爱做面包的太阳花
Sunflower Bakery
Artisan Bread & Baking Diary · Since 2011
Recipes Guides FAQ 中文 / ZH
← Back to Recipe Grid
❓What Should You Brush on Bread Before Baking?❓Egg Wash❓Milk❓Other Options
1 / 8
爱做面包的太阳花
爱做面包的太阳花
Jun 9, 2021
中文
Tips

❓What Should You Brush on Bread Before Baking?❓Egg Wash❓Milk❓Other Options

❓面包表面到底刷什么呢❓蛋液❓牛奶❓其他

Oven Temp
—
Bake Time
—
Batch Yield
6 rolls

I wonder if any fellow bakers had the same question I did when I first started baking bread: what should you actually brush on top of bread? When a recipe simply said "brush with egg wash" without specifying further, I used to wonder whether that meant egg yolk, egg white, or whole beaten egg.

Let's run a side-by-side experiment together.

🍞Washes tested in this experiment: 🔆Melted butter, 🔆Water, 🔆Milk, 🔆Honey, 🔆Whole egg wash, 🔆Pure egg yolk, 🔆Egg white diluted with a tiny drop of water, 🔆Egg yolk diluted with a tiny drop of water

🎈Please see Photos 2, 3, and 4.

Photo 2 shows the eight common washes. They correspond to the sixteen dinner rolls in Photo 3, grouped in pairs so that each wash is tested on two rolls. The order is labeled directly on the photos.

‼️Experiment Results:

🔆In terms of shine, pure egg yolk is the glossiest, but I personally do not care for it for two reasons: 1. It browns way too fast in the oven (I had to tent those rolls individually with foil), which makes it easy for the crust to over-darken before the interior is fully baked through. 2. In person, the color looks artificial and gives the crust a thick, tough appearance.

🔆Melted butter and plain water are the most subtle before baking. However, if you brush melted butter over the hot rolls right as they come out of the oven, they look wonderfully glossy and vibrant. You can check the photos in my earlier Old-Fashioned Bread post for reference.

🔆The remaining five washes (milk, honey, whole egg, egg white with water, and egg yolk with water) show very little difference in the final baked rolls.

So, which one is my personal favorite?

🎖️🎖️🎖️All things considered, the winner is definitely milk!🎊🎊🎊 Why? Because milk gives a great finish and is by far the most convenient option. You do not have to crack a whole egg just to use a tiny spoonful, and honey is quite sticky and less convenient than milk.

So the gold medal goes to milk!🎖️🎖️🎖️

❤️These results reflect this specific test batch.

❤️Shared as a handy reference for fellow bakers!

💡 Baker's Q&A & Troubleshooting (22)

