Glossary
Baker Terms & Vocabulary
15 essential baker terms with plain-English definitions: the vocabulary you’ll hear in training and on day one.
Key baker vocabulary
These 15 terms come up constantly in baker training, on the job and in interviews. Knowing them helps you follow instructions, document accurately and sound prepared.
- Baker’s percentage
- Ingredient weights expressed as a percent of flour.
- Bench rest
- Letting dough relax before shaping.
- Buttercream
- A frosting made with butter and sugar.
- Crumb
- The interior texture of bread.
- Docking
- Poking holes in dough to prevent bubbling.
- Fermentation
- Yeast producing gas and flavor.
- Ganache
- Chocolate and cream mixture.
- Gluten
- Proteins that give dough structure.
- Lamination
- Folding butter into dough for layers.
- Leavening
- Agents that make dough rise.
- Levain
- A sourdough starter.
- Proofing
- Letting dough rise.
- Retarding
- Slowing fermentation by chilling.
- Scaling
- Weighing ingredients.
- Scoring
- Cutting dough before baking.
Practice these terms
Test yourself with the free Baker practice test: it includes vocabulary questions built from this list. For a complete course, see Baker training.
Browse terms from every career in our career glossary.