Why You Should Add a Spoonful of Sugar to Dough, and Does It Shorten Baking Time?

Adding sugar to dough is a small action that significantly affects taste, texture, and the baking process.
Sugar enhances flavor and adds finesse even to non-sweet pastries. It improves the color of the pastry during baking through caramelization and the Maillard reaction, contributing to a golden and crispy crust.
Additionally, it helps retain moisture within the dough, contributing to a soft and pleasant texture.

But does a spoonful of sugar also aid the rising process? According to chefs around the world, it definitely does.

Sugar strengthens the rising process, especially in dough types containing yeast, by serving as food for the yeast and accelerating their action. Thanks to this, more carbon dioxide is produced, which contributes to a more airy rise.

Therefore, sugar may slightly shorten the baking time, but not significantly. It increases the heating of the dough in the oven, as it participates in caramelization processes and chemical reactions that create a golden color.
These processes cause the dough's surface to brown more quickly.

Nevertheless, baking time mainly depends on dough thickness, moisture content, and baking temperature, so the overall impact on baking time is minimal.

Adding a spoonful of sugar to a savory recipe won’t affect the pastry's sweetness but will improve the yeast's performance and the end result.