Dough

A stiff, workable mixture of flour and liquid, often with fat, sugar, eggs or yeast, firm enough to knead, roll or shape by hand.

Dough: A smooth, round ball of bread dough resting on a lightly floured wooden board, a bench scraper beside it
  • Doughs, batters and pastry foundations

Also called: bread dough

Dough has much less liquid than batter, so it holds a shape. Bread dough is usually around 60 to 75% water by flour weight and is kneaded to build gluten; pastry and cookie doughs use more fat and less mixing so they stay tender.

Most doughs benefit from a rest. Resting lets the flour absorb the liquid evenly and lets gluten relax, which makes the dough easier to roll and less likely to shrink in the oven.

Bake it at VanillaGoods

Tools for this

As an Amazon Associate, VanillaGoods earns from qualifying purchases. We only suggest tools that help with this technique.

Related entries

Sources

Written by VanillaGoods in our own words from these sources. Last reviewed October 15, 2026.

  1. Dough (Q178024), Wikidata