So this has been puzzling me for a week. I recently saw a recipe online for a microwave protein brownie that seemingly had some very odd ingredients. I had all these ingredients so decided to try it, and was super surprised when I created a product that was otherwise indistinguishable from a normal brownie.
For clarity the recipe combines the following: Greek yogurt, cocoa powder, honey, baking powder, and protein powder. This is all mixed together into a wet mix and then microwaved for roughly a minute. What is confusing to me is that I don’t understand how this combination of ingredients turn into a cake like structure. My presumption is that it’s a weird interaction between the greek yogurt and the baking powder (otherwise why not just use normal yogurt), but how that results in cake like fluffiness I’m not sure. The heat makes it rises and bubble a lot, but I’m genuinely curious as to the reaction that’s happening here. I’m just so puzzled about the textural/ consistency change.
Edit: a lot of people are curious about the recipe so here it is. https://theproteinchef.co/the-best-microwave-protein-brownie-recipe/
In: 637
The baking powder evolves carbon dioxide when wet, which is why the mix goes fluffy. The heat and chemical changes in the mix cause the yogurt and protein powder proteins (casein and whey) to bind and tangle, forming a structure that can trap the carbon dioxide and not collapse. Acids are often used to set (curdle) milk proteins for cheese-making.
For breads and cakes, the protein is gluten from the flour.
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