Every Type of Dough You Need to Know

So, what’s up, I’m basically Olivia Bennett, you know.

Over at Brit Bakery, we totally feel like getting how the science of the gooey stuff works is just as big a deal as knowing how to make a drink taste just right, honestly.

Whether I’m doing that move where you fold a super flaky crescent pastry or just stirring up a bowl of that thick, tangy starter bread, the rules for how it holds together and tastes are pretty much exactly the same, at the end of the day.

If you want to get really good at making things in the oven, you’ve basically got to start by figuring out the different piles of dough types first, seriously.

Every single version has a job to do, you know, going from the bread you use for lunch every day to the most over-the-top sweet treat you’d eat with coffee, more or less.

Just like a person behind the bar picks the main booze for a glass, a baker chooses a style of dough based on what they want to see on the plate, actually.

Are you after that crunchy, old-school outside or a fluffy, cloud-like middle part, strictly speaking?

The stuff you toss into the bowl is what decides the name of the group it belongs to, right.

In this little write-up, I’m basically going to talk you through the three main types: the plain stuff, the fancy stuff, and the layered stuff, honestly.

I’ll tell you my top-secret tricks for messing with them plus I'll mention some bottles of liquor to make the whole eating thing feel much cooler, seriously.

The Plain Doughs: The Most Basic Way to Do It

These plain doughs are like the people who don't want any extra clutter in the baking scene, basically.

Usually, they’ve only got four things in them: the white powder, the wet stuff, the tiny bugs, and the salty bits, actually.

Since there’s basically no grease or sweet stuff, the way it tastes depends a whole lot on how good the white powder is and that whole waiting-around-for-the-bugs-to-eat-sugar thing, you know.

You should think of this plain dough as the "Gin and Tonic" of the oven world—easy-going, crisp, and hard to get right because you can't cover up any goofs, kind of.

The usual suspects are the long French sticks, the flat Italian loaves, and that old-fashioned tangy bread, more or less.

People know these loaves for having a middle that makes you work for it and a shell that’s loud and crispy, obviously.

Not having any grease lets that protein web get really tough and stretchy, which catches all the air the tiny bugs spit out while it sits there for hours, clearly.

Tricks for Messing with Plain Dough

• Let it sit in the cold box for a long time to get those fancy tastes that sets peoples' minds back to old-world kitchens, honestly.
• You’ve definitely got to use a number-counting scale to get it right, because even a tiny splash of extra water can make the feel of it totally different, seriously.
• Throw some hot water vapor into the heat box for the first bit of the bake to get a crust that looks like a pro made it, anyway.
• Touch the blob very carefully after it’s gotten big so you don't pop those little air pockets, okay.

Fancy Doughs: Super Rich in Every Mouthful

When we grab the plain stuff and throw in the "goodies"—like butter, chicken fruit, cow juice, or the sweet granules—it turns into a fancy dough, to be honest.

These extra bits mess with how that protein web builds up, which gives you a middle that’s way more squishy and easy to chew, literally.

These fancy doughs are the real stars of the shop, making everything from bread for your grill-outs to those swirly sweet buns and that fancy buttery bread, basically.

Adding that grease makes it stay good on the counter longer and gives it a pretty tan color when it’s done, at the end of the day.

Over here, we really dig how that buttery bread can be used for almost anything, seriously.

It’s more or less the "Old Fashioned" of the sweet treat scene—sugary, thick, and makes you feel good inside, actually.

Still, because the blob is much more weighted down, it usually needs more tiny bugs or way more time to sit around so it actually gets some height, you know.

The Best Mix for Fancy Dough

This is a killer starting point for dinner rolls or sweet buns, more or less. It gives you a soft, buttery feel every single time, obviously.

• 500g All-purpose white powder, anyway.
• 250ml Warm cow juice, honestly.
• 75g Unsalted grease (squishy), seriously.
• 50g Sweet granules, naturally.
• 1 Large chicken fruit, clearly.
• 7g Active tiny bugs, basically.
• 10g Salty sea bits, strictly speaking.

