Whipping Egg Whites 101

For a beginner, whipping egg whites can seem daunting, probably because there are several stages to whipping egg whites. And if you never done it before, it is hard to know the difference between "softly beaten egg whites" vs "stiffly beaten egg whites." When I first started baking, I cannot tell you have many recipes I passed over simply because it had the dreaded instructions: "...separate 3 eggs and beat egg whites until stiff but not dry" Well I hope this tutorial will help when you encounter a recipe that calls for beaten egg whites.
First of all, egg whites can be beaten by hand, with a hand mixer, or with a stand mixer with equal results, but beating by hand or with a hand mixer will simply take a longer amount of time. But since the stand mixer (e.g. Kitchenaid) has become ubiquitous in the kitchen, I will focus on how to beat egg whites in a stand mixer. For the actual beating, it is important to ensure the beaters and the bowl are free of grease or oil residues. This also means when you separate eggs, to make sure the yolk does not get into the whites. Egg whites will not beat to their maximal volume if there are traces of fat or grease. Egg whites should be beaten at medium speed in the early stages. The time between foamy egg whites (stage 1) to over beaten egg whites (stage 5) in a electric stand mixer is 5 to 7 minutes.

Stage 1:

Foamy Stage

The first stage is to beat the eggs until foamy. This breaks of the clumpy whites to a uniform foamy mass.

It does not stick to the beater

And when the bowl is tilted, it is pourable and forms ribbons from the beaters

Stage 2:

Soft Peak Stage

Continue beating the egg whites until they stop forming ribbon from the beaters when lifted and forms a peak that folds over on itself. The texture is uniform and light. This is the stage that a lot of recipes instruct you to start adding sugar to the egg whites.

Stage 3:

Stiffly beat egg whites

The egg whites will form a stiff peak the does not bend back on itself. They should be glossy and smooth and firm. Another indicator is it forms a long peak vs a short stiff peak (see next stage). This is the stage that recipes call for folding into other ingredients such as in Angel food cake recipes and white cake recipes.

Stage 4:

Very Stiff Peaks

This stage is characterized by stiff very firm peaks. The the peak will be short when the beaters are lifted out of the bowl. This stage is important in the making of meringues to top pies and pastries or the making of dry meringues and meringue cookies.

Stage 5:

Over-Beaten Egg Whites

The egg whites will take on a 'rough' texture. They will be dry and most of the whites will stick to the beaters when lifted out of the bowl

Picking up the egg whites with a spoon will look 'grainy' and rough and not smooth. There is only one recipe that I know of that this is the optimal stage in whipped egg whites. It is the waffle recipe on this blog.