The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

Vegan Alternative to an Egg Milk Wash

Benito's picture
Benito

Vegan Alternative to an Egg Milk Wash

I’m planning to do a test bake of a vegan milk bread but not sure of what to use instead of the egg milk wash to get a shiny crust.  What would you use as a vegan alternative to an egg milk wash for the crust?

HeiHei29er's picture
HeiHei29er

Cornstarch glaze?

Benito's picture
Benito

I completely forgot about cornstarch glaze, thanks for reminding me Troy.  Have a great long weekend.

Benny

HeiHei29er's picture
HeiHei29er

You too Benny!

loaflove's picture
loaflove

If some people don't like cornstarch, maybe arrowroot powder glaze?

mathilde1956's picture
mathilde1956

very intrigued, so I made an account here and then I googled and could not find a reference.

I would love to hear about the cornstarch glaze!

unhappy with all of my vegan glaze options :(

Benito's picture
Benito

Cornstarch glaze.  Boil 62.5 g water in a sauce pan.  In a measuring cup whisk 15.6 g water with ½ tbsp cornstarch until dissolved, then pour into the boiling water, whisking constantly until the glaze than thickened slightly.  Take it off the burner and set aside until used.  It will be semi solid when it is ready to use.  Brush the glaze on the dough just before baking and again just after the bread is baked and on the cooling rack.

This is what I’ve used when I baked a deli rye bread.

Benny

mathilde1956's picture
mathilde1956

Thank you so much!

Benito's picture
Benito

You’re welcome Mathilde.  Welcome to TFL.

Benny

idaveindy's picture
idaveindy

aquafaba, as per https://www.keepingthepeas.com/vegan-egg-wash/

Some brown but don't shine.  Some shine but don't brown.

Benito's picture
Benito

Yes thank you Dave, I was hoping for shiny and brown!

mariana's picture
mariana

Benny, besides cornstarch glaze light syrup glaze works too. It is shiny and strangely not sticky at all. Dry to touch.

Floyd shared its formula here.

Immediately after removing from the oven, paint them (loaves or rolls) with a light sugar glaze:

 

1/4 cup water

1/4 cup sugar

1/8 teaspoon vanilla extract (optional)

It looks sparkling shiny, like that, after it dries out:

Mostly suitable for enriched breads and rolls though, since it is slightly sweet to taste.

I've seen vegans brushing their breads with maple syrup prior to baking. That looks glossy too and will dry out during baking.

Depending on their formula, many breads can be simply painted with water a minute or two prior to finishing their baking. That gives them a surprisingly glossy crust as well.

Benito's picture
Benito

Thank you Mariana, sugar syrup, didn’t think of that one despite having used it for sweet buns.  Water is something I almost always use on my hearth loaves just prior to baking.  But I was hoping for a bit shinier than that.

Benny

mariana's picture
mariana

Water prior to baking is not the same, Benny. They have to be brushed at the end of baking, a couple of minutes before taking them out of the oven, to sparkle.

Anyways, it does not matter. Light cornstarch glaze after baking achieves the same effect in every sense.

Benito's picture
Benito

Sorry I misread your post, I’ve never done that brushing on just before the end of baking.  I’ll have to try that at some point Mariana, thank you.

troglodyte's picture
troglodyte

Some people have difficulty digesting egg, and that includes someone in our family. Last year we found a vegan food product called "Just Egg". We buy their vegan liquid "egg" product. It comes in a small 12 oz bottle, equivalent to 6-8 eggs. We have seen it at several widespread grocery chains in our area. It costs much more than the equivalent in ordinary store-bought chicken eggs. We have not tried the pre-cooked patties.
https://www.ju.st

We have been experimenting with it with varying degrees of success. Quiche - okay. Tomagoyaki (egg sushi) - well, call it a work in progress. 

The stuff comes out thick and yellow, like pre-scrambled egg. It cooks more "fluffy" and "foamy" than a real egg. The way it cooks reminds me of "EggBeaters" type substitutes (non-vegan).

I have no idea whether this vegan egg product can work in an egg wash for bread, but it might be worth a try.

Disclaimer: No affiliation, just a regular local store customer.
(And, if you are asking my opinion, their current website design is one of the worst I've seen. Finding information means scrolling through screen after screen of animations and other unwanted material. Yuck.)

mariana's picture
mariana

I was thinking about Just egg as well. A corner store in my neighborhood sells it and I am tempted to try it out in baking. Their website shows that it browns very well when mixed with vegan milk, as in French toast.

