Get crackin': When it comes to baking, you can't beat eggs

Deseret News (Salt Lake City), Dec 5, 2007 by Valerie Phillips Deseret Morning News

Most people think of eggs only during Easter when they're hard- boiled and sitting in a basket of plastic grass.

But eggs are a crucial component of holiday baking. They bind ingredients together in quiches and pies. They thicken sauces and give structure to cookies and cake batter. A beaten egg brushed on pastries gives a gloss that protects against sogginess. Whipped egg whites give meringue and souffles their fluffy height.

The yolks act as an emulsifier to keep the fat and liquid from separating in salad dressings or cake batters. Anne Byrn, in her book "The Cake Mix Doctor" (Workman, $14.95), describes emulsifiers as "skilled party hosts. They mingle, introducing two guests -- fat and water, for example -- and work the room, making sure everyone is chatting and the party is one thick and happy batter."

In from-scratch cakes, the egg yolk is the only emulsifier. But baking mixes contain added emulsifiers, such as mono- and diglycerides, sodium-steroyl lactylate or soy lecithin.

Eggs are about 65 percent water, 11.8 percent protein and 11 percent fat, according to Tony Fassio of Fassio Egg Farms Inc., Utah's second-largest egg producer. The yolk contains all of the egg's fat and about a little less than half of the protein, and all the vitamins A, D and E. The white is seven-eighths water, one- eighth protein and no fat.

These egg proteins change when you whip them, heat them or combine them with other ingredients, according to Letty Flatt, executive pastry chef at Deer Valley Resort.

"Although eggs provide strength, they are delicate and fragile and need to be handled properly," she said.

Egg proteins are shaped like cooked noodles, long and curled and bundled up. The proteins become partially "unbundled" when they are whipped, and they wrap around the air bubbles created by whipping, according to Flatt. These air pockets give souffles or meringue their pouf, but they can deflate if not added to other ingredients gently.

Eggs are easier to separate (the yolk from the white) when they're cold. But they beat to their biggest volume when they're at room temperature, 65 to 75 degrees. Instead of letting eggs sit on the counter for several hours (which could allow salmonella bacteria to grow), Fassio suggests setting them in warm water for a few minutes before beating. (Be sure the water isn't hot, or it will cook the egg).

Egg mixtures can curdle if cooked too long or at too high a temperature. Custards and cheesecakes are often baked in a water bath ("au bain marie") where the dish of custard is placed in a larger, shallow pan of water.

"This helps slow down the cooking process and lengthens the window of time between being done and becoming overcooked," said Flatt. "It also provides a more equal distribution of heat."

To avoid water seeping into the pan with the cheesecake, it's a good idea to double-line springform pans with aluminum foil. The water in the shallow pan should only be about two-thirds of the height of the custard- or cheesecake-filled pan.

It's also important to use the size of egg specified, so it doesn't throw off the recipe, said Fassio.

There are more choices than ever when you're buying eggs: "100 percent organic," "Omega-3," "cage-free," "low-cholesterol" and so on. A lot of it boils down to what the hens were fed, how they're housed and freshness.

A few weeks ago, the Utah's Baker's Dozen, a group of local pastry chefs and bakers, had a seminar on eggs, with two local producers sharing information.

Clifford Family Farm and Fassio Egg Farms Inc. are from opposite ends of the spectrum. Rich and Julie Clifford's farm in Provo is 100 percent certified organic. Their 400 laying hens that are fed organic, soy-based feed with no animal byproducts, and they aren't cooped up in cages. The egg shells run the color gamut of greenish to cream-colored to brown, and vary in size and shape. Their eggs are sold mainly in farmers markets (or directly from the Cliffords at 801-374-8475).

In contrast, Fassio has about 1.2 million chickens -- 900,000 of which are laying hens that produce about 251 million eggs a year.

Fassio's eggs have white shells. The color of the shell is determined by the breed of the chicken, Tony Fassio explained. Hens with white feathers lay white eggs; those with red feathers lay brown eggs. In fact, back in the 1800s, Americans only had brown eggs, he said.

"What I offer are really fresh eggs, because mine are no more than 4 days old," said Clifford. (In commercial, USDA-inspected plants, eggs can be sold up to 30 days after their packing date, and they can be kept -- if refrigerated -- four to five weeks beyond their packing date, according to the American Egg Board.)

Clifford acknowledges that at approximately $3.50 a dozen and with a limited supply, his eggs probably aren't for the large families with a limited income. (In contrast, regular "grocery- store" eggs run about $2 per dozen).

A blind taste test done several years ago by the San Francisco Chronicle food staff didn't find any significant differences in flavor among 19 brands of specialty and regular eggs. But Susan Massey, a Salt Lake City food stylist, says she can tell a difference between Clifford's and regular "grocery-store" eggs.