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Egg substitutions for regular baking?

2K views 18 replies 12 participants last post by  Brianne 
#1 ·
I'm trying to wean myself off of eggs. I'll still scramble them up on occasion when my protein count is low, and I keep them around for the little baking I do. Anyway, I thought I read somewhere that vinegar can be substituted, but I don't remember for sure and how much vinegar per egg.

Please!



Laura
 
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#5 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by madder View Post

I think some recipes use vinegar and baking soda - the acid and base react so you get a 'rising' effect in your cake or whatever. I'm not sure how much, have a look at some recipes and see.
eggs don't cause rising, tho? they're more of a binding agent.

anyway, you can sub a banana or 1/2 c. applesauce, but this tends to make things chewy, and will also add that flavor.

i prefer to use "flax eggs" for almost everything. 2tbsps flax and enough water to make it slightly goopy (let it sit for a minute after stirring) per egg.
 
#8 ·
Duh. I've read most of this stuff before. This is why I should take notes when I read posts and other stuff. Somewhere, in my piles of scrap paper of sites to look at when I have time, I have a list of vegetarian sites. (I probably have a few lists.) Anyway, thank you.
The grocery store has the store brand of apple sauce on sale this week for $1 (they also have eggs on sale for $1). And bananas, at $.49/lb aren't too bad there.

Dream, when I read your post, I thought, "Gee. A search engine. Why didn't I think of that?"
(I usually use Yahoo! since that's on my top tool bar.)

Again, thank you.

Laura
 
#11 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by vgnwitch View Post

Eggs are a raising agent, that's why they are added to most baking recipes. Think souffles, angel food cakes, and flourless cakes which depend on eggs for their height and lightness.
i've never made those before but just looked at the recipes.

so, the eggs used are just the whites: these definitely do not act as a rising agent but, again, as a binding agent. they are able to incorporate a lot of air in the whipping tho and hold that aerated structure because they are just 'light' protein.
 
#12 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by catswym View Post

i've never made those before but just looked at the recipes.

so, the eggs used are just the whites: these definitely do not act as a rising agent but, again, as a binding agent. they are able to incorporate a lot of air in the whipping tho and hold that aerated structure because they are just 'light' protein.
heres the deal,

eggs set up when there heated, when a batter like cake is heated a couple things happen, the water in the batter turns to steam, a gas, gas expands. this happens right as the eggs are setting up, trapping the gas bubbles in a rigid stucture that holds its shape in the oven (the gas can come from chemical leavening, as well as air incorporated by creaming fat or beating eggs), stucture holding while the product is hot is also done by gluten protiens in bread, and gluten contributes some stucture to cakes too, however gluten protiens are really chewy: think bagels french bread and seitan(pure wheat gluten) while egg protiens are more tender. so the egg content in things like pancakes, cakes, muffins and even challah breads, sweet doughs and to some extent cookies, is so the product is tender and soft, not chewy, while being able to hold it self up and not collapse on itself.

so in summary eggs are not a leavening agent, but do help the baked product retain air. think of a fried egg or a hard boiled egg, no air bubbles.

the other thing that happens when a thing is in the oven is the geling of the starches, but think of a starch sauce, it thickens when you heat it on the stove but is still runny untill it cools, or at least is not as stiff as it will be when it cools, this is why a mirengue make with the starch based ener-g egg replacer will fall in the oven, the starch gells and then softens instead of firming up like an egg, then cant hold itself up, and the air bubbles float to the top. this is important to keep in mind when making a cake and leaving out eggs, the bubbles risk floating to the top, and leaving a dense gross cake.

yes, this is the biggest problem facing us vegan bakers.

later
 
#14 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by MollyGoat View Post

Eggs *are* a leavener. Look at the difference in rise between a cake made with eggs and a cake made without...a good cake made with eggs can get a 1.5 inch rise--I've never gotten more than about a .75 inch rise from a vegan cake.
its a differance of being able to hold onto the air created, not a differance of creating more air, unless the eggs have been whipped to incorporate air into the batter, which expands and adds to lightness.

what happens with a vegan cake is the air escapes out the top, but as long as everything else is the same (the amount of powder) the cake with egg will hold onto more air, making it rise higher.
 
#16 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by susie1764 View Post

its a differance of being able to hold onto the air created, not a differance of creating more air, unless the eggs have been whipped to incorporate air into the batter, which expands and adds to lightness.

what happens with a vegan cake is the air escapes out the top, but as long as everything else is the same (the amount of powder) the cake with egg will hold onto more air, making it rise higher.
It's a leavener nonetheless. Anything that makes a baked good rise is a leavening agent. Eggs are what's known as a "physical" leavener (as opposed to "chemical" leaveners like baking soda.)
 
#17 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by MollyGoat View Post

It's a leavener nonetheless. Anything that makes a baked good rise is a leavening agent. Eggs are what's known as a "physical" leavener (as opposed to "chemical" leaveners like baking soda.)
I'm not arguing that eggs can not " be a leavener" I am trying to explain how they can serve 2 functions that contribute to the lightness of a cake (or something like a cake, im going to leave bread type things and other stuff out of this because I can only type so much).

The first function is that eggs can be agitated to incorporate air, such as a stiff egg white foam, lightly beaten whole egg, or creaming the eggs with other ingredients. This provides leavening because it adds air to the batter, and that air in some cases expands when heated and creates even more lightness.

The second function I'm talking about is the ability of eggs to trap gas bubbles (which could have come from chemical leavening, mechanical (physical) leavening, or steam) during baking. Eggs have this ability because when they are heated, they solidify and stay solid, this keeps the stucture of the cake, consisting of bubbles of gas surrounded by walls of batter, from collapsing in on itself, the egg protiens hold the bubble walls in shape when they solidify, and keep the gas from clumping together and rising to the top, and the batter will not fall and clump together in the oven because it is rigid.

for someone baking vegan products or trying to convert a non vegan recipe to be vegan, it is important to understand what functions eggs serve in differant types of products, and how they do it, then you can begin figuring out what type of egg replacer would be best suited to a particular recipe. eggs provide moisture which binds, emulsifing properties, foaming properties, structure holding properties, can trap air in batters when agitated, and can thicken sauces and custards. egg yolks can provide tenderizing fat too.

as far as saying "eggs are a leavener", I have never liked that statement. It implies that all you have to do is add more leavening and your cake will be fine. what you might end up with is an over-leavened cake. When a cake is overleavened too many bubbles are generated during baking, and they can clump together make bigger bubbles that rise and pop out of the surface of the cake leaving a very dense product behind, especially if the batter is so soft that it doesnt get rigid enough in the oven to hold its shape. also, eggs dont always provide leavening. Eggs are an ingredient in plenty of things that are dense and have no air bubbles, such as custards, hard and soft boiled eggs, egg noodles, pan cooked eggs (provided they are not beaten before being fried), and probably more than that.

So, I dont want to get in a silly argument of "eggs are a leavener" "no there not" "yes they are" Id rather save my arguments for the omnivores, but my point is trying to explain whats going on with the eggs, so we can figure out how to replace them in differant things, depending on the needed function.
 
#18 ·
I understand you, susie. An egg might not create the levening (i.e. gas), it causes it to maintain the levening once it's formed. I've baked many eggless things which looked nice and levened in the oven, but once it was done and cool, it just sank. There was no protein structure to hold in the air.
 
#19 ·
Another good egg sub is xanthan gum. Xanthan gum is a natural carb made from Anthomonas campestris. Use in recipes not using wheat. It helps replace gluten and helps to rise. Ratio dependent on what you are trying to bake. I'll check for more info and get back. Can be used in frozen desserts as a thickener or salad dressings with a creamy texture (like arrowroot /corn starch). No need to heat as with arrowroot. When using in place of arrowroot use as equivalent. 1 to 1.
 
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