Dough is a thick, soft mixture of flour and liquid (usually water or milk) that's used to make bread, pizza, cookies, and other baked goods. When you mix flour with water and knead it with your hands, it transforms into a smooth, stretchy substance that feels a bit like clay but smells much better.

Different recipes create different types of dough. Bread dough contains yeast, tiny living organisms that make the dough rise and become light and airy. Cookie dough is sweeter and softer, often containing butter, sugar, and eggs. Pizza dough gets stretched thin and develops those characteristic chewy edges when baked.

Working with dough requires patience. You might need to knead it (pushing and folding it repeatedly) to develop the right texture, or let it rest so the yeast can do its work. Bakers have been making dough for thousands of years. Ancient Egyptians discovered that letting dough sit before baking made lighter, fluffier bread.

The word dough is also old-fashioned slang for money, probably because both dough and money are things people need to live. You might hear someone say they're “making some dough” when they earn money from a job.