes perfect sense, Az. It matches my thinking anyway, thanks. The video should have been a tad bit more clear on that.

[@brandonrussell8306]

deezynar They did not bake with the bread sugar. He explains how brown sugar slows the evaporation of moisture from the dough itself during baking

[@deezynar]

Neither, I, nor AznSyKc0, said that the cookies were made with brown sugar that had been in the container with the bread.

[@G4LCTC]

Sweet video!

[@cileft011]

"let's apply this information to something we do care about: COOKIES"

[@bobrobert6277]

isn't brown sugar just white sugar sprayed with molasses. if you take a grain of brown sugar and split it in two the inside is white.

[@tamambeabi]

Bob Robert it is indeed. Brown sugar just adds colour, taste and moisture to your goods. Thats it

[@sinofraj1744]

So, are you saying that Brown Sugar has acids added to it?

[@lusteraliaszero]

It has added bitter molasses, which is acidic. This isn't a bad thing, acids are not bad for you. And in baking you can combine it with alkaline ingredients to create gasses that expand and make your pastry airier.

[@JohnDoe-wx2oo]

I knew 4chan was secretly intelligent.

[@shutupack5389]

it's just some internet weeb, not an entire board collection bud

[@AWWx2]

Dan Souza earlier video without his beard. Still looking good. But I want to know which sugar to use in which proportion to which other sugar to get the most chewy cookies. I don't think the video made that clear enough for me. Also, sugar from beets or from canes? Which is sweeter or even which is less costly to use in recipes, or are they both the same?

[@999AnnA999]

awesome

[@bobbybobbinson]

Wow!

[@teniciawilliams6087]

So thats why they use both brown and white sugar in cookies

[@ConscriptConspir]

Technically, shouldn't you have massed the sugar not measured by volume? I suspect a 1/4 of brown sugar is less sugar than the white. The point is still proven by this experiment, as the brown sugar still absorbed more water, but it is slightly askew data I think. Please tell me why I'm wrong if I am.

[@wardahsalehan676]

1:37 1:41

[@MYMy-qx1gn]

Brown sugar best ...white sugar poision...

[@alanaswiss]

great info! time to buy some brown sugar :)

[@henrikhyrup3995]

Very, very interesting! :)

[@PennyQuest]

Oh great...now I need to track down a killer oatmeal cookie recipe with tons of brown sugar... ;)

[@AvdylGashi1]

Did you find it? Came down here looking for it!!

[@tonydetuna1923]

Or just add molasses to your recipe when adding sugar. use brown sugar (made with molasses) WHEN MAKING DESSERTS or Flambe

[@EvaKastelicCapture]

Has anyone else noticed that the brown sugar here in Europe is nothing like the brown sugar in America? It's just not as sticky and behaves a lot more like white sugar with the exception of the colour...I'm trying to figure out why this is

[@tamambeabi]

Eva Kastelic they dried it out after mixing the molasses! It still has molasses in. But less moisture content.

[@gelatowasme]

Ok but what if you were to use both brown sugar and white sugar

[@noblehillministerprophet8689]

Thank you ,young man! My baking is a train wreck,only the squirrels can eat my cookies!

[@lc2014]

I only use white sugar in my cookies

[@fobMCRspPATD]

It’s fetus Dan

[@pkrent3461]

plz link intro music

[@paolomath]

and indeed it turned out that nutritional properties of brown sugar are not much at all. so when looking for crunchy cookies the decision should be hands down white sugar.

[@CliveMunz]

paolomath what maniac prefers crunchy cookies? 😆

[@Tzadeck]

I like chocolate chip to be a bit crunchy, actually. Oatmeal, though, definitely chewy.

[@patrickkeller2193]

In germany pretty much ALL cookies are crunchy, I didn't even know there was another kind. Then I got a Subway cookie for the first time and was like "eww, what is this?" I rather take the green apple alternative.

[@CheeseDud]

Subway cookies are the fast food version of the soft cookie. You should try some homemade chewy chocolate chip cookies and you will see what the difference is.

[@RobinDobbie]

I suppose there's something special about crunchy cookies and milk together. Without milk, chewy cookies are really the only way to go.

[@sundarpichai940]

I'm embarrassed to say that I always thought the word was hydroscopic.

[@noblehillministerprophet8689]

I need a squeeze bag

[@wardahsalehan8470]

2:22

[@chunkymonkey55555]

I was but starring at shadows!

[@КонрадЛейк]

Brown sugar will harden some time after opened, making it unusable in recipes. To solve this use a combination of White Sugar and Molasses. It will have the same effect as brown sugar, and can be stored easily.

[@CaptainBuggyTheClown]

bruh

[@TheONLYFeli0]

I fucked up so bad lol, when I was making chocolate scoop I didn’t have brown sugar so I used white sugar, and it tasted like sHIT

[@via7034]

yo i thought the guy on the thumbnail was josh peck

[@pinkponyofprey1965]

HA! kewl

[@SSLLatia]

is there a secret political message here? brown - chewy and flexible. white - hard and crumbling. - Disclaimer: now relax people, this was a joke

[@ling3729]

fortnite

[@cf4880]

is it really necessary to have that big long commercial before your measley 2 minute video?!!!

[@nowknow]

repeated experiments, controlled conditions, and a defined test value, on youtube!?

[@hrabianero]

White sugar, brown sugar, same shit.

[@rozamunduszek4787]

is that an American thing that you find chewyness in cookies desirable?

[@diggles27]

He like Alton Brown's apathetic nephew

[@eskimogolfer]

"we made oatmeal cookies, and then threw them away. because oatmeal cookies are disgusting..."

[@markwilliams2620]

Dustin Hanson Soak craisins in dark rum overnight. Flame it if you want to lose the booze. Add these instead of raisins. Frost with sour cream frosting.

[@ddt0889]

Oatmeal cookies are the best cookies.

[@cachecow]

CLICK BAIT !!! I was looking those brown sugar cookies Money shot is at 1:52 A little cookie S&M at 2:05

[@lifeisbeautiful1974]

There is no sound.