French toast with Just Egg and almond milk

The question is will it be glossy if used as egg wash? Even if not, it could be supplemented with cornstarch glaze or light syrup glaze after baking.

headupinclouds's picture
headupinclouds

I'd be interested know how that experiment works out.

I am also interested in using this idea to replace the egg in the Hokkaido loaf (kudos Benny and JonJ [link] for starting these discussions).  The main ingredient in Just Egg is mung bean protein isolate [ingredients], and there are a number of recipes for making something similar at home using mung bean batters with both dry flour and soak-and-blend techniques.

I suspect the protein is the crucial part, but these whole lentil versions seem to achieve a similar effect.  I'm curious if there are any tricks at home for (at least partially) separating or concentrating mung bean protein.

The first author points out that these recipes are essentially thicker versions of Moong Dal Chilla (with egg seasonining) and are similar to pesarattu.

The Just Egg product uses nisin as a preservative, and I wonder if that might be a problem for natural leavens.

The idea of using lentils in bread is intriguing.  I have read about a small percentage of lentil flour being used for extensibility and to correct deficiencies in some wheat crops, but haven't seen it explored as an egg replacer. 

This line of thinking also reminds me of the foaming properties of urad dal in idlis, outlined nicely by Doc.Dough [HERE].  That would also seem to be somewhat conducive to baking, although mung beans do have a milder flavor.

Interestingly, Laurel seems to have success with her soymilk bread, and says: "This is often mistaken for an egg bread because it rises beautifully to give a perfect, airy slice that has good flavor and a slightly chewy, thin, dark crust."  Perhaps soymilk might be a reasonable replacement for both the milk and the eggs? 

I'm very interested in tracking progress in this thread. 

 

Benito's picture
Benito

I have a test bake in progress now David.  I’m using aquafaba to replace the egg whites.  I recently needed two cans of chickpeas so kept the aquafaba.  I’ve used aquafaba to make vegan meringue in the past and it really is excellent and I couldn’t tell that it wasn’t meringue made from egg whites.  To prep the aquafaba I cooked it down to reduce it by 50% to concentrate the proteins.  I’ll post on my blog when this test bake is complete.  No idea if it will work, but we’ll see.

Benny

headupinclouds's picture
headupinclouds

That's an interesting idea.  I forgot about aquafaba.  I'm curious to see the results.  This cream of tartar [trick] to stabilize the foam might be interesting.  What kind of milk are you using?

 

 

Benito's picture
Benito

Yes David, when I made the aquafaba meringue I added cream of tartar to it.  It was really remarkable.  I had made way too much for the tart I baked and left the extra in a piping bag in the fridge and several days later it was still perfect and stable.

I am using soy milk that I picked up at the Korean grocer, it is Asian soy milk that is a bit sweetened.  I never like the North American brands of soy milk.  Since what I’m using is sweetened I’m adding no sugar to the dough.

For the fat I am using toasted walnut oil.  I’m hoping these flavours work out and that the dough will make nice bread.  The dough is certainly strong but a bit slow to rise so far.  I’ll keep my fingers crossed that it will start rising soon.

Benny

headupinclouds's picture
headupinclouds

Soymilk sounds like a good choice.  Occasionally we make fresh soy milk for soy yogurt and it really is a different experience, especially when served warm.  I also prefer it to the commercial milk substitute versions.  For baking, I would be inclined to lean towards simpler ingredients.  I remembered something about soy in Laurel's Kitchen Bread Book that might be relevant:

For one thing, soy protein has a binding effect on bread dough, actually tying up the gluten so that the loaf is unable to rise very well.  Learning this tidbit nearly knocked us over, because for years our daily loaf -- a hefty one -- was loaded with cooked, mashed soybeans.  During that period we completely forgot that bread could spring up while it baked.  Our research for this book revealed the reason and, happily, the remedy, too: 1 tablespoon of shortening or 2 tablespoons of oil mixed into each loaf will lubricate the gluten sufficiently to overcome soy's binding effect.  Taking this into account, all our soy recipes call for a conditioning amount of oil or butter, and if you want light bread, don't leave it out.  Soy affects dough in other ways, too ..."

