All You Need To Know About Using Eggs in Baking
Whether you're a professional baker or do it in your spare time as a hobby your going to know the all round basics and the ingredients used, so you will no why we use eggs and the role they play, there are so many recipes were eggs need to be used and it’s so important they are utilised property to get maximum effect.
We’re a lot of ingredient substitutes that can be used, unfortunately egg plays a vital role in many recipes especially if we’re talking about pastry where it’s critical that it's used. It's like making a chocolate cake without the chocolate.
Cracking Your Eggs
Eggs are made up from two main components: the yolk and the egg white, the yolk being the yellow part in the centre and the white being the liquid that provides protein and turns white when cooked.
The yolk provides us with the most fat vitamins, minerals and protein compromising one third of the volume, both components are used to fulfil different parts of the baking process.
Why Do Bakers Use Eggs?
Eggs are the most important part of most recipes and if you attend a baking class their importance will always be emphasised, depending on the recipe you may require both of the egg’s components or either or.
The yolk plays a huge role as it has a higher fat content and often adds tons of flavour and adds texture and emulsifies pastries and batters.
Whites are often whipped into a creamy texture and are used as a levelling agent especially in more delicate dishes such as sponge cake and can be whipped with sugar to create beautiful light meringue.
If you're making a cake it’s important to get the balance of ingredients right. For example, adding too much flour can cause your cake to become dry and adding too much cocoa powder can make the taste become bitter.
If you're looking for the perfect balance you could use the whole egg that way you get the best of both worlds, yolks and whites mixed together are the perfect combination especially in batters.
Practice makes perfect and getting the right combination takes time. It's all just a matter of following recipes and accepting trial and error along the way.
Can An Alternative Be Used To Eggs in Baking?
Although eggs play a huge part when it comes to baking cakes especially to gain their light fluffy texture, YES there are options available for vegans and vegetarians.
Does the Size of the egg Matter?
It may come as a surprise to most but YES the size of the egg does matter when it comes to baking although two eggs are never the same, but most are sorted and sold into size at the baker’s discretion.
Clearly normal recipes that require eggs do not need to be a certain size for example scrambled or fried eggs. If you’re just starting out and looking to learn, the best thing to do is sign up to some cooking and baking classes.
