[Q&A] Separation, Room Temperature, and Preheating

How come eggs and butter need to be at room temperature? Does the temperature really make a difference? Why do I have to preheat the oven before the whole mixing process?

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If those questions have ever struck your mind when you bake, then we're in the same boat. I wondered about these things too, and I haven't found an answer until now. Here are some answers to your questions along with the reasons.

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WHY DO SOME INGREDIENTS NEED TO BE AT ROOM TEMPERATURE?
Well, obviously, butter needs to be at room temperature for successful and stress-free baking. A cold or almost froze-to-the-bone stick of butter may cause annoying problems when you're trying to mix your ingredients together. The butter in the mixing bowl (if you are using an electric mixer) will act like an unwanted rock and the mixer will make sounds like, 

"TDOK TDOK TDOK!!" 

You will not be a happy camper. 

The mixing method doesn't matter when dealing with butter that needs to be softened, be it electrical mixer, hand mixer, or wooden spoon. To facilitate the baking process, you need to follow the rules of the recipe and have the ingredients in their proper state. And according to my book... butter can not be melted to hold fine air bubbles and incorporate with other ingredients. Butter is a one-time form ingredient. Once it's melted, you can't freeze it back to its original state. 

In some recipes, there are calls for room-temperature eggs. This at first came very strange to me. I thought, "Why do eggs need to be warm? There's nothing special about them!" Apparently, room temperature eggs incorporate into batter more quickly than cold eggs. But, can cold eggs be as problematic as cold butter? An experiment was conducted. One cake was made with cold eggs, and the other with room temperature eggs. They were both normal yellow cakes. In the process of making the cold-egg cake, the batter was slightly thicker and took five minutes longer to bake. The warm-egg cake resulted as having a slightly finer and more even crumb than the cold-egg cake. However, that was the only difference between the two, and no other difference was detected by the tasters. So in most basic cakes, eggs any temperature are fine. 

(Another thing to note: The cold-egg cake's batter was more thick, therefore causing the baking process to be longer because the ingredients weren't melted or warmed evenly. The cake resulted as dense.)

BUT, in certain cakes, eggs need to be warm. Certain cakes such as the complicated ones, which include angel food, chiffon, and pound cake. Chiffon is light and airy. 

Why? 

Because the egg whites are beat to stiff peaks. Stiff peaks make the cake airy, light, and fluffy. When egg whites are beaten for a long time, they go from translucent yellow to soft white. And when beat harder, the egg whites become a little hard. Wondered why meringue cookies are white, airy, and light? 

They're white, first of all, because they are made with egg whites. 
 Second of all, they are airy because you are beating a lot of air into the egg whites when you beat them. 
Lastly, meringues are light because things full of air are light. For example, balloons!

Here's a video on Easy Egg White Separation:


Source(s):
http://www.americastestkitchenfeed.com/cooking-science/2013/09/do-cold-eggs-ruin-baked-goods/
Corriher, Shirley O. BakeWise. Page 122.

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WHEN YOU SEPARATE EGG YOLK AND WHITE, DO YOU NEED TO LET THE EGGS COME TO ROOM TEMPERATURE FIRST BEFORE SEPARATING? WHY OR WHY NOT?

a. To begin with, I must tell you that I hate questions with a 'why or why not' attachment.

b. To answer the question... hrm. Let me look into that.

Apparently, cold eggs are easier to separate than eggs at room temperature. Surprisingly though, room temperature egg whites are easier to beat. This is because the egg keeps itself together more  when cold and the yolk doesn't break as easily. 

Now, I think this is so because in cold things, the molecules keep close together and don't move a lot. Whereas in hot things, molecules are on the move.

I think that's logical.

However, since it is easier to beat egg whites from room-temperature eggs, you can either let your eggs get warm before you separate, or let the whites reach room temperature after the separation. It all depends on your preference. I think I'd choose to let my eggs reach room temperature first, because beating is tiring.

Source(s): 
http://m.joyofbaking.com/ingredients/Eggs.html
http://www.thejoykitchen.com/ingredients-techniques/separating-eggs
http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/how_to_separate_eggs/ 

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WHY DOES THE OVEN NEED TO BE PREHEATED?

Well, what else will you cook your cake in? The sun? A solar oven? Your armpits? *dry laughter*

Before I use my research, I think it's necessary to preheat the oven before everything because some ingredients melt or spoil quickly. If you're making sugar cookies (the kind where you have to freeze a log) you'd better preheat the oven first thing. Sugar melts easily. You know, cotton candy is just colored and flavored spun sugar. That's why it melts so easily when it touches your saliva, your perspiration, or anything wet. Even... [censored text]

LOL JK

Also, it's good to be prepared, which is obvious. 

If you are on a baking show and you want to look like a pro, preheat the oven first. LOL, can you imagine a baker preheating the oven after everything and the cake or whatever he's making turns out to have sunk or burned? Imagine the baker saying, "Oh, no," (dramatically, since all cooks, bakers, and chefs are dramatic) and then covering the camera, screaming, "CUUUUT! Don't put me on TV!" 

LOL #bigtimeepicfail

Now, according to my research, your oven has to be preheated, or your goodies won't rise as you want them to. Also, you know how you have to melt butter sometimes, at medium heat? Sometimes I think, "Can't I just melt it on HIGH heat?!"

One time I was stirring something, or cooking something in the kitchen, and I was impatient. I asked my sister, "Can't I cook it on high heat, to make it melt faster?"

She looked at me through her half-frame glasses, a wise but rather frustrated expression on her face. "No. If the heat is too high, it might burn. It has to cook gradually."

Although she said it in her angry voice, I realized her wisdom. 

I guess that's why when you defrost things, you have to put them in cold water, not hot water right away. And when you come in from the snow outside in winter, you dip your toes in cold water. I one time came inside from playing in the snow, and I filled the bathtub with hot water. I dipped my toes in, and they began to hurt. 

SOOOOOO, it's better not to go into extremities. #patience

Source(s):
http://theboatgalley.com/preheat-oven/

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Well, thanks for reading and happy eating!

-N-