She doesn't provide a reference for her research, but I'm inclined to believe the cause and effect.  It sounds like you may be covered with the toasted walnut oil, but if you do have trouble with the rise, perhaps the oil could be increased?  For reference, here she uses about 10% (bakers percentage) oil in her soymilk bread: 600 ml soymilk, 30 ml honey, 7 g yeast, 120 ml water, 900 g flour, 14 g salt, 90 ml oil.

Benito's picture
Benito

Wow David you make soy yogurt!  I’ve never tasted soy yogurt.  When I was young my parents used to make soy milk and tofu.  That was the best soy milk and tofu I’ve ever had.

Very interesting information about soy protein’s effects on the gluten.  I’ve never read that before anywhere.  When I’ve added miso to bread I can’t say that I saw that, however, there isn’t that much miso used when I add it to bread.

For my test bake I calculated the amount of egg white I needed from the aquafaba and the amount of fat from the egg yolk and butter to be replaced by walnut oil.  So based on Laurel’s Bread book I should be fine as I used 14.45% walnut oil.  I think the reason the dough so far is a bit slower than I expected is that the hydration may be a bit low. I may have to increase the soy milk next time.  The soy milk is 57.33%.  All keep my fingers crossed that this turns out and that the flavors imparted by the soy milk and toasted walnut oil work well together.

Benny

Benito's picture
Benito

I just had another thought, I wonder if the chickpea protein in the aquafaba could have the same effect as the soy protein?  It is possible that the chickpea aquafaba could also have a similar effect of “tying up the gluten”.

headupinclouds's picture
headupinclouds

The soy yogurt was a pandemic inspired urban homesteading hobby, but I must admit we have run out of steam after realizing the amount of work it requires to squeeze out the milk from the okara.  I like the idea of fermented soy products and soy yogurt has seemingly disappeared over the last several years in favor of other plant based yogurts, so there is additional incentive to make it at home.  I still haven't tackled miso yet, and am inspired by your patience!  100% coconut yogurt is decadent, but I would prefer the nutrition (and cost) of soy for a daily food.  I briefly looked for some kind of cider press-like contraption to make the process easier but didn't find anything suitable.

I'll bet your childhood tofu sets a high bar.  I do enjoy a house made silky tofu at a local spot served simply with ginger, nori, and scallions.

From the little I've read about aquafaba, my understanding is that the foaming is primarily a starch phenomenon, and there isn't much protein in it.  I remembered a chickpea bread in LKBB, and just scanned it for comments:

Garbanzos, also known as chickpeas, are not quite such nutritional powerhouses as soybeans, but they provide very respectable nourishment, and they work well in bread.  Milder in flavor and easier to cook and mash than soy, they also demand less added sweetener, are easier on the dough, and, unlike soy, do not prevent the bread from rising if you omit the oil or butter.

So no adverse affects from chickpeas from Laurel's report.  I hope the issue is resolved with a simple hydration change.

Benito's picture
Benito

OK that is interesting then the slowness of this fermentation is especially odd then.  I’ll just be patient and hope it turns out and if it doesn’t I’ll try again increasing the hydration and also the % pre fermented flour.

I just read this about the aquafaba. “ Like chickpea water itself, the science of aquafaba is not 100 percent clear. When you whip egg whites, their proteins trap air and form a colloidal foam, the technical term for what's essentially a meringue—basically, pockets of gas suspended in a liquid. Analysis has identified protein and starches, leached from the chickpeas, in aquafaba. The substance also contains chemical foaming agents called saponins, found in many plants, which may do some of the work here.”

Yippee's picture
Yippee

Unlike miso, this fermentation takes less than 24 hours:

David:

Have you tried making natto?

 

Benny:

I💕 my homemade soy milk. I have 4-5 cups/day.

 

Yippee

Benito's picture
Benito

Wow Yippee, you make Natto and soy milk!!!  I could drink liters of soy milk, I love it.  Nothing better than home made for sure.

Benny

headupinclouds's picture
headupinclouds

Yippee: That looks great.  I have not made natto yet, but do enjoy a side of stretchy natto with my soba noodles.  You have inspired me to try this -- I just ordered natto and tempeh starters [here].  No straining necessary!  Now that I have a DIY proofer for baking, it should be easy.    Do you keep your starter going continuously (more or less like sourdough)?  I really haven't been using my DIY proofer for baking much, so it can be repurposed for the task.

