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[tonymark]

What is the water equivalent of an egg?  i.e. How does an egg affect hydration?  How many grams of water should I use to calculate baker's percentages?

TM

[PizzaBrewer]

Egg in pizza dough??   

[Pete-zza]

tonymark,

Water constitutes about 85% of the weight of an egg. Some time ago, I weighed a single large egg (minus the shell, of course) and got a weight of 1.55 ounces (43.94 grams). If you take 85% of that number, you get 1.32 ounces (37.35 grams) as the water content. To adjust the hydration for baker's percents purposes, you would subtract 1.32 ounces (37.35 grams) from the amount of water in your formulation for each egg you use in the formulation. Unless you are making a lot of dough and/or using a lot of eggs, the differences in hydration would be fairly minor. But, to be a purist about the process, you would adjust the hydration to reflect the water component of the eggs.

You didn't ask, but I might add that the total dough weight for the formulation would also go up a bit to reflect the inclusion of egg yolks (0.55 oz., or 15.59 grams, per egg yolk). To keep the total dough weight constant, you would have to adjust the weights of the ingredients in the formulation slightly. Again, for a single egg, this would be trivial and could safely be ignored. 

For Pizzabrewer's benefit, I might mention that it is not uncommon to see eggs used in a pizza dough. Many pizza operators do it. One of our members has done it for some time in a home setting. See http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,1872.0.html.

Peter

[itsinthesauce]

My brother-in-laws mother, Mrs. Vinelli, who grew up in Italy, always used one egg in her dough and it came out great. It seemed to add a fluff to the dough.

[Pete-zza]

As a followup to my recent post, I recalled that fellow member DINKS said that the industry standard for a large egg is 1.68 oz. I have noticed in this regard that not all eggs that are graded as "large" weigh exactly the same. Sometimes they don't even look the same. I don't think any of this will affect the numbers all that much.

Peter

[dinks]

TONYMARK:
  Good afternoon. To answer your question my friend,  The composition of whole eggs contain 73% water.The whites composition of water amount to 86%. The yolks water composition is 49%. This information is for the average egg. One more thng my friend, The egg shell as you know is very fragile & very very pourous Now then, depending on age of the egg in the fridge the water content can & will evaporate to a certain extent. If the egg is very fresh then it will have more water content in it. Now for myself, I just assume the average large egg is all hydration & weighs 1.70 oz the industries standard weight for a large egg.  I hope this helps good luck & have a nice day.
   Eggs provide leavening, as well as shortening & moisture & to a certain extent Tony I  hope this information helps you make the pizza crust you are hoping for. Good luck & enjoy the rest of the day my friend.
   ~DINKS.

[tonymark]

Thanks for all the replies.

Now the confession.  The egg question is to gain knowledge for my ultimate project....   KING CAKE

I grew up in Slidell, LA and crave these cakes every January.  I will attempt my first this weekend.

I know his is not the topic for this site, but everyone here knows dough and ingredients, especially Pete-zza.  How do you find the time to read all the postings?

TM

[Pete-zza]

TM,

When you really enjoy something, you somehow find the time .

Good luck with your cake. I wouldn't have thought that King's cakes would be recited in baker's percents. But the principles are all the same.

Peter