Distilled from Author's Notes
Q:What temperature and baking time do you usually use for small dinner rolls like these?
A:About 20 minutes at 180°C. Keep a close eye on them the first time you bake and adjust as you get to know how your oven runs. Every oven bakes a little differently, and conventional deck ovens also differ from convection fan ovens.
Q:I have seen recipes that brush with whole egg + milk + a pinch of salt. Do you know how that turns out?
A:I have brushed with whole egg mixed with milk before, but I have never tried adding salt to it.
Q:What can you brush on bread to keep the crust crisp?
A:Brush or mist with water, and bake at a slightly higher temperature. That said, by the next day it will lose its crispness and just feel slightly dry.
Q:When I brush with milk, the crust still bakes up hard. Please help!
A:Try making them with my Poolish loaf dough recipe. Divide into 45g to 50g dough balls and bake on the middle rack at 190°C for about 16 minutes. That formula bakes up super soft.
Q:These dinner rolls look so delicious! Could you share the dough recipe?
A:Yes, they are super soft and tasty. I used my Poolish Hokkaido Milk Loaf dough formula. Just scale the weights based on how many 50g rolls you want to make.
Q:Hi! If I want to bake one Pullman loaf and one tray of dinner rolls at the same time, how much Poolish or sponge and main dough should I use?
A:I have separate posts for Poolish Milk Dinner Rolls and Poolish Hokkaido Milk Loaf on my page. You can simply add the ingredient weights from those two recipes together.
Q:What are the dimensions of your baking pan?
A:This one is 26x26x6 cm.
Q:I brushed my rolls with milk, but they would not brown for the longest time. I turned up the heat and baked longer, and the crust came out really hard. They were half-fist-sized rolls baked at 160-170°C top and bottom heat for 20 minutes with no browning, and there was no egg in the dough.
A:Try brushing softened butter over the hot rolls right when they come out of the oven. Adding egg to the dough also improves the crumb structure and browning. Also make sure not to over-proof during the second proof, as over-proofing will make the bread hard with a coarse crumb.
Q:I don't like the artificial look of egg wash. I always feel an unwashed crust has the most natural bake color. Also, is browned egg wash on the crust completely healthy?
A:Yes, for my everyday loaves over the years I usually don't brush anything on top either. Some bakers enjoy a glossy finish just like I did when I first started, so I put this test together as a reference for anyone who needs it.
Q:Brushing with whole egg wash first and then brushing with honey 10 minutes before taking them out of the oven is amazing!
A:Yes, that works great! For this simple comparison test, I stuck to brushing everything just once before baking to see the baseline results.
Q:What about egg yolk mixed with milk?
A:It turns out slightly glossier and nicer than egg yolk diluted with water.
Q:I drank the last sip of leftover milk after mixing the dough, and then after shaping and finishing the second proof, the video said to brush with milk before baking!
A:It is totally fine to skip brushing anything on top.
Q:My carrot breadsticks don't brown nicely. Is there any way to improve the color?
A:Crust browning is closely related to the sugar content in the dough. Did you reduce the sugar? Sometimes I cut back on sugar for a healthier bake, and the crust definitely browns less.
Q:Hello teacher! When I knead dough to the full windowpane stage in my stand mixer, the dough always sticks to the bottom and sides of the mixer bowl. Why does that happen? Thank you!
A:Scrape down the sides and bottom of the mixer bowl during mixing if it sticks early on. Once the dough develops a strong windowpane, it should have enough elasticity and strength to pull away cleanly from the sides and bottom of the bowl.
Q:Why do my dinner rolls have a stale, rancid oil smell the next day? It happens whether I store them in the fridge or the freezer.
A:Does that happen only with dinner rolls, or with all of your bread? If it happens across all your bakes, check whether your flour is still fresh. When I first started baking bread, I bought a huge 25kg sack of flour and used it up very slowly. By the end, the flour had gone stale and gave the bread an off flavor. Once I switched to fresher bags, I never had that issue again.
Q:Commercial bakeries all brush with whole egg wash.
A:Yes, it gives great shelf appeal. At home it can be a hassle to save leftover egg, so I usually don't brush anything on my everyday bakes. I ran this experiment as a helpful reference for fellow bakers.
Q:How big is this mold, please?
A:About 28x28
Q:Don't like the fake color after brushing liquid. Always believe that the roasted color without brushing anything is the most real and natural. Can you confirm if the egg liquid is healthy after it's burnt?
A:Well, I haven't been brushing my toast these years, but some friends like to brush it just like I did back then , so I'm providing a reference for those who need it .
Q:They all seem to be about the same
A:Mmm, so choose the most convenient one
Q:Too lazy to ever brush , just cover with tin foil for coloring
A:I never brush now either, this is an experiment for those who need it as a reference, because I was confused when I needed to brush it in my early years
Q:Yolk mixed with milk
A:Brighter than plain milk
Q:This bag is so cute.
A:is made using the Polish sourdough toast recipe. Divided into about 50 grams each.

💬 Website Comments (0)

Have a question or baked this loaf? Leave a note below.

❤️ 2,624⭐ 2,308💡 22 Q&As
Permalink ↗