salt dough decs

tfak85

hi people,
i'm going to make some salt dough/bread dough decorations this year to give my friends. i got given some of these from an aunt years ago and i loved them, they were a lovely golden browny colour, any time since that i have made them they never go this lovely brown colour, they stay pale white...
unfortunately, she is not around to ask for advice so i'm hoping someone here might be able to help me...
is it something extra put in the dough (cinnammon perhaps) or do you think that maybe it is a coloured varnish? hers were beautifully varnished, all lovely and shiny!

thank you

BrigR

You have to oven bake them at a low temperature, almost like drying them. If you want the shiney effect, wait until they are almost dry, then you can put on a glaze, almost like a glaze on baked goods, salt water or if you want them really brown, use lightly beaten egg yolk with water. Hope this helps!

Snap Happy

I love this idea - and the kids can make them too.

Can you put up the ingredients and instructions please

Also can you paint them? Before or after cooking?


Looking forward to some wet days doing things. . .. .

Thanks

tfak85

BrigR wrote: »

You have to oven bake them at a low temperature, almost like drying them. If you want the shiney effect, wait until they are almost dry, then you can put on a glaze, almost like a glaze on baked goods, salt water or if you want them really brown, use lightly beaten egg yolk with water. Hope this helps!

thank you so much, just to clarify, take them out of the oven when not fully dried and then glaze. then, back in the oven?

snap happy - i've always painted mine before, this was because they were really white out of the oven!

BrigR

The easiest recipe I could find:
2 cups of flour (not self raising!)
1 cup of salt
1 cup of water

Some recipes suggest to add a bit of wallpaper paste for stability.
Work all the ingredients until you get a nice, pliable dough that doesn't stick.
You can add colourings before you shape the dough, food colourings, cocoa, any kind of colour really.
Bake at 150 degrees for about 2 hours, shorter if you dry them at room temperature over night. I'd put on the glaze about halfway through, otherwise it might burn. Milk or condensed milk gives a nice glaze, too. If you don't glaze them and make sure they don't get too much colour in the oven you can paint them afterwards, with watercolours or acrylic paints and varnish them.
Hope it works out for you and you have lots od fun!

Snap Happy

Thanks so much - looking forward to trying this now.