September 24, 2018 - 5:56pm
cold lye vs boiling lye
Hi guys,
i'm making brioche buns and want a dark brown exterior. Do i need to dip the proofed buns into a boiling lye solution or will a cold lye solution work?
what does the temperature of the lye solution have to do with the end result? is it simply to get a chewy exterior? if so and a cold dip will effect the PH then i'm leaning towards using a cold dip to preserve the soft exterior but achieve a dark brown colour. what are your thoughts? anyone have the knowledge to steer me in the right direction?
thanks
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A cold dip will work just fine, but remember that lye is a salt and as such is very salty (pretzely). For a good example of what lye does, bake a blank pretzel and bake a lye pretzel and taste them both. It is true you can use a very weak lye solution instead, but it is the sugars in brioche that cause the intense browning. Lye should not be needed. Even at a very low dilution, lye can dramatically change texture (think good bagels). I recommend using an egg wash and maybe starting at a high baking temp and lowering it after 10 mins or so.
Egg wash is definitely the way to go for this bread, not lye.
Paul