Egg yolk or egg white mixed with a small amount of water or milk. It's brushed over breads, pastry and other baked goods before baking to give them color and gloss.
When making a quiche or a pastry, the egg plays a very important role. The purpose of the egg is to help hold all of the other ingredients in the dish together.
An egg wash is a mixture of beaten eggs and liquid, usually water or milk, which is brushed onto the surface of a pastry before baking. An egg wash is often used to make pastries shiny and golden or brown in color, and it also is used to help toppings or coatings stick to the surface of the pastry, or to bind pastry parts together. The part of the egg used and liquid added determines the finished look of the crust.
Egg WashAn egg wash will make pastry shine and help with browning. It will also help bind crusts with cracks and seal the edges of pie crusts. Egg wash also helps keep the bottom crust from getting soggy when the pie filling is added.Simply beat a couple of eggs mixed with just a little bit of liquid such as milk or water. Brush a very light coat of the egg wash onto the surface of the dough with a pastry brush.
Traditionally you would brush the pastry with egg wash (beaten egg) before you bake them, this gives a golden colour to the finished product.
egg binds the ingredients together and gives moisture and richness
The egg yolk binds the ingredients in the pastry together, enabling them to form a dough
Separate the yolk from the egg white, then beat the egg yolk with a whisk (or fork) and use a pastry brush to lightly brush the egg onto the dough/pastry before baking.
It depends on what you are trying to accomplish. Washes should be applied with a brush. An egg white wash will make it shiny. An egg wash with the yolk left in while make it golden and shiny. For scones or tea biscuits (American usage) milk or cream may be used simply to make it brown. To glaze a fruit tart I've found the best glaze to be apricot preserves over the fruit, which sits on a pastry cream on top of a pastry crust. This would not be baked.
Shortening gives the pastry a crisp, light texture.
Some people coat pastry with a bit of beaten egg, before putting it into the oven.
No. Eclairs are made from choux pastry. Choux pastry involves cooking flour,butter and water, then adding egg. The egg acts as a leavening agent in a choux pastry. A puff pastry uses layers of butter or other solid fat between a bread type dough that puffs up due to air and water expansion between layers of fat and dough for leavening, it does not contain egg.
A cupcake is a small dessert considered as a pastry.