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When you try to mix any kind of liquid with some dry powder, they don't mix well and you can see those unmixed powder form into sort of bubbles!

Is there any good word to describe those? If there is no such word, what would be a concise and clear way to describe those?

I was calling it 'unmixed powder clutters' and did not like it much.

It does not have be formal. Any kind of expression that would be clear enough would be fine.

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    They're not undissolved [lumps, clumps, whatever] since (unlike, say, salt) flour doesn't dissolve in water. It just forms a paste, which when fully mixed will often be called a smooth paste (or batter). Commented Mar 7, 2016 at 17:36
  • I would definitely say undissolved clumps here. The fact that it doesn't literally dissolve is irrelevant. Commented Aug 31, 2021 at 11:49

3 Answers 3

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Delia Smith refers to them as lumps. I bow to her authority on all things culinary.

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    Other options include globs, globules, chunks, and clumps.
    – Era
    Commented Mar 7, 2016 at 17:00
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    I'm not a chef, but I greatly prefer "lump" to any other option.
    – Ron Jensen
    Commented Mar 7, 2016 at 17:02
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If you want something more technical than 'lumps', you could go with unincorporated flour.

When you mix two things, you're often said to be 'incorporating' them - so 'unincorporated' refers to the left-over bits when that process has not finished.

In English, you'd never use 'a clutter' to refer to just one thing. Clutter means lots of 'stuff' that is messy or in the way: His bedroom was full of clutter.

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  • I like it - sounds like something a judge would say on a cooking competition TV show
    – Jojodmo
    Commented Mar 8, 2016 at 0:58
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I suppose you use clatter for things, where as, lumps, dollops or daubs can perhaps, be used for mass shapeless accumulated something. So, I will probably stick with lumps of wet flour or something. I hope that helps.

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  • That does not seem to add much to the previous answers. Can you edit it to fill out more details?
    – mdewey
    Commented Aug 31, 2021 at 10:56

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