Baking Starts With Choosing the Right Eggs

Many bakery recipes simply cannot be made without eggs. Beyond that, it pays to be careful and selective about the eggs you choose.

Eggs are at the heart of baking. They help baked goods smell good and turn out soft, fluffy and delicious, and they help the ingredients bind and combine more easily. That is why choosing the right eggs for baking matters so much.

Why Eggs Are So Important

In baking, especially cakes, egg tarts and custards, eggs are an essential ingredient alongside flour, sugar and butter. Their job is to bind the other ingredients together. Eggs also create an egg foam within the cake batter, making the cake soft and airy. The separated yolk is a source of emulsifiers that help incorporate air, and it also contributes aroma and flavor to the cake.

Why Chicken Eggs? Can You Use Duck Eggs?

Bakers use chicken eggs rather than duck eggs because a single duck egg is too large, making it hard to measure or judge proportions in a recipe. Duck eggs also have a different texture from chicken eggs; baking with them can make your goods tough and give them an eggy, unpleasant odor. Chicken eggs are therefore the standard in baking: recipes are based on them, they are easier to measure, and they have less of an eggy smell than duck eggs.

Choosing the Right Egg Size

Egg size is also important in baking, as eggs on the market come in many sizes. In Thailand, chicken eggs are graded into 7 sizes by weight per egg (including the shell):

1. No. 0: the largest size, with a minimum weight of 70 g or more per egg.
2. No. 1: the next size down from No. 0, weighing 65–69 g per egg.
3. No. 2: the next size down from No. 1, weighing 60–65 g per egg.
4. No. 3: the next size down from No. 2, also known as medium eggs, weighing 55–59 g per egg.
5. No. 4: the next size down from No. 3, weighing 50–54 g per egg.
6. No. 5 (small eggs): the next size down, weighing 60–65 g per egg.
7. No. 6: the smallest size, weighing 44 g per egg. No. 6 eggs are rarely seen.

Each egg size suits different purposes. For baking, sizes No. 3 to No. 4 are the most popular, as they make measuring easy. The eggs must also be fresh, because freshness affects your baking results.