mother dough

noun

plural mother doughs

: a dough of fermented flour and water used as a starter especially in baking

Here, the dough is made with a sourdough starter (the mother dough came with the business) and pies are baked in an oil-fired beehive oven.

—Diane Blair and Pamela Wright

called also mother

Word History

First Known Use

1954, in the meaning defined above