EGG LITERATURE

Source: Baking School Day 1: All About Eggs and Baking | Kitchn
Recipes that use just the yolk of an egg typically do so for the yolk's fat content and
emulsifying abilities. The fat gives baked goods extra-rich flavor and a velvety texture. The
yolk also has the unique ability to bind liquids and fats together, creating an emulsion that
prevents them from separating. This emulsion process helps create a more homogenous
mix of ingredients — aiding in an even distribution of liquid and fats throughout a recipe for
smooth batters, satiny custards, and creamy curds.

When yolks are heated, the proteins they contain unfold and gel together. This is a delicate
situation; too much heat and the proteins will gel too much and turn curdled and grainy, but
when warmed gently over low heat, egg yolks have a great ability to thicken products like
sauces and custards. Again, their emulsifying properties enhance and thicken cream when
they are cooked together.

The Role of Egg Whites: Foam!

When egg whites are used alone, they perform an entirely different role from the yolks,
especially when whipped. Whipping and using egg whites in a recipe does not have to be as
intimidating as you may think, and we'll be talking much more about this in a few days. For
now, just know that whipping egg whites means incorporating millions of little air bubbles
within the white. This creates a fairly stable foam that we can use to make everything from a
soufflé to meringue. To help stabilize egg whites even further, we can add acidic elements,
like cream of tartar and lemon juice.

One of the best ways to use whipped egg whites is as a natural leavening agent in
something like a delicate cake or a soufflé. In the heat of the oven, the air trapped in the
foam starts to expand, causing the recipe rise without the need for things like yeast or baking
soda. In fact, whipped egg whites are how many classic baked goods, like sponge cakes,
got their lift in the days before baking soda and baking powder!

Egg whites can also be whipped with sugar to make meringue, which can then be baked into
crunchy meringue kisses, made into billowy pavlovas, or dolloped on top of desserts like
baked Alaska. Sugar makes whipped egg whites incredibly stable — you can even pipe it
using a piping bag into stars, kisses, and toadstools.

While the idea of "light" and "airy" whipped egg whites might make you think that more is
better, it is possible to overdo it. Over-whipped whites will become clumpy, grainy, and
difficult to fold into your batter. Also, using too many whites in a batter can wind up making
the final product dry.

→ Common recipes that often use just egg whites: Meringues, pavlova, chiffon
cakes, macarons, marshmallows, marshmallow fluff, and frostings.

The Role of Whole Eggs: Fat and Foam

When you use whole eggs in a recipe, you get some of the best properties of both the yolk
and the white. While whole eggs aren't quite as good as straight yolks at creating an
emulsion, they are still excellent binding agents, especially in cakes, cookies, and other
baked goods. Eggs also firm up and solidify when heated, giving crucial structural support to
delicate desserts and pastries. At the same time, eggs make baked goods more tender,
creating light textures, soft breads, and delicate crumbs.
When mixed with sugar (like in a cake or cookie batter), eggs help trap and hold air — not
quite as well as whipped egg whites, but enough to give the finished product some lightness
and lift. The combination of eggs and sugar also adds a great deal of moisture and flavor to
a recipe.

Yolks and whites can also be used separately in the same recipe. This truly is the best of
both worlds, with the yolks providing richness to a base or batter while the whipped whites
do their job of lightening and leavening. Chiffon cakes and soufflés are good examples of
this kind of recipe.

Source: https://www.eggs.ca/eggs101/view/95/food-science

Eggs may be the most important ingredient in your fridge! They’re nutritious, they taste
great, and their physical properties and components make them indispensable in the
kitchen. Eggs form the foundation on which many cooking techniques and recipes depend.

Protein Power

Along with water, protein is a key component of egg yolks and whites. Protein is made of
long chains of amino acids tightly coiled by weak bonds. When protein is heated or air is
beaten into it, its bonds come apart, and the chain partly unwinds. The protein is now
denatured, or changed from its natural state.

As the proteins unfold, they expose their hydrophobic (water-hating) and hydrophilic (water-
loving) ends. The proteins form new bonds, arranging themselves so their water-hating ends
are in the air and the water-loving ends are in the water. This creates a web of protein
molecules that hold the air bubbles in place. If the proteins are overheated or overbeaten,
the bonds will tighten and squeeze out the moisture, leaving the eggs dry, firm and rubbery.

The Role of Eggs in Cooking and Baking:

Leaven

Eggs have a great ability to leaven or puff up foods when air is beaten into them. Egg whites
are especially good at this and, when beaten, they create a foam that has more stability and
volume than whole eggs or yolks.

When air is incorporated into the protein molecules in egg whites, the proteins unwind and
stretch to form an elastic web that encases the air bubbles. Egg whites can expand up to
eight times their volume. They provide volume and structure to soufflés, angel food cake and
meringues.

Room temperature egg whites create the best foam volume and stability. Adding an acid
(e.g. cream of tartar, vinegar, lemon juice) will help to strengthen and stabilize a foam. Any
fat, such as a trace of egg yolk mixed in with the whites, or oil in the bowl, or butter or cream
on the mixing utensils will diminish the foaming ability of the whites.

Whole eggs and yolks can also trap and hold air that expands during heating, leavening
cake batters and sauces such as sabayon.

Examples:

Basic Souffle

Angel Food Cake

Lemon Meringue Pie

Raspberry Chocolate Torte

Emulsify

Hollandaise sauce and mayonnaise are good examples of an emulsion, the blending of two
incompatible liquids such as oil and water. Since these two liquids don’t mix, an emulsifier is
needed to hold the oil molecules in the water without the ingredients separating. The lecithin
in egg yolks is an excellent emulsifier. With the water-loving end of the lecithin molecule
buried in the water molecules and the water-hating end buried in the oil molecules, lecithin
forms a thin film around tiny drops of oil enabling them to remain suspended in a water-
based liquid.

Creamy desserts such as crème brûlée also benefit from eggs’ ability to emulsify and
produce smooth, satiny, homogeneous mixtures.

Examples:

Hollandaise Sauce

Crème Brûlée

Thicken

Their ability to hold up to four times their weight in moisture makes eggs a good thickener for
sauces, custards and curds. The proteins in eggs coagulate or set at different temperatures.
This results in thickening but it means that eggs must be cooked gently and heated carefully
or they will scramble rather than thicken a sauce or other mixture.

Egg white becomes jelly-like at 140°F (60°C) and firms at about 149°F (65°C). Egg yolk
starts to set at 144°F (62°C) and is fully set at 158°F (70°C). A whole egg coagulates at
about 156°F (69°C).

Examples:

Sunny Side Up Pavlovas

Lime Pudding Cake with Berries

Strawberries and Cream Canada Day Pops

Bind

Eggs can act as binding agents. As their proteins set, eggs bind ingredients together giving
strength and stability to meatloaves, casseroles and baked goods.

Examples:

Rösti with Gribiche Sauce and Smoked Fish

Chocolate Krinkles

Italian Penne Bake

Challah (Egg Bread)

Coat and Seal

Eggs are used to coat foods with crumbs, flour, etc. as they help these ingredients adhere
and also help to create browned appearance when cooked. Eggs have a stickiness that
allows them to be used to bond two pieces of dough or pastry together (e.g. a decorative
pastry garnish on a pie crust) or to provide a sticky surface on which to sprinkle seeds (e.g.
poppy seeds on the top of a bun).

Colour and Shine

Protein browns when exposed to heat. Brushing pies, biscuits, breads and buns with an egg
wash (beaten eggs alone or combined with water, milk or cream) before baking gives them a
bronzed and glossy sheen.