While we originally thought to choose a bread recipe from Greg Wade’s new book Bread Head for obvious reasons, we were struck by the other interesting recipes included like his buckwheat brownies. At the mention of cardamom, we knew that was our pick. Here is what the author had to say:

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Buckwheat and chocolate go incredibly well together, each lending the other a deep richness. To further perk up the buckwheat, though, I added ground cardamom, which is a floral, almost minty, but still earthy baking spice. You’ll notice that the recipe calls for blending buckwheat flour with all-purpose, which is to help maintain the signature-brownie dense structure. That said, you can go all buckwheat to make these gluten-free; they’ll just be a bit more on the crumbly side.

Makes 20 (3 ½ x 3-inch) brownies

Ingredients

• 1 ¾ cups (200 grams) buckwheat flour
• 1 cup + 2 tablespoons (140 grams) all-purpose flour
• Cooking spray, for greasing
• 4 ¼ cups (860 grams) granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon (4 grams) baking powder
• 1 ½ teaspoons (4 grams) ground cardamom
• 2 ⅓ cups (340 grams) bittersweet chocolate (60-70 grams)
• 1 ½ cups (340 grams) unsalted butter
• 8 large eggs (440 grams)
• 1 tablespoon (10 grams) vanilla bean paste or extract

Instructions

Make the Brownies

1. Preheat the oven to 325°F. Coat a half-sheet tray with cooking spray, line with parchment, and spray the parchment.

2. In a medium bowl, add the sugar, buckwheat flour, all-purpose flour, baking powder, and cardamom. Whisk briefly to combine.

3. Pour about an inch of water into a medium saucepan. Set a larger, heat-safe bowl over the pot and bring the water to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce the heat to low and add the chocolate and butter to the bowl. Melt the chocolate and butter together, stirring occasionally.

4. Remove the bowl from the pot and let the chocolate mixture cool slightly. Whisk thin the eggs and vanilla, beating until thoroughly combined.

5. Add a third of the flour mixture to the chocolate mixture. Use a spatula to scoop up from underneath the batter and fold it up over the flour to combine. Rotate the bowl as you go and make sure the flour is completely incorporated. Repeat this with the remaining thirds of the flour mixture.

6. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake for about 30 minutes, until the tops are crackly but do not spring back like a cake does when pressed. In my opinion, brownies are best just slightly underbaked and fudgy. Let cool before slicing and serving.

Excerpted from Bread Head: Baking for the Road Less Traveled by Greg Wade. Copyright © 2022 by Greg Wade, Rachel Holtzman. Used with permission of the publisher, W. W. Norton & Company, Inc. All rights reserved.