What should I call a mixture with the consistency of pancake batter before the batter is cooked? Because that of course depends on the recipe, I'll add some details: It is not as fluid as water but much more fluid than bread dough. Typical images can be found there, there, there, and there. (These are not my photographs, therefore I do not own the publishing rights and therefore I cannot repost them.) I found "pappy", "pulpy", and even "doughy". Which word would a native speaker use? (It does not need to be one out of the three given ones.)
Learn English – How to call a mixture with the consistency of pancake batter (before cooking)
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Best Answer
It's not at all apparent from the dictionary definitions, but:
Dough is relatively firm and can be picked up in the hands, balled up, kneaded, rolled, and otherwise manipulated into various shapes.
Batter is much more liquid and needs to be spooned, ladled, or poured out; to achieve a specific shape (other than a large, flat circle), you need a mold or a form to pour the batter into.
Both dough and batter are mixtures of raw ingredients that need to be cooked into some form of a final product (dough into cookies, bread, pie crusts, etc; batter into pancakes, cake, waffles, etc.)
If you want to describe something that has the same consistency as pancake batter, calling it "batter" will get the idea across pretty well.