Gingerbread Exchange Community
Discussion Forum => Gingerbread Q & A => Topic started by: MarilynFL on October 16, 2015, 09:19:36 am
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Hello,
I'm new here, but have been making gingerbread houses for "Toys for Tots" Christmas campaigns over the past 5 years. I'm in Florida and the gingerbread house is on display in our work cafeteria for 5 weeks. Over the past two years, the humidity in the cafeteria (due to exit doors to outside patio) have been causing my house to degrade rapidly.
I need a SOLID gingerbread recipe that can withstand humidity. Does such a thing exist? My houses are usually a 16" cube.
Thank you.
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Good luck!
My fb group has offered a few suggestions:
use a regular gingerbread recipe but do not add any of the ingredients that will make it rise and add Karo syrup and extra shortening. make 2 recipes at a time and add 2T of meringue powder
or
Humidity Proof Gingerbread
3 cups all purpose flour
1 1/8 cups sugar
2 eggs, slightly beaten
1/4 cup honey
3/4 tsp each cinnamon, ground cloves, ginger
Sift all dry ingredients. Combine eggs