Yippee's picture
Yippee

Here's how I do it:

https://youtu.be/2JbWqRNCmxQ

When I use up all my store-bought natto, I will try reserving a small portion from each batch as stater for the following one.

Since you are in Brooklyn, if you happen to try this 💲💲💲💲 natto made in your area, please let me know what's the big deal about it. Thx!

https://youtu.be/XY8rCvLzZp4

Yippee

 

Benito's picture
Benito

Thanks for that suggestion!  I was looking for things I might already have in my kitchen since it is now Good Friday and most things are closed.  However, I will look at Just Egg for the future.

Benny

mariana's picture
mariana

Interestingly, colorless rice syrup works best among many vegan substitutes tested. It never even occurred to me that it would work better than maple syrup for exampe in terms of browning and gloss. Maltose sugar properties are quite unique.

But it is sweet and sticky they say. They concluded

  • rice malt syrup + vegan milk

This yielded the best result with more even coloring, slight sweetness, nice sheen and glaze, and slight stickiness but not as much as just brushing on the sweeteners.

A basic 2:1 ratio can be used. 

Yet another alternative to try out.

Benito's picture
Benito

Interesting list and photos.  On that list I have the oil, maple syrup, soy milk, corn starch and aquafaba.  

I less concerned about browning as I am with shiny, I like shiny on my milk bread if possible.  

Regarding the rice malt Mariana, where do you finds such things around Toronto?  I really haven’t looked for it but when I’ve looked for other malts they are not readily available.  I know I should probably approach a microbrewery about getting malts but wondered where or how you get these things?

Benny

idaveindy's picture
idaveindy

Benny, my local Korean grocery store has brown rice malt syrup, which I've tried. (It does taste malty.)

Next to it on the shelf was a clear syrup, and the pasted-on english label said something like, probably not exact,  oligosaccharide syrup.  I could not find anywhere on the bottle what grain it was made from, so it could have been corn or white rice. "oligo" is "many", so I suppose it is a long chain saccharide, and not a short 2-glucose-molecule as a maltose would be. I dunno how an oligo-saccharide would brown or shine compared to maltose.

Benito's picture
Benito

Dave, that’s great, I have a Korean market a block away from me that I go to all the time for some of my Asian ingredients.  I haven’t looked for malt products there before but will next time I’m there.

Benny

mariana's picture
mariana

Benny, Bulk Barn sells it the cheapest (Lundberg organic), organic food stores, Amazon.

Korean stores sell colorless and brown rice syrups as well. They also sell cheap rice and diastatic barley malt to make it at home. Any other cooked grain can be used to make malt syrup at home, of course.

I use colorless sorghum malt syrup or other extra light LMEs and dark rye malt syrup in my daily wheat and rye baking as dough and bread improvers. I get them from https://torontobrewing.ca/ They deliver immediately, on the same day!

The cheapest would be the homemade one for which you need a rice cooker with Keep Warm function, rice and a bit of diastatic malt powder. It is surprisingly easy (and quick) to make even without a rice cooker. A pot of warm bit not hot rice porrige is mixed with malt to be  digested by the diastatic malt enzymes for a couple of hours and then the sweet liquid is strained and reduced into a syrup of desired thickness on the stovetop.

Benito's picture
Benito

Very interesting Mariana, before today I knew nothing about these types of rice malts and rice syrups.  I’ll have to check out H-Mart this weekend.  In the meantime my test dough is fermenting very very slowly.  I suspect that the soy proteins and chickpea proteins are to blame based on what David mentioned about from Laurel’s Bread Book.  We’ll see how it does eventually.

Thanks for the additional information on the Toronto Brewing Company.  I think someone has directed me to them in the past but I had forgotten about them.

Benito's picture
Benito

I’m going to bin the dough, it isn’t progressing but is getting too acidic with the pH dropping much more than it should given the stiff sweet starter.  Something else is going on.  I’m make another levain tonight and try again tomorrow.

Benito's picture
Benito

OK the dough really isn’t progressing.  I just had a thought, the chickpea water is salted.  I boiled down the aquafaba further concentrating the salt.  I didn’t compensate for the extra salt from the aquafaba not thinking that there was salt in it.  I’m thinking that this excess salt may be the cause of the very very slow fermentation.

I think I’ll try again but use an alternative to the aquafaba at least until I can determine the amount of salt in the aquafaba.

mariana's picture
mariana

Benny, sorry about that oversalted dough. Sorry. May it go back to Nature and feed microorganisms there...

