Here’s a secret in French: Viennoiserie.

It’s the proper word for butter-laminated pastry done right, and it’s sitting in the sign near the door at Batter & Dough in Gloucester, right next to the more familiar “patisserie” sign out front. Turns out there’s a reason for both words.

Owner Hailey Dodds started with sourdough from her home kitchen during lockdown, the way a lot of us did, except hers didn’t stop at a decent loaf that locals scrambled socially-distanced to buy. She got properly hooked on the craft, kept going, and eventually outgrew the home kitchen altogether.

These days she runs a shop on Gloucester’s main street and it’s grown into full patisserie territory: cakes, pies, tarts, the lot, alongside a viennoiserie selection that’s clearly where her heart lives. Someone in that kitchen takes their butter seriously.

Some French education for you, classified by all-important occasion de manger (eating occasion):

• Viennoiserie: pastries eaten mostly at breakfast or an afternoon snack (includes croissants, brioche, pain au chocolat and danishes)
• Pâtisserie: delicate complex constructions enjoyed as dessert or special treat (includes eclairs, macarons, mille-feuille and fruit tarts)

But we love the Australian style where you can enjoy any or all of them, whenever the mood takes you.

One visitor found that out the hard way. She came in for a loaf of renowned sourdough, got wooed by the pies and grabbed an almond croissant on a whim. One bite in and she knew she’d made a mistake, not because it wasn’t good, but because she’d only bought one. “It’s already haunting me”, she wrote, “I’m going to have to head back to Gloucester just for this”.

That’s the kind of pastry we’re talking about.

Turn up too late in the day and you might meet the other side of Batter & Dough’s reputation. Hot food and pastry favourites sell out fast, especially on long weekends, and more than one visitor has arrived just after the pies vanished.

As the owner herself put it to one disappointed customer: “gotta be quick!”. Locals worked this out long ago: Batter & Dough is the first stop of the morning around here, never the middle or the last.

And another local’s tip, not a secret: They’re closed Mondays and Tuesdays, so plan your visit for later in the week to avoid FOMP (fear of missing pastry).