Anne Willan

Glazes and Toppings for Bread

Appears in
top 1000La Varenne Pratique
La Varenne Pratique

By Anne Willan

Published 1989

  • About
Almost all breads have some kind of finish added before or after baking. To flavor the crust, the bread may be shaped on a board sprinkled with rolled oats, cornmeal, chopped nuts, or simply with generous amounts of flour. Baking pans may be similarly coated. Egg glaze gives bread a shiny, golden-brown surface; for extra sheen the dough can be glazed, left to dry, then given a second coating of the glaze.

Savory toppings baked with the bread include seeds such as sesame or poppy, coarse salt crystals, and chopped or flaked nuts such as almonds (the bread is first brushed with egg white to make them stick). For a sweet baked topping, the dough may be brushed with water, milk, or lightly whisked egg white and sprinkled with sugar—coarse sugar adds a pleasant texture. Some sweet buns and coffeecakes are baked with a sticky topping. After baking, a sweet glaze made with sugar, milk, butter and honey, for example, may be poured over the bread while it is still hot (see To shape sticky buns), or a soft icing may be spread on top when the bread is cold. In French babas and savarin, the baked bread is soaked in sugar syrup, often flavored with rum, so that it expands and is lusciously moist.