Dough is an elastic or plastic mass obtained by mixing flour with water and various functional and flavoring ingredients. It is the fundamental semi-finished product for a vast range of food items — bread, rolls, cookies, crackers, biscuits, cake layers, pastries, pound cakes, gingerbread, pretzels, and many others.
Types of dough
Dough can be classified by leavening method, fat and sugar content, and production technique:
- Yeast dough — leavened by baker’s yeast through fermentation. Used primarily for bread, rolls, buns, doughnuts, and yeast-raised cakes. A subcategory is sponge dough (opara method), where a liquid pre-ferment is prepared first before mixing the final dough.
- Chemically leavened dough — uses baking powder, baking soda, or ammonium carbonate instead of yeast. Common in cookies, muffins, and quick breads.
- Laminated (puff) dough — created by repeatedly folding butter into the dough to form thin alternating layers. Used for puff pastry, croissants, and layered cake bases.
- Unleavened (lean) dough — made without any leavening agent. Used for dumplings, ravioli, pasta, noodles, and flatbreads.
- Shortcrust (sandy) dough — has a high proportion of fat and sugar, producing a crumbly, tender texture. Used for tarts, shortbread cookies, and pastry shells.
- Sponge cake batter — a light, aerated mixture with low fat content, leavened primarily by whipped eggs. Used for cakes, Swiss rolls, and layered desserts.
- Choux dough — a cooked dough made by heating flour with water and butter, then beating in eggs. Used for éclairs, profiteroles, and certain specialty breads.
- Enriched (rich) dough — contains increased amounts of fat, sugar, and eggs, making it more caloric and tender. Used for brioche, panettone, and rich pastries.
- Wafer batter — a thin, liquid batter for baking crisp wafer sheets used in layered wafer products.
- Meringue (egg white) dough — based primarily on whipped egg whites and sugar. Produces an exceptionally light, airy structure. Used for Kyiv cake, meringue shells, and pavlova.
Composition
The approximate chemical composition of most doughs falls within these ranges: 32–57% starch, 30–35% sugar (in sweet doughs), and 5.8–11.6% protein. The exact proportions depend on the type of flour, the recipe, and the intended product. Wheat flour provides gluten-forming proteins (glutenin and gliadin) that give dough its elasticity and structure, while fats, sugars, and eggs modify the texture, flavor, and shelf life of the finished product.
Discover more about dough — including industrial recipes, production techniques, and troubleshooting tips — in the articles below.