Sir John and the Knights of the Long Table

Eleven of us live here at beautiful Schamelot, and we have a small 20 acre farm of chickens, emus, two dogs, 13 or so cats and a cockateil named Sassafrass.

Saturday, February 9, 2008

Miracle Dough

This is the recipe for a WONDERFUL salt dough that is so lovely to work with and much more affordable than the store bought sculpt and bake products. Justin is totally loving it!
I prefer to weigh the flour and salt so I've included the weights in ounces.

5 cups or 21.25 oz. cake flour (I used Softasilk.)
3 cups or 12.75 oz. all purpose flour
3 cups or 31.5 oz. fine salt (I ran table salt through the food processor to powder it.)
3 cups warm water
2 tablespoons cooking oil (Next time I'd like to try adding a drop or two of lavender oil--to reduce the likelihood of a clay fight in the kitchen!)

Mix the flours and salt together in the Kitchenaid, then mix in the water and oil together. Knead the dough for 5-10 minutes, until the dough is smooth and pliable. Roll out a log of dough and hold it over the counter between your two fingers. If it stretches, it's too soft and you should add another tablespoon or two of all purpose flour. It if keeps its shape it's just right!

Be sure to use two grades of flour so you get a dough that's dense enough to keep its shape, but not so heavy that it's hard to work with and likely to crack when you bake it. Also, don't skip the oil!

Let the dough rest for 1-2 hours before working with it. Put it in sealable plastic bags in a cool place (the fridge is TOO cold). Keep the portion you're not modeling with wrapped so it doesn't dry out.

Large figures should be baked for 3-4 hours at 300*F and small figures for about 2 hours at 225*F.

(Pictures to come!)

Happy Modeling!

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