To occupy our little ones (and not so little ones) during rainy afternoons or to prepare a nice gift for Mother's Day (or Father's Day) Follow our salt dough recipe: an activity to do alone or with others. Fun, fun and inexpensive!
The unmissable salt dough recipe
Easy, fast and economical, the preparation of the salt dough will take you less than 10 minutes of preparation.
For this salt dough recipe, you will need:
- 2 glasses of flour
- 1 glass of fine salt
- 1 glass of lukewarm water
1- In a salad bowl, pour the flour and salt.
2- Mix while stirring with your hands or a wooden spoon.
3- Add the water
4- Knead to obtain a firm dough, and flexible which does not stick to the fingers (it is also possible to do it thanks to the mixer)
If the dough is too soft and sticky: Add more flour and knead.
If the dough is too dry and crumbly: Add water and mix well.
If you want colored salt dough
Take part of the dough and put it in a ramekin.
You can add food coloring (if you knead with your fingers, wash yourself quickly afterwards, it stains!) Or spices to color the dough.
With saffron, you will obtain a yellow paste.
With paprika, you will obtain an orange paste.
With chili, you will get a red paste.
To make your life easier you can add liquid colorants to the water before the initial mix or to flour and salt for powdered colors and spices.
Extra tip, It is possible to flavor the dough with a drop of essential oil, spices (cinnamon, anise …) or even vanilla extract, coffee …
To make your salt dough works
Choose a clean, dry surface. You can also cover your work surface with parchment paper.
What accessories should you use to create your salt dough objects? Fork, knife, Parisian spoon, cookie cutter, garlic press, rolling pin … let your creativity run free!
© Thinkstock
Cooking the salt dough
It is important to let the objects in salt dough dry for at least 12 hours before cooking it (48 hours maximum if the pieces are very large). With a long drying time, the cooking time will be less and the risk of deformation less important.
The cooking time of the salt dough depends on different elements:
- The longer the drying time, the shorter the cooking time.
- The larger and thicker the object to be cooked, the longer the cooking time.
- The softer the dough, the longer the cooking time.
- Gentle cooking temperature: between 75 ° C and 110 ° C
- Average cooking time for small items: around 2 hours
- Watch the cooking to avoid unpleasant surprises
The activity is finished? Here are some toy ideas!
Decorate the salt dough
Once the items are cooked, you can decorate them using:
– Seeds: lentils, pepper, cumin, poppy, corn, cloves, anise, star anise …
– Sand
– Plants: flowers, leaves, herbs
– Beads, buttons, rhinestones and sequins
You can also paint the salt dough with not too diluted gouache.
Keep the dough (one week)
If you have any dough left over, make a ball and put it in a clean tea towel. Place everything in a plastic bag that you will put in the refrigerator. the dough thus protected can be kept for one week.
Take it out 30 minutes before use so it has time to soften.
Sublimate your work in salt dough
Before cooking the salt dough, you can brush it with an egg to give it a golden color.
Likewise, it is possible to brush it with milk (only halfway through cooking) to make it take on a beautiful color!
Finish by passing a varnish wood varnish over your object.
And here are all the secrets of a foolproof salt dough recipe!
See also the slime recipe
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