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RECIPE |
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There
is a whole range of different recipes for gingerbread
houses and it is best to choose a recipe from your
own country to ensure you will be able to get hold
of all the ingredients. This recipe is Norwegian,
but adapted to British users. Have a look at the links
page for other recipes or do a search for the one
you need on the Internet. |
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The
following recipe is for one basic house with some extra
dough for making figures like trees and people. If you are
aiming to make my big gingerbread mansion you will need
at least 2 batches of this dough, possibly 3 depending on
how thick you roll the dough. If you are making a big house
do not attempt to make all the dough in one go unless you
freeze some of it; you will not be able to roll and bake
all the dough in one day. Alternatively, find an extra pair
of hands for this job. If you are making a big house at
home with one cooker using 3-4 baking sheets, doing the
job alone will take you many, many hours. Don’t let
this put you off though! Just realise that you will need
to start well in time for Christmas and do it over several
days whilst looking forward to the more creative part of
the work: decorating the house! |
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The
dough:
400 g golden syrup
200 g sugar
100 g butter (not margarine)
4 eggs
4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cardamom
1 teaspoon ground pepper
½ teaspoon ground ginger
½ teaspoon ground cloves
2 teaspoon baking powder
1000 g (1 kg) white strong flour
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How
to make the dough:
Melt butter in a saucepan over low heat, take away from
the heat and add sugar and syrup. Stir to melt the sugar,
reheat if necessary but be careful not to boil.
Cool to lukewarm. Beat the eggs in a separate bowl, add
to the saucepan. Stir well.
Have 2/3 of the flour in a container and add all the spices
and the baking powder. Stir well. Pour the content of the
saucepan into a large bowl and add the flour mix in portions
while stirring well between each adding. Use your hands
to mix when the dough gets thicker. |
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The
dough should not be sticky when finished, add some of the
remaining flour if necessary. Set the rest of the flour
aside, you will need it when rolling out the dough. Divide
the dough into 4 pieces and put each piece in a plastic
bag and seal well. Refrigerate over night or for at least
12 hours. The dough can be kept in the fridge for up till
2 days before baking. You can also freeze the dough for
up till 3 months. Thaw in fridge for at least 12 hours before
use. |
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How
to roll the dough:
Keep the dough refrigerated until you are ready to use it,
and take out one piece at the time. Work on a lightly floured
surface and with lightly floured hands, knead dough until
it’s smooth but not sticky. Add more flour if necessary.
Start with rolling out the dough on your work surface, making
sure it gets evenly rolled. The dough should be about 3-4
mm thick for the larger pieces and 2-3 mm for small pieces.
Transfer the piece of dough to a baking sheet with greaseproof
paper. If necessary, use the rolling pin to even out the
dough or make it a bit thinner.
Lay the pieces of pattern on the dough. Make sure the sheet
is large enough for the pieces and that the dough is in
the right position. You can not move the dough after you
have cut out the pieces. Use a sharp knife to cut out the
pieces following the pattern carefully. Remove scraps and
reserve for re rolling. Make as many pieces as there is
room for on the sheet allowing at least 1 cm between all
pieces. It would be useful to have at least 3 baking sheets
when doing this work. |
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How
to bake the dough:
Fill a baking sheet with pieces of same thickness, the largest
pieces might need a separate tray each. Bake in the middle
of the oven on 200 degrees Celsius, gas mark 6 for 10-15
min depending on thickness. Have a quick look several times
when baking the first batch, bake until golden brown and
firm to touch. Remove baking sheet from oven and set aside
to cool for 5 min, while you check that the pieces has held
their shape when baking. If you need to do any trimming
do it while the dough is warm out of the oven. Do not move
the pieces until they have cooled. Transfer to a wire rack
to cool completely. The pieces need to dry for about a week,
and after a few hours of cooling you can carefully stack
all the pieces on a tray, for easy storage. Make sure to
make layers of same thickness. The pieces must be stored
on a dry, safe place unwrapped or just covered by a tea-towel. |
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