Souffles with Powdered Whites

[M. Lucia]

So I consider myself a pretty confident souffle maker. I make both sweet and savory souffles, in both large individual sizes, quite frequently.

Today I made a blue cheese souffle and not having eggs, I skipped the yolks and used powdered egg whites. As soon as I added the bechamel to the beaten whites they began to deflate. I had a feeling this was a failure but I baked it anyway, and sure enough there was no rise to the souffle. I tasty little cheese egg bake, but no souffle.

Not one to be thwarted, I tried again. I have made yolk-less souffles many times so I'm pretty sure that is not the problem. The second time I was super careful about everything- made my roux, added whole milk, and plenty of blue cheese to make it thick. The whites looked just like regular whites, stiffly beaten. I let the cheese sauce cool slightly b/c I didn't want the heat of the cheese mixture to deflate the beaten whites. I still had the same problem, no souffle.

So was it the powdered egg whites?

Have you made savory souffles with powdered egg whites?

[miladyinsanity]

I would like to know to. I don't have much use for egg yolks, so there are a lot of recipes I've not tried because they would go to waste otherwise.

[Wendy DeBord]

From my experiences I do think powdered egg white should work. When whipped, powdered whites feel just as strong as fresh. Although I suppose quality could vary from one brand to another of the dried whites. (I'm not using product available to the home consumer.)

The only thing that gives me trouble is using cartons of fresh egg whites with additive. Those do not whip up fully with any strength and I never use them in whipped applications. But I do successfully sub in and out fresh whites with dried. Chemically there shouldn't really be any difference if they are pure.

Last, you do realize your whites will deflate to some extent as you fold heavy ingredients into them. But if they deflate too much they aren't going to work well. And you wrote that they did deflate when you added your bechamel. It could have been just too heavy and your whites too light or over beaten so they couldn't stand up to it.

When I make a souffle I whip my whites until they just become stiff and not a moment past that. I think it's better if they are slightly under-developed then over-developed. The over-developed/whipped whites just have nothing left to give.

[JayBassin]

I use powdered egg whites a lot and have no problems baking with them. The biggest lesson I learned is that you need to mix the water/powder and let the powder hydrate for at least 1 hour before whisking. Also, make the usual precautions against any fats/oils in the utensils.

[M. Lucia]

I assumed powdered egg whites would be fine, too, as I have baked with them frequently.

But after making 5 souffles in the past 3 days, the verdict is no.

Every time I added the bechamel to the beaten powdered whites they deflated immediately. I let the whites sit to encorporate and they weren't overbeaten. And when I say deflated I mean a fizzing reaction resulting in a completely liquid-y mixture. I can't see an explanation but the evidence was pretty conclusive.

In a side by side test with fresh egg whites, both beaten to peaks, the fresh whites made a nice puffed souffle and the powdered whites had no rise whatsoever.

So lesson learned: don't make souffles with powdered egg whites.

(I did make some meringues with leftover powdered egg whites, so they still worked in other applications, and I've used them in sweet fruit-based souffles)

Thanks for the advice everyone.

[Wendy DeBord]

They definately shouldn't have fizzled down. Is there an expiration date on your dried whites container?

It's a shame this didn't work for you, five times is quite an effort. I don't believe anyone can take this as a blanket statement that dried whites don't work in a souffle application. I believe there was something unique happening for M. Lucias' trials.