To continue or to finish the list of egg wash substitutes, apparently, professional bakers use flaxseed glaze (flaxseed gel?) as a vegan alternative to eggs or egg whites. It is both very shiny and sticky when raw, allowing sprinkles to stick to the crust.

They have a very complete table in this article. For example, they expand (or generalize) the starch wash into "Polysaccharides (Starch, Xanthan Gum, Alginates)" which makes total sense, from the chemical point of view.

Then that alternative fructo-oligosaccharide "syrup" (soybean FOS) from Korean stores that Dave mentioned (Beksul Oligodang Syrup)  should also work well. It has no malt syrup in it, and it is even less sweet than malt syrup,  it is closer to the starch wash. So if you have one in your pantry for cooking glossy stir fries, etc. then it will work as a vegan glaze as well.

https://bakerpedia.com/ingredients/egg-wash-substitute/

Benito's picture
Benito

Mariana, get out of my head 😂. I just prepared a ground flax seed gel in preparation for another test bake.  I’m going to use it instead of the aquafaba at least until I can find a canned chickpea product with little or no added salt.  I think that the Blue Menu chickpeas have very low salt so they will fit the bill.  On the other hand, I have plenty of flax seeds so if they work well in lieu of eggs then I have a suitable egg white alternative for the dough.

Thanks for sharing that link, it gives lots of good alternatives to the egg wash.  Now I have to decide which of them to use.  I have quite a few options already in my kitchen so I’ll skip buying anything new unless none of what I have works well.

mariana's picture
mariana

Ok, ok, I am outta here 😁😁😁

For best results starch wash will never fail, just don't make it that thick for breads with thin crusts, like hokkaido loaf. 1/4tsp starch per 1/4cup water, mix, microwave for 15-20 sec. Brush once the loaf is fully baked, finish by giving it another minute in the oven. Or else the crust might wrinkle.

You can test other methods with time on plain and enriched breads, like baguettes and rolls.

Benny, Unico brand chickpeas are unsalted , sold everywhere, Loblaws and NoFrills for sure, about a dollar - dollar fifty per large can.

Benito's picture
Benito

Great recommendations Mariana, I think I’ll go with the cornstarch and I’ll keep it thin as per your suggestion.  I’ll buy the non salt Unico chickpeas next time now that I know about the salt issue for aquafaba.  Thanks again.

Benny

JonJ's picture
JonJ

Hi Benny, I have seen other vegan hokkaido recipes that avoid egg altogether:

http://www.thefloralvegan.com/2019/06/23/sourdough-vegan-milk-bread/

Silken tofu (blended) sounds like a good idea (though not for the wash).

-Jon

Benito's picture
Benito

Thank you Jon for sharing that.  I’ll have a look at those now.  

Benito's picture
Benito

I’ve baked my first test run of vegan sourdough 100% whole wheat milk bread buns.  I’m pretty happy with them.  I’ll make some changes I think but I can’t be mad at them especially considering the binned dough yesterday and the imperfect timing today.

Blog post of the Vegan Sourdough 100% Whole Wheat Milk Bread Buns

mariana's picture
mariana

They are so cute and adorable, Benny. Well done! And glossy, as you wanted them to be. Congrats!

I do not use vegan butter either, it's awful (I only tested Earth Balance brand though), but I like to bake with Becel's vegan margarine and use it to grease baking pans. No transfats, beautiful buttermilk  aroma (as in cultured butter), and improved bread volume and keeping qualities due to its lecithin content. It works better that butter or plain oil in baking.

 

Benito's picture
Benito

Thank you for your help Mariana!

What I don’t like about the Becel vegan margarine is that it has modified palm oil in it.  As you know palm oil is a saturated fat so if I am going to use a saturated fat I’d go for butter.  I am amazing that it has a buttermilk aroma, that is quite impressive.

mariana's picture
mariana

I am sorry, Benny. I did not know you watched saturated fats. I only pay attention to the functional properties of ingredients in baking discussions. 

 That said, Becel is Canada's "heart healthy brand". They have a heart symbol on their packaging. They heavily rely on canola oil  in their formulas, so their vegan margarine has the same amount of total saturated fat % as super healthy walnut oil that you use in baking, for example. 10%. It is as safe to use as sesame seeds or as flaxseeds in baking.

Source: Centre for Science in Public Interest