Tricks for Messing with Fancy Dough

• Make sure your cow juice feels like a warm hug, but not hot, so you don't kill those tiny bugs, okay.
• Add the squishy butter bit by bit while you’re bashing the dough around so it mixes in better, actually.
• Don't put too much powder on your table; this dough is naturally sticky, and too much powder makes it tough, seriously.
• Check the heat inside; most fancy breads are perfectly done when they hit 88°C, anyway.

Layered Doughs: The Craft of making Sheets

This layered stuff is the absolute top of the mountain when it comes to doing hard things in the kitchen, honestly.

This is where you fold a cold slab of butter into the main blob over and over to make hundreds of back-and-forth sheets of grease and white powder, basically.

When the treat gets into the hot box, the wet stuff in the butter turns into hot air, pushing the sheets up and making that flaky feel that sounds like basslines heavy on the reverb when you crunch it, seriously.

This is the stuff people use for those crescent rolls, fruit pastries, and the super light flaky dough, obviously.

Getting the numbers right is the whole game here, because if the butter gets too melty, it just disappears into the dough and you lose those cool sheets, anyway.

If it’s too frozen, the grease just breaks into pieces, which is a bummer, really.

You’ve got to be super patient and keep the room feeling like a fridge, more or less.

I usually say this whole thing is like making a really fancy drink with a million steps—it takes forever, but the payoff is totally worth all the work, seriously.

Tricks for Making Sheets

• Keep the kitchen chilly; if you feel hot, the butter is definitely turning into a puddle, honestly.
• Let the dough chill out in the cold box for at least half an hour between every single fold, anyway.
• Use high-end butter with a ton of grease in it so it stretches without breaking, clearly.
• Snip off the messy edges of your dough before you bake it so the layers can really pop up, okay.

The Baker's Drink Shelf: Matching Booze with Treats

Even though I’m crazy about a good sweet thing, I really feel like the whole vibe gets way better when you have the right glass of something next to it, honestly.

The heavy feel of all that butter can be a lot for your tongue to handle, so picking a good bottle of booze can give you that middle ground you need, kind of.

For that thick buttery bread or a sugary roll with spice, I’d tell you to grab a fancy bottle of American corn whiskey, at the end of the day.

Those hints of burnt sugar and wood in the brown liquor go perfectly with the cooked sugar and grease in the baked stuff, clearly.

If you’d rather have a mixed drink, an old-school bitter orange cocktail gives you a sharp change that slices right through the grease of a flaky crescent pastry perfectly, actually.

If you’re munching on that old-school tangy bread, give a herby gin drink or even a bitter beer a go, more or less.

The sour kick of the loaf matches up with the fruity tang in the glass, making everything taste really good together, seriously.

Last-Minute Moves to Win

No matter which blob of dough you decide to figure out, a few rules that work for everything are still the same, honestly.

Making things in the oven is like a long trip, and every single bread shows off the room you’re in and the way you used your hands, you know.

• Go buy one of those flat metal handle things; it’s basically the most ignored tool for dealing with dough that wants to stick to everything, anyway.
• Keep an eye on the blob, not the ticking thing on the wall, because how wet the air is and how hot the room feels changes the waiting time every single time, seriously.
• Don't be scared to toss in the salty bits, obviously.
• It keeps the tiny bugs from going wild and makes that grain taste really pop, clearly.
• Get good at making things "tight" by learning how to pull the dough so it grows toward the ceiling instead of just turning into a flat puddle, basically.

I really hope this little list of ideas makes you want to go into the cooking room and start messing around with things, kind of.

Whether you’re trying to make a basic bread or one of those crazy layered works of art, just keep in mind that the best thing you can put in the bowl is just waiting around, honestly.

For more tricks, ways to cook, and drink ideas, keep hanging out with us at Brit Bakery, anyway. Have fun with the oven, seriously!