Secrets to Golden Brown Pastries

We've all heard the joke that a cook's favorite color is "golden brown." This is very true, but golden brown may not be the easiest to achieve when it comes to pastries. There have been numerous times when I'm baking at home and I've clearly baked whatever item it may be long enough. The only problem is the croissant, or pie, or biscuit still looks super pale and pale translates to sickly and sickly translates to "not good." It sort of makes the bakery item look "unhealthy," and nobody wants that. But if you bake it longer, the item either gets too dry inside or on occasion, there are parts of the item that may get super brown, when the rest of it does not.

So here's bakery tip #3 (I think it's #3). At the bakery, when we want things to get that golden brown to light brown color, we always brush it with egg wash. It's about 1 egg to 1-2 tablespoons of milk. To further that browning, if it happens to be an item that needs additional sweetness ie. biscuits, muffins, or pie dough for an apple pie, we will sprinkle some sugar right on top of the egg wash. It's guaranteed to give that "healthy" color to your baked goods.

Now I may do a small posting on this later, but another x-factor for that perfectly browned color is oven temperature. A professional convection oven is much stronger than a home kitchen oven. When I tried one of the biscuit recipes from the bakery at my home oven, I had to increase the temperature from 325 degrees Fahrenheit to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Every oven is calibrated differently, but if any of you get a recipe from a professional restaurant or bakery, this maybe a good thing to keep in mind.