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9 Reviews
mintmood
January 2, 2021
This recipe of Erins is perfect! I think those who wrote that the dough was so dry and crumbly just overfilled it with flour, because its always tricky to measure a flour by cups... Depends on how you do it - via spoon and level you will achieve around 125 g of flour and also if you will just deep measuring cup into bag with flour you can get around 150 g of it. In another articles of Erin i saw that she uses 125 g of flour per cup ( for 7 cups it will be 875 g of flour) - i tried it and the dough turned out great! It was soft (but not too soft), pliable and finale result was delish! I hope this note will be helpful for others =)
cupofpoodles
December 8, 2020
So I definitely think this dough needs some more testing! I made it work, but with quick thinking!
At first, the dough was incredibly, incredibly crumbly and dry. I wrapped it up and chilled it and hoped for the best. When I took it out to roll it, it was very dry. I did come up with a few fixes that helped a ton and made this dough very easy to work with!
- You HAVE to roll the dough between parchment paper. There's no way around it. If you try to roll it on your countertop it will just crumble and eventually become a greasy mess. Do NOT use a non-stick mat to roll it with or bake it on! The best way for the dough to dry out and harden in the oven if it's on parchment directly on a metal sheet tray. A non-stick mat diffuses the heat too much and the dough won't be as sturdy.
- I spritzed the dough with water to moisten it. This helped a lot with its texture. If I make the dough again I might just up the molasses or add another egg and skip this. But this is a good trick for any dry dough.
- It's important that the dough is chilled, yes, but let it warm up a bit. Letting the shortening warm up is the only way that this dough becomes malleable enough to roll.
At first, the dough was incredibly, incredibly crumbly and dry. I wrapped it up and chilled it and hoped for the best. When I took it out to roll it, it was very dry. I did come up with a few fixes that helped a ton and made this dough very easy to work with!
- You HAVE to roll the dough between parchment paper. There's no way around it. If you try to roll it on your countertop it will just crumble and eventually become a greasy mess. Do NOT use a non-stick mat to roll it with or bake it on! The best way for the dough to dry out and harden in the oven if it's on parchment directly on a metal sheet tray. A non-stick mat diffuses the heat too much and the dough won't be as sturdy.
- I spritzed the dough with water to moisten it. This helped a lot with its texture. If I make the dough again I might just up the molasses or add another egg and skip this. But this is a good trick for any dry dough.
- It's important that the dough is chilled, yes, but let it warm up a bit. Letting the shortening warm up is the only way that this dough becomes malleable enough to roll.
cupofpoodles
December 8, 2020
So I definitely think this dough needs some more testing! I made it work, but with quick thinking!
At first, the dough was incredibly, incredibly crumbly and dry. I wrapped it up and chilled it and hoped for the best. When I took it out to roll it, it was very dry. I did come up with a few fixes that helped a ton and made this dough very easy to work with!
- You HAVE to roll the dough between parchment paper. There's no way around it. If you try to roll it on your countertop it will just crumble and eventually become a greasy mess. Do NOT use a non-stick mat to roll it with or bake it on! The best way for the dough to dry out and harden in the oven if it's on parchment directly on a metal sheet tray. A non-stick mat diffuses the heat too much and the dough won't be as sturdy.
- I spritzed the dough with water to moisten it. This helped a lot with its texture. If I make the dough again I might just up the molasses or add another egg and skip this. But this is a good trick for any dry dough.
- It's important that the dough is chilled, yes, but let it warm up a bit. Letting the shortening warm up is the only way that this dough becomes malleable enough to roll.
At first, the dough was incredibly, incredibly crumbly and dry. I wrapped it up and chilled it and hoped for the best. When I took it out to roll it, it was very dry. I did come up with a few fixes that helped a ton and made this dough very easy to work with!
- You HAVE to roll the dough between parchment paper. There's no way around it. If you try to roll it on your countertop it will just crumble and eventually become a greasy mess. Do NOT use a non-stick mat to roll it with or bake it on! The best way for the dough to dry out and harden in the oven if it's on parchment directly on a metal sheet tray. A non-stick mat diffuses the heat too much and the dough won't be as sturdy.
- I spritzed the dough with water to moisten it. This helped a lot with its texture. If I make the dough again I might just up the molasses or add another egg and skip this. But this is a good trick for any dry dough.
- It's important that the dough is chilled, yes, but let it warm up a bit. Letting the shortening warm up is the only way that this dough becomes malleable enough to roll.
Michelle B.
December 8, 2020
thank you so much for sharing! i just started making this, and the dough is so dry! :) i will try using water or molasses / egg to see if it gets better.
ctommerup
November 22, 2020
This was a terrible recipe. My dough was super super crumbly. I googled a fix and added a bit of milk which made it come together in the mixing bowl but after chilled and rolled it just fell apart. I’ve searched other recipes and they use less flour and more molasses. Not sure why this was a fault but I haven’t ever had to throw something out and start again until this one.
AmyD
November 14, 2020
This is the absolute best gingerbread house making recipe I have ever tried and I make one every year. If you ended up with a “dry mess” you didn’t follow the directions or left out an ingredient. I never leave reviews but this recipe worked so well I had to. Just something that helped me.. I pulled the house piece out of the oven one at a time. Threw them on the counter fast and I put the template back over them and trimmed the pieces again with a bread knife so my edges were very straight. You can’t do your whole tray at once or it’ll get cold and they’ll crack. Just real quick with a spatula grab them piece by piece. Also, I was in a hurry and I let my dough cool for just an hour in the fridge (still split it in 3 parts and covered with plastic wrap). Dough rolled out perfect. Couldn’t have been better!
Lisa G.
December 6, 2016
I love the fact that you have made a multi-family gingerbread house, and not the traditional single-family house. Way to go Food52!
BTW: how do you get the brick pattern on the dough? I want to replicate that.
BTW: how do you get the brick pattern on the dough? I want to replicate that.
Erin J.
December 7, 2016
Stay tuned for an article later today that will talk about everything, including how to get that brick pattern!
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