A dough divider including a hopper with a lid, latch assembly and press plate. The lid has an open and closed position. The latch assembly is adapted to maintain the lid in the closed position when activated and to discontinue maintaining the lid in the closed position when deactivated. The press plate is vertically slidable within the hopper, with the hopper being adapted to accept dough between the lid and the press plate. The press plate is adapted to be driven towards the lid in order to compress the dough between the press plate and the lid within the hopper. The latch assembly is automatically activated to maintain the lid in the closed position while the press plate is being driven towards the lid. The latch assembly is automatically deactivated to discontinue maintaining the lid in the closed position after the dough has been compressed and divided within the hopper.