This Egg Wash Is the Key to Beautiful Baked Goods (2024)

FAQs

What does an egg wash do for your baked goods? ›

Egg wash is beaten egg used to glaze or seal baked goods or to adhere breading to foods like cutlets. Whole egg is beaten alone or with another liquid like water, milk or cream. The wash is brushed over the surface of goods like breads, pastries and pies to give them a shiny browned appearance after baking.

Egg wash is a mix of beaten whole egg and water (or milk or cream), which is used to brush onto the top of baked goods before baking. The purpose of egg wash is to provide a nice golden brown, shiny finish on your baking.

Eggs play an important role in everything from cakes and cookies to meringues and pastry cream — they create structure and stability within a batter, they help thicken and emulsify sauces and custards, they add moisture to cakes and other baked goods, and can even act as glue or glaze.

Egg yolks impart a rich yellow color to cakes and are often used to fortify whole egg products within formulations to yield a more intense color or increased emulsifying action. The pleasing color that eggs impart to baked foods has long been accepted as a mark of superior quality.

An egg wash is beaten eggs, sometimes mixed with another liquid such as water or milk, which is brushed onto the surface of a pastry before baking. Egg washes are also used as a step in the process of breading foods, providing a substrate for the breading to stick to.

Beaten whole eggs as well as egg whites on their own, are highly effective leavening agents, incorporating air into the dough or batter. As the air bubbles are trapped in the mixture, a foam is created, which will expand in the oven, causing cakes to rise, providing volume and a lighter texture.

Butter gives baked goods the same golden, crispy finish as egg wash, with the added benefit of tasting like, well, butter. To proceed, first melt the butter over low heat—being careful not to brown it—and then use a pastry brush to sparingly apply an even layer to the soon-to-be-baked item.

In baking, many recipes call for an egg wash to be brushed on the baked goods before it goes into the oven. The purpose of this is to give the final product a golden brown color that is slightly shiny. Egg washes can make the final product look more professional, a bit crispier, or act as a binder."

For a deeper brown sheen with a crispier crust, use water. For a lighter, slightly shinier sheen with a softer crust, use milk or heavy cream. For a firmer, lighter crust with little shine, use only the egg white and water. For a darker, richer hue, use only the egg yolk.

It's easy to swap in coconut oil, olive oil, canola oil, avocado oil, or vegetable oil for margarine. In most recipes, oil is substituted for margarine at a 3:4 ratio. This accounts for any water or other ingredients in the margarine. So, for every cup of margarine in the recipe, use 3/4 cup of oil.

What holds baked goods together? ›

Flour provides the structure in baked goods. Wheat flour contains proteins that interact with each other when mixed with water, forming gluten. It is this elastic gluten framework which stretches to contain the expanding leavening gases during rising. The protein content of a flour affects the strength of a dough.

The job of butter in baking (besides being delicious) is to give richness, tenderness and structure to cookies, cakes, pies and pastries. We alter the way butter works in a recipe by changing its temperature and choosing when to combine it with the other ingredients.

But let's not underestimate the egg wash, a small but important step that gives the crust its shine. Lending countless baked goods (pie crust, pastries, breads, and more) a glistening golden shell, an egg wash also helps seal the dough, providing a protective barrier from the heat of the oven.

Eggs Add Color

The carotenoid xanthophyll gives the yolks their distinctively bright color as well as contributes to the color of foods made with the yolks. Going back to the white and yellow cakes, the yellow coloring of the cake comes from the yolks added to the mixture.

Eggs are an important staple of many baking recipes. They serve ocal functions such as binding leavening and providing moisture to the final product.

Pies with a top crust or lattice top will typically call for an egg or cream wash to be brushed onto the dough. The type of wash you use is what will give the baked pie a polished finish. It's also the perfect "glue" for holding sugar that's sprinkled on the crust or seeds on top of a loaf of bread.

In baking, many recipes call for an egg wash to be brushed on the baked goods before it goes into the oven. The purpose of this is to give the final product a golden brown color that is slightly shiny. Egg washes can make the final product look more professional, a bit crispier, or act as a binder."

Examples of ingredients used in egg wash substitutes include: Milk, cream or butter. Water. Vegetable or olive oil.