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The Importance of Weighing or Measuring Eggs
Posting from Elicia
Hi Rose, I just want to report my recent endeavour with the Perfect Pound
Cake and the Butter Cream Cake.
I've always gotten away with not weighing eggs with it comes to baking
cakes (I wld weigh them for buttercream, pastry cream, curd etc only).
Usually, I wld weigh all my eggs in their shells and store them according
to weight category, eg 60 - 65g, 66 - 70g etc. However, when I made the
above 2 cakes recently, for the first time - I experienced some pasty spots
in the crumb (not detectable by pricking - the tester comes out clean) - it
is baked and not hard but quite unsightly! I initially was a bit stubborn,
blaming the flour - but today - I decided to weigh my eggs and milk (I
usually just measure the liquid with tsp/tbsp or cup measure) - the pound
cake was just perfect!!
I now can conclude that weighing EVERYTHING is very important for cakes
with high content of butter or using a formula close to the classic 4
quart/pound cake! Also, I noticed that the batter didn't curdle slightly as
before (I was also very precise with the butter temp). Ironically, I've
never faced this problem with genoises, biscuits and the layer cakes
requiring less butter. Eg I've made the Golden Luxury Butter Cake about 6
times already (in different shapes and sizes) and it's perfect every time!
But I also believe the white choc has a role in stabilising the emulsion of
the batter, which I now believe is the cause of those pasty spots.
I will value my electronic scale even more now!
Rose Response
Now that eggs vary so very much and even with the proper size eggs the yolk ratio to white--it is essential to check the weight or volume for consistent and optimal results.
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Comments
I can be the king of biscuit but my moist chocolate genoise falls every now and then. I think it is due to oven temperature or opening the door too soon.
But maybe it is due to lack of eggs? On TCB, for moist chocolate genoise I see that it calls for 8 eggs, or 400 grams. Since 20 years has passed, hens (and humans) are making smaller yolks now, so I always weight separately yolks and whites. For Biscuit de Savoie I see that it calls for 8 eggs, or 150 grams of yolks and 240 grams of whites, that totals to only 390 grams of eggs.
Does this 10 gram difference make a difference?
Reply to this Posted by: Hector | June 12, 2008 8:33 PM #
Maridee - I don't have Rose's cookie book yet. Have you checked www.foodnetwork.com? If you go to that site and click on "recipes" you can then type "Warren Brown" in the search box and his recipes will appear. Hope you'll find what you're looking for.
Reply to this Posted by: Patrincia | August 23, 2007 1:11 PM #
does anyone know if the peach cookies as seen on sugar rush if there is a recipe in Roses cookbooks and which one it is in??
Reply to this Posted by: MARIDEE OGEEN | August 23, 2007 12:48 PM #
i'd have to put flour on equal footing!
Reply to this Posted by: Rose Levy Beranbaum | August 4, 2007 2:37 PM #
I ususally purchase plain old eggs from the store. It's just amazing to me how inconsistant the size of each egg can be, even when they've come out of the very same package! I've also purchased organic, free-range eggs that were absolutely gigantic, so go figure!
If I could only weigh one ingredient, it would be eggs!
Reply to this Posted by: Patrincia | August 4, 2007 2:20 PM #
Just a note - I've noticed the yolks in my AA grade eggs weigh the same as the yolks in the 60g eggs! And these AA eggs can weigh up to 80g in their shells - and it's all whites!
Reply to this Posted by: Elicia | August 3, 2007 9:45 PM #
Absolutelly, even from the same vendor, from case to case of eggs, they vary so much. Sometimes they come with tiny yolks, sometimes with big ones.
Are we saying that for recipes in TCB that just call for whole eggs, we should be weighing separetelly the amount of whites and the amount of yolk, and then add/substract a little white or yolk to conform? I can deduce the specs of 1 good egg, from page 145: 8 eggs equal to 150 grams of yolk and 240 grams of whites.
Reply to this Posted by: Hector | August 3, 2007 6:35 PM #
I think I have posted this before, but I use large organic cage-free eggs. I have found that, although the whole egg weighs 50-52 grams, the yolk is about 25% smaller than conventional eggs. When I made the lemon curd tart, I ended up having to use 16 egg yolks to match the weight of 12 conventional yolks. This experience emphasized the importance of weighing eggs for me.
Reply to this Posted by: Matthew | August 3, 2007 11:20 AM #