Obi Non

Egg wash & the baker’s shine 34 recipes

• Applied thin and even over every surface that will show, with no bare patches and no ridges or brush lines standing in it.
• Nothing pooled: no wash run down into the seams, collected in the corners, or welded to the tray around the base.
• It has not glued shut what needs to move: layers, scores, and cut edges are still free to open in the heat.
• Baked, the finish is even and glossy across the whole piece and deep gold rather than patchy, with no darker bands where the wash sat heavy.
• The shine is on the outside only: nothing inside the piece tastes of egg.

Where it goes wrong The wash went on heavy and ran into the scores and down to the tray, so the piece baked sealed along its seams, browned unevenly, and carries dark rubbery ridges where the egg collected.

Kneading dough 57 recipes

• The work changed it: what began shaggy and rough is one smooth, cohesive mass, with nothing raggy hanging off it.
• The surface has gone satin and barely tacky, releasing cleanly from hands and board instead of leaving a trail.
• Worked to the point this dough asks for and no further: springy and elastic where structure is wanted, just brought together where tenderness is.
• Torn or cut open, the inside is uniform: no dry streaks, no unmixed pockets, no core of flour that never met the water.
• After its rest it rolls and shapes without snapping back. A dough that fights the pin needed more rest, not more force.

Where it goes wrong Sticking was fought with flour instead of technique or patience, stroke after stroke, until the dough had taken in far more than the formula asked; it turns tight and dry under the hands, and bakes dense however well everything else goes.