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Dough

/doʊ/

nounA2

Definition

Dough is a soft, sticky mixture made from flour and water, often with other ingredients like yeast, sugar, or salt. People use dough to make many kinds of baked foods, such as bread, pizza, and pastries. Before baking, dough can be shaped or rolled.

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⚡ See It in Action

Soft mixture of flour and water used for baking

  • •She rolled the dough to make pizza crust.
  • •The baker kneaded the dough for several minutes.
  • •Let the dough rest so it can rise before baking.

(Informal) Money (slang)

  • •He needs more dough to buy a new phone.
  • •She earns a lot of dough from her job.

🧲 Make It Stick

  • ✓Think of "dough" like "mix" (A1 word), but a thick, soft mix that you can hold and shape with your hands.
  • ✓Picture a ball of soft, sticky mixture on a wooden board that a baker pushes and folds.
  • ✓It feels cold and a little sticky when you touch it, like soft clay or playdough.
  • ✓Sounds like "dough" → imagine a big round loaf of bread shaped from this soft mix.
  • ✓In stories or cartoons, bakers always work with dough to make fresh bread or pizza.
  • ✓NOT like "water" (liquid), dough is thick and can hold shape.
  • ✓NOT like "cake" (finished food), dough is the raw material before cooking.
  • ✓NOT like "cookie" (small and hard), dough is soft and needs to be baked to become cookie.
  • ✓NOT like "batter" (thin liquid mix), dough is thick and heavy.

🔄 Try Other Words

  • •Batter: thin mixture for cakes or pancakes (Use when the mixture is runny, not thick)
  • •Pastry: dough used for pies and sweet baked goods (Use when talking about specific types of dough for desserts)
  • •Money: informal term for cash or earnings (Use only for slang meaning of dough)

🔍 Unboxing

  • •Word parts: "dough" is a simple root word, no prefix or suffix
  • •Etymology: From Old English "dag" meaning a mass of bread or kneaded flour
  • •Historical development: Used since early English to mean bread mixture; later also became slang for money
  • •Modern usage: Commonly means baking mixture; also used in informal speech to mean money

💭 Reflect & Connect

•How does the meaning of dough as food relate to its slang use for money? Why do you think people use this word in both ways?
•Can you think of other food words that are also used to mean money or value in informal speech?

Fill in the blanks with the correct word:

1.To make bread, you first mix flour and water to create ___ that you can shape.
2.The baker kneaded the dough until it was ___ and smooth.
3.When someone says "I need more dough," they usually mean they need more ___.
4.Dough is different from batter because it is ___ and can hold its shape.
5.Before baking, the dough must often ___ to grow bigger.
6.She rolled out the dough ___ on the table to make a pizza base.
7.If the dough is too dry, you need to add a little more ___ to fix it.