Egg functions

Egg funtions

Eggs, as most liquids play a vital role in dough production and therefore in the bakery, some of its functionalities are:

• Hydration
• Heat transfer
• Freshness
• Carrier
• Binding
• Air incorporation
• Emulsification
• Stabilisation
• Gelling
• Colour
• Flavour
• Nutrition

In products where egg has a major part of the formulation it will have several (and perhaps all) of the functions above. In only egg white there are around 40 different proteins and they all behave differently and even differently based on their age. Each protein denatures at a different temperature creating a trajectory from 55°C onwards to abount 85°C. In its own very good in incorporation of air, but requires an emulsifier to stabilise (such as the lecithin found in egg yolk).

So very often replacing these functions as one would like to formulate without eggs, implies adding (or increasing if some are already present) somewhere around 3-6 ingredients on average.

Bakery Articles

Our scientific bakery articles offer in-depth insights, detailed analyses, and expert perspectives, providing a wealth of information beyond standard blogs.