why no eggs in whole wheat bread?

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Why no eggs in whole wheat bread?

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ludicrous

Wed, Feb 19 2014, 2:04 pm

I have noticed that a lot of recipes for whole wheat bread don't have any eggs in them? is there a specific reason for this?

life is fun

Wed, Feb 19 2014, 2:32 pm

I dot know, maybe healthier. I make my own bread with neither sugar, oil or eggs and it tastes delicious

zaq

Wed, Feb 19 2014, 3:14 pm

My whole wheat challah recipe uses eggs, for which I make no apology except to any guest who is allergic to eggs. My guess would be that people who use whole wheat are more likely to be on the crunchy-vegan-whole-earth-tree-hugging-animal-rights side of the spectrum than users of white flour, but that's just a guess.

Iced Cappuccino

Wed, Feb 19 2014, 3:40 pm

miriam5 wrote:

I dot know, maybe healthier. I make my own bread with neither sugar, oil or eggs and it tastes delicious

Can you please post your recipe? :-)

MiracleMama

Wed, Feb 19 2014, 3:55 pm

I haven't noticed that, but to some people's way of thinking eggs are a terrible artery-clogging food to be avoided so perhaps in their deciding to use "healthier" flour they have also decided to skip the eggs? I can't imagine there is a technical baking reason behind it.

vintagebknyc

Wed, Feb 19 2014, 4:05 pm

eggs turn the bread into a completely different kind of bread. I wish I could explain it better than that.

regular bread is basically flour and water and yeast. egg breads, like challah and brioche and popovers are more pastry-like.

mille

Fri, Feb 21 2014, 7:08 am

vintagebknyc wrote:

Right. OP if you are talking about just regular whole wheat bread recipes, no regular bread recipe will have eggs. Bread is just 5 parts flour to 3 parts water, a pinch of yeast and salt. Then we embellish that basic recipe with things like oil and eggs to give it a different texture, change the amount of time it requires to rise/create a great gluten network/change the taste. If you're talking about challah, I imagine some people choose to make whole wheat water challah (aka challah without eggs) for 'health' reasons.

little_mage

Fri, Feb 21 2014, 7:13 am

I don't know the techincal reason, but like previous posters have said, the eggs change the texture/taste of the bread. If you're interested in the science behind bread, I recommend Peter Reinhart's books (either Whole Grain Breads or The Bread Baker's Apprentice). He talks about the science and what's going on inside the bread as you bake it.

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