Dough is a malleable, sometimes elasticpaste made fromflour (which itself is made fromgrains or fromleguminous orchestnut crops). Dough is typically made by mixing flour with a small amount of water or other liquid and sometimes includesyeast or otherleavening agents, as well as ingredients such as fats or flavourings.
There is no formal definition of what makes dough, though most doughs haveviscoelastic properties.[1]
Yeast-leavened doughs are used to make various types of bread, includingbread rolls, loaves and some types offlatbread. Not all yeast doughs require kneading. High-hydration doughs likeciabatta andfocaccia may be folded to developgluten or not kneaded at all. Commercial bread dough may also includedough conditioners, which help make the dough and the final product more consistent.
Unleavened bread is made not only from wheat but in many cultures has been made from locally available starchy ingredients like corn,oats andcassava since the earliest times.[2][3]
Laminated dough such asmille-feuille andpuff pastry are flour-based doughs folded over fat to create layers and rolled out. The folding and rolling process can be repeated to create very thin layers of dough and butter to create the puff pastry. There are many different techniques to create laminated doughs; some, likeparatha, are relatively simple, while others, like mille-feuille, are more laborious.[4] Most laminated doughs are leavened only by the steam created by the folding process.Croissants, however, are made with yeast.[5]
Choux pastry is a steam-leavened dough used for some types of sweet pastries, notablycream puffs,eclairs, some homemadefunnel cakes,[6]tulumba andchurros. Unlike most other pastry doughs, the ingredients for the dough are cooked on the stove top before the dough is baked until achieving the consistency of a thick paste. Choux means 'cabbage' in French. It is thought that the name comes from the shape of the cream puffs made with choux paste.[5]
Gluten gives dough structure and texture. Gluten-free or low-gluten doughs may need additional considerations. Gluten-free doughs likerice noodles and Japaneseharusame noodles depend on the gelatinization ofstarch for structure.[7]
Doughs with higher fat content develop less gluten and are, therefore, generally less elastic than most bread doughs. They tend to become tough when they are kneaded.[8] These doughs are often called "short" by bakers. Examples include many cookie andpie doughs such asshortcrust pastry.[1]
Somedumpling andpasta doughs are similar enough that experts have difficulty distinguishing them, although dumpling is a very general category that overlaps with others like yeasted breads and batter biscuits. Varying the ratio of liquid and flour in a basic pasta dough may create a softer dough like that used for the German soup noodlespaetzle.[9] Eggs are a very common addition to make the dough moist and easier to roll out. The dough can be filled or shaped various ways and boiled, baked, steamed or fried.[10][11]
Sometimesmeringue is considered a dough.[5] The English recipe for "Satin Biscuit" dates to 1677, and earlier recipes are known by different names. Some included flour like a 1604 recipe for "white bisket bread".[12]
Techniques used in dough production depend on the type of dough and final product.[13]
For yeast-based and sponge (such assourdough) breads, a common production technique is the dough is mixed, kneaded, and then left to rise. Many bread doughs call for a second stage, where the dough is kneaded again, shaped into the final form, and left to rise a final time (orproofed) before baking.[14] Kneading is the process of working a dough to produce a smooth, elastic dough by developinggluten.[14] This process is both temperature and time-dependent; temperatures that are either too hot or too cold will cause the yeast to not develop, and rising times that are either too short or too long will affect the final product.[citation needed]
Pasta is typically made from a dry dough that is kneaded and shaped, either throughextrusion,rolling out in a pasta machine, or stretched or shaped by hand (as forgnocchi ordumplings). Pasta may be cooked directly after production (so-called "fresh pasta") or dried, which renders it shelf-stable.
Doughs forbiscuits and manyflatbreads which are not leavened with yeast are typically mixed but not kneaded or left to rise; these doughs are shaped and cooked directly after mixing.
While breads and other products made from doughs are oftenbaked, some types of dough-based foods are cooked over direct heat, such astortillas, which are cooked directly on agriddle.Fried dough foods are also common in many cultures.
Pancakes,waffles, some kinds of bar cookies such asbrownies, and manycakes andquick breads (includingmuffins and the like) are often made with a semi-liquidbatter of flour and liquid that is poured into the final shape, rather than a solid dough. Unlike bread dough, these batters are not stabilized by the formation of a gluten network.[15]
^abLeon Levine; Ed Boehmer (1997). "Chapter 12, Dough Processing Systems".Handbook of Food Engineering Process.doi:10.1201/9781420049077.ch12 (inactive 12 July 2025).{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of July 2025 (link)
^Stanley P. Cauvain. (2012) Chapter 12: Baking. inFood Processing Handbook. 2 ed. Wiley. p. 422ISBN9783527324682. This reference is specifically about cake batter.
DiMuzio, Daniel (2009).Bread Baking: An Artisan's Perspective. Wiley.ISBN978-0470138823.—covers home and commercial baking and dough techniques
Hamelman, Jeffrey (2004).Bread: A Baker's Book of Techniques and Recipes. Wiley.ISBN978-0471168577.—covers home and commercial baking and dough techniques
"Bread Formula Computation".Baking Handbook. NAVSANDA publication. Navy Department, Bureau of Supplies and Accounts. 1962. pp. 4–1−4–4. Retrieved2025-03-05.
