Yesterday I baked a special loaf of bread with an egg yolk glaze. After it was mostly cooled I covered it with plastic wrap and set it on the counter to be served today. I am now concerned that I should have refrigerated it, because of the egg glaze. There is some condensation that formed and the crust is a little damp. Is it safe to eat?
Baking – Safety of Egg Yolk Glaze
bakingbreadeggsfood-safety
Best Answer
The safety issue isn't so much the egg glaze, it is the fact that your bread was not cooled properly before covering it. This left a warm, humid environment for bacteria to grow. Because of this, I would not serve it. However, the best way to judge whether there is a problem or not is to use sight and smell. If you weren't the one to make it, would you want to eat it?
The solution would not necessarily have been to refrigerate it, but to make sure it was cooled before wrapping. Refrigerating would have also caused condensation, although it would have reduced the amount of time the bread was warm. Next time, allow the bread to cool uncovered inside or outside of the refrigerator. You could partially cover it, leaving a hole in the top for the humid air to escape. When you think it is cooled and OK to cover, check back in a half hour to look for condensation. If there is condensation, uncover it and allow it to cool a little bit longer before rewrapping.