Much Ado About Stuffing: Thanksgiving Vocabulary: Stairway To Leaven: Baking Vocabulary

Originally from the Latin baculum, meaning "staff" or "rod," the French word baguette refers to a long, thin loaf of bread with a light interior and a crackling crust. Baguette can also describe a diamond or other precious gem cut into an elongated shape.

Challah is a Hebrew word, and this enriched bread is the traditional food of the Jewish sabbath.

Croissant is the French word for "crescent," which describes the shape of these rolls made with a many-layered dough similar to puff pastry.

A glazier is a person who installs windows. From the same Germanic root as glass, glaze refers to a bright, shiny coating on a dessert. Such glazes are usually made with confectioner's sugar and flavorings, as on a glazed donut, or gelatin and sugar like on a fruit tart.

Gluten means "glue" in Latin, and that's a good description for this protein that's responsible for helping bread dough rise. Because it forms long, elastic chains, gluten allows the gas produced by yeast to create large bubbles in the dough, stretching it upward and outward. It also makes it easy to roll dough out very thin without tearing it, and shape it in lots of different ways — like pasta. People with celiac disease have a painful reaction to gluten and avoid it.

An Old English word, kneading is an important step in bread baking and the production of other kinds of dough-based food like pasta and dumplings. Kneading develops gluten, seen above, and changes the texture of dough, making it stretchy and smooth.

Croissants, seen above, are made with a laminated dough of many alternating layers of butter and flour. During baking, the water in the butter boils, which lifts and separates the thin layers of dough, creating a light and flaky texture.

Levare means "to raise" in Latin, and leavening, like yeast, is what gives dough its rise, creating lots of bubbles inside that cause the dough to expand into a loaf with a pleasant interior texture. Yeasts metabolize starches in the dough and excrete carbon dioxide gas. Other leaveners include chemicals like baking powder and baking soda. Leaven can also describe something that lightens an event or an experience, like a joke told during an otherwise serious speech.

An Old English word, sift shares a root with sieve, which is appropriate since that's the tool you use to sift flour or another ingredient. Sifting removes any clumps and creates an even, airy pile of powder.