Breadwinner is tagged at the year 1821. Bread is thought to have been a literal use, and winner from the verb "struggle for, work at."
One who supplies a living for himself and others, especially a family. The tradition is to refer to the male head of the household. Bread was the staple of the time and for the overall general referential term for food.
The first Oxford citation is from Robinson Crusoe, Daniel Defoe’s 1719 novel: “I was under no Necessity of seeking my Bread.” So it was likely in use before the 1821 tagged origin.
Bread and dough have come to be slang for money. That came about in the mid-1800s, according to the Oxford English Dictionary. The guess is that it became slang reflecting the earlier use of bread for livelihood.
And what about dough meaning money? There's no trace of the first slang usage of dough. The earliest printed use of dough as a slang for money was in 1851. "He thinks he will pick his way out of the Society’s embarrassments, provided he can get sufficient dough.” The quote appeared in the Yale Tomahawk, a publication of Yale's Alpha Sigma Phi fraternity.
One blog writer called bread and dough the fraternal twins of monetary slang. Here's the one bread and dough monetary joke: I feel like I should invest in Dough
Might sound crazy, but over time it'll make me a lot of breadI saw this is the 2018 archives and am so impressed with the beautiful stairway and stonework. This is Winterthur. | 
