Pastry and bakery dough families
There are many kinds, or families, of pastry and bakery doughs, depending on whether you want to make a tart, a cake, a pie, a brioche, croissants and so on.
I'll try to give you a quick overview of all these doughs, how they're classified, and what they're used for.
I'll try to give you a quick overview of all these doughs, how they're classified, and what they're used for.
10 K 4.9/5 (16 reviews)
Keywords for this post:PastryDoughDifferencesTextureLast modified on: November 16th 2020
Pastry and bakery dough families
Shortcrust pastry (or "tart dough")
 |  | These are the simplest, with no yeast in them, just a mixture of flour, butter, sugar and sometimes egg. They include shortcrust, shortbread, sweet and dark pastry. They're all based on the same principle, changing only the weights of butter and sugar, mainly. Their specificity, if you like, is that you don't work them, or you work them as little as possible. As soon as the mixture is done, you stop everything, and you don't insist, because otherwise the gluten network will start to build up, and your dough will become elastic, which is something you really don't want. |
Battered dough
 |  | These are the doughs used for cakes, sponge cakes, choux pastry, etc. This is achieved either by whipping in air during kneading, or by adding baking powder, which causes the dough to swell during cooking. |
Puff pastry
 |  | These doughs are more complex to make: you start by kneading a simple, lightly buttered dough, called a "détrempe", to which you then add butter, enclosing it in the "détrempe". The whole thing is then folded several times ("turns") to obtain the famous puff pastry. This is mainly puff pastry. |
Leavened dough
 | | You guessed it, they're going to rise! And that's all because baker's yeast is added to it, which causes the dough to rise after a fairly long resting period in a warm place. These are doughs that are kneaded for a long time, often with butter: brioche dough, bread pudding dough, Viennoise dough, etc. |
Croissants dough
 |  | As its french name suggests (pâte levée-feuilletée), this is the fusion of the 2 previous types: We still prepare a distemper, but there's baker's yeast in it, and then we also incorporate butter by "tourage". The dough is then rolled out, left to rise, and finally baked, giving a delicious mix of crispiness and softness. This is the dough used for croissants and pains au chocolat, the most technical of all, but also the one that makes the majority of viennoiseries. |
That's it, we've done the grand tour (I'm deliberately leaving out bread and pizza doughs), and here you have the essentials of the doughs you could make at home, or perhaps already do.
I hope I've made you want to knead, or at least made you hungry...
Lasts posts
Should potatoes be washed twice?
Let's say you have to make a recipe that includes potatoes, let's say sliced, you'll most likely proceed as follows: Peel the potatoes, wash them, slice them, wash them again, pat them dry and add them to your recipe. But there's a "but": depending on the recipe, the second washing may be a bad...May 19th 2025945 15
Grilled bacon is much better in the oven
Some recipes call for thin slices of bacon to be cooked and added to the recipe, or to prepare one of those delicious breakfasts known as "à l'Anglaise".April 25th 20251,4735
The thermometer is your friend
There are many recipes or foods that require a (very) precise cooking temperature: foie gras, sugar for caramel, meats and fish, and not forgetting pastries. For these few examples, getting the cooking temperature wrong can spoil the whole recipe or dish: undercooked, it's no good or misses the...April 10th 20251,7795
Travel cakes
You may have come across the term "travel cakes" ("gateaux de voyage" in french) for certain pastries, so let's take a look at what they're all about.January 27th 20253,263
The aromatic power of sugar
In the kitchen, sugar doesn't just sweeten, it also has an exceptional ability to capture flavors. Combined with aromatic ingredients, such as citrus zest, it acts as a veritable sponge for aromas. By taking the time to let the sugar soak up the flavors, you can transform your desserts, making...December 25th 20243,7305
Other pages you may also like
The little trap of thick cream
When you need to add cream to a recipe, you might be wondering: thick (heavy) cream or liquid cream? In most cases, there's no big difference: you can use either. But there is one exception, and that's when the cream needs to be cooked, for a sauce for example, and here the difference between...December 13th 20243,7735
Steam for baking bread
What does steam have to do with bread-making? This is not only a bakers' secret, it is something you might not think of at all: if you make bread and bake it like a cake, you will end up with bread, but pale and with a thick, hard crust – a long way from the golden-brown crusty loaf you had in...June 16th 2021140 K4.5
No need to boil gelatin
Gelatin is a magical ingredient for making light, creamy, structured desserts, yet it's often misused in the kitchen. A common mistake in some recipes is the idea that it needs to be boiled for it to work properly, but this is a mistake indeed: gelatin melts at a much lower temperature, around...November 21th 20244,0945
Should potatoes be washed twice?
Let's say you have to make a recipe that includes potatoes, let's say sliced, you'll most likely proceed as follows: Peel the potatoes, wash them, slice them, wash them again, pat them dry and add them to your recipe. But there's a "but": depending on the recipe, the second washing may be a bad...May 19th 2025945 15
Maillard reactions
This subject cropped up recently in a discussion with my three charming nieces; do you know what Maillard reactions are? With a name like that, they could well be some principle in mechanics, but in fact the term applies to something much closer to all of us: it's what gives food more flavour...January 28th 201534 K4
Post a comment or question
Follow this page
If you are interested in this page, you can "follow" it, by entering your email address here. You will then receive a notification immediately each time the page is modified or a new comment is added. Please note that you will need to confirm this following.
Note: We'll never share your e-mail address with anyone else.
Alternatively: you can subscribe to the mailing list of cooling-ez.com , you will receive a e-mail for each new recipe published on the site.