Eggs/egg whites in bread? Lots of questions.
So I've been toying with the idea of eggs in my bread. I've heard fat (like oil) can inhibit gluten formation and cause a weak rise, but eggs don't do that. But I have a few questions before I wasted flour and eggs.
How many eggs can I add to my usual Italian loaf recipe that usually calls for 3 c. Flour and 1 1/2- 2 cups water. Is there a difference between 2 eggs and 4?
A lot of people do just egg whites, which is fine if I have to, but I dont want to waste eggs if I don't have to. Are there benefits to this? And again, how many? And I heard you're supposed to adjust for water but I cannot seem to find a definitive answer such as "x amount of egg whites= x amount of water"
A lot of recipies call for eggs whites to be whipped. But no one says why, is there a difference between just egg whites and whipped ones?
And lastly, I found a few recipes that call for eggs but they also call for a bunch of other ingredients, milk, a lot of sugar etc. I'm just trying to make a simple Italian loaf and a lot of those milk/egg recipes seem to be braided or dessert, or a different loaf all together. So... I'm confused. Thank you for any clarification.
https://www.leaf.tv/articles/what-eggs-do-in-yeast-bread/
My suggestion would be to lightly beat the white and yolk of one egg together, and treat it as part of the liquid in your next batch. See how you like the results. If you like that, try two eggs next time, and so forth.
With the yolk included, the most obvious result will be a slight eggy taste.
Yes, there's a huge category of festive breads with eggs, fat, and sugar. It's an interesting question why there aren't more recipes with eggs in lean breads, though some of the challahs I've tried have been relatively lean.