Brown sugar can definitely be used for making bread, but there are a few things that you ought to bear in mind when considering it.
Of those two options, bread is certainly the type that needs drier dough in order to bake properly. Therefore, we would suggest using white sugar when baking bread.
From the processing to the final product, brown sugar and white sugar are different in a few ways, and we’re going to talk about just what makes them different here.
What Does Brown Sugar Do In Bread?
When brown sugar is used in baked goods, it tends to lead to a more moist environment than when white sugar is used. The reason for this is that brown sugar is brown because a small amount of molasses still remains within the sugar crystals themselves.
First and foremost, molasses affects the taste of the sugar, but it does also affect the consistency of the final baked product. Using brown sugar in bread would lead to a wetter final consistency, which would like mean that the bread would need to be baked for longer in order to achieve a similar consistency to what you would get with brown sugar.
The taste of the bread would like me slightly different as well, but it would probably not be noticeable. Typically, only a tablespoon or so of sugar is used in a loaf of bread, so the flavor is blocked out by the flour, water, salt, and yeast in the rest of the dough.
How Does Brown Sugar Affect baking?
Brown sugar affects baking in one way, really: it makes the final product that you make wetter overall. The reason that it does this is because of the molasses content of the sugar crystals, which will turn to liquid very quickly, and make the mix of the batter altogether moister. This would mean that the final consistency of something baked with brown sugar would likely be more moist and overall denser.
While this could be negated by baking the product for a longer period of time, you’re likely to negatively affect other factors of the bake by doing that – it’s a balancing act.
[Related Article: Substitute Jam for Sugar in Baking and 5 Other Alternatives]
What happens if you substitute brown sugar for white sugar?
Two things will change when you’re making a recipe with brown sugar instead of white sugar: the flavor and the consistency.
The flavor of the baked goods that you’re making will change slightly due to the presence of molasses in the brown sugar. The reason that brown sugar is that color is that is still has a little molasses in it. When you bake with brown sugar, the molasses turns to liquid and becomes part of your mixture – this leads to a slightly different overall flavor than if white sugar alone were used.
The presence of the liquid molasses in the mix that makes up your baked goods will also lead to the overall consistency being affected. If the mix is wetter overall, then the final consistency will be closer, and moister. This can be a good thing, for example, if you were making banana bread, but it could also be a bad thing, for example, if you were making cake or bread, which needs to have a certain level of dryness in order to remain cohesive.
Brown Sugar Vs White sugar taste
Brown and white sugar do have a slightly different taste, this is true.
White sugar has a very pure taste, it is simply sweet and nothing more. This makes it ideal for adding to any amount of desserts, drinks, or savory meals as it will just add sweetness, and won’t impart other flavors.
On the other hand, brown sugar is slightly more flavorsome overall. By this, we mean that brown sugar has a hint of rich caramel flavor alongside the straightforward sweetness. When combined with the slight darkening effect that brown sugar can have, it’s quite a profound effect. At the end of the bake, brown sugar can transform a dessert. Even the small change of the addition of rich caramel flavor is enough to make blondies or brownies taste completely different, and much more luxurious.
Can I Substitute Brown Sugar For White Sugar In Brownies?
You certainly can, and in fact, we’d recommend it!
Generally speaking, you should pick which sugar you’re going to use based upon the final consistency of the product that you’re making.
Now, if you’re planning to make brownies, then you’ll probably want to achieve two things: a gooey center and a crispy top.
The crispy top of a great brownie is actually made from meringue. As unlikely as it may seem, that’s completely true! That’s the reason why a lot of brownie recipes call for more egg whites than yolks and an awful lot of beating.
White sugar is used for meringue, so you’ll want to include at least a little white sugar in order to get the best crispy top possible for your brownies.
The gooey center of a brownie is controlled by a different combination of eggs and sugar: yolks and brown sugar. The fatty egg yolks mix well with the molasses in brown sugar in order to give the final product a rich, thick, and delightfully gooey center!
So, there isn’t a great final answer for which sugar should be used over the other in brownies. The vast majority of recipes online state that of the total volume of sugar, roughly half should be white, and half should be brown. This will mean that you get the best of both worlds, ideal for a lovely sweet treat.
Can You Substitute Brown Sugar For White Sugar In Cheesecake?
Yes, you definitely can substitute brown sugar for white in a cheesecake. There are three distinct layers to a baked cheesecake, and they all can use either brown or white sugar.
The crust of a cheesecake is always the easiest part to make. It’s typically just cookie or wafer crumbs and maybe a few nuts which, when mixed together with butter, will allow for a rich, thick, and buttery base, ideal for great cheesecakes. While sugar might not be added to the base, it sometimes is. Any sugar can really be used, though it’s up to the chef to decide whether they’d prefer to use white or brown. Within the crust, the difference will mostly be due to taste, so most people would prefer to opt for brown sugar.
The filling of an American-style cheesecake is baked in the oven for a short while, before being cooled to fridge temperature and served from there onwards. The final texture of a cheesecake, while meant to be light and fluffy, is still quite dense. This means that you can use brown sugar with little to no risk of the texture being affected – the batter will be just as wet as ever even if you choose to use brown sugar.
The topping of an American cheesecake is often made from sour cream, along with sugar and any additional flavorings. For this use, either white or brown sugar can be used – it is mostly just down to flavor once more.
To sum up, either white or brown sugar can be used for cheesecake. The overall texture of the dish is unlikely to be affected by what type of sugar is used, but the flavor certainly would be. For that reason, simply use whichever sugar you prefer!
Conclusion
In conclusion, both brown sugar and white sugar have their merits. Brown sugar is better for bakes like banana bread where a caramel texture is desired, and a wetter texture too. White sugar is better for bakes where a drier texture and a more straightforward flavor are called for.