Shear softening and thixotropic properties of wheat flour doughs are demonstrated in dynamic testing with a constant stress rheometer. This behaviour appears beyond the strictly linear domain (strain amplitude gamma(0) greater than or equal to 0.2%), G＇, G＇＇ and \eta*\ decreasing with gamma(0), the strain response to a sine stress wave yet retaining a sinusoidal shape. It is also shown that G＇ recovers progressively in function of rest time. In this domain, as well as in the strictly linear domain, the Cox-Merz rule did not apply but eta(gamma) and \eta* (omega)\ may be super-imposed by using a shift factor, its value decreasing in the former domain when gamma(0) increases. Beyond a strain amplitude of about 10-20%, the strain response is progressively distorted and the shear softening effects became irreversible following rest.