The Effects of Fresh Eggs, Egg White, and Egg Yolk, Separately and in Combination with Salt, on Mixogram Properties

Salt and eggs are common ingredients in some wheat flour-based food systems and significantly impact dough mixing behavior. We evaluated the effect of either whole eggs, egg white, or egg yolk on dough formation and properties with the Mixograph. Inclusion of whole eggs in wheat flour dough recipes increased dough development time, dough stability, and dough strength upon further mixing less than inclusion of only egg white. In contrast, egg yolk addition decreased all of these parameters. Salt had a more pronounced impact on dough containing egg yolk than on dough containing egg white. The present observations can be explained in terms of shielding charges of the gluten protein's ionized groups, which largely affects dough mixing behavior. The work demonstrates that in some applications it can be useful to use egg fractions rather than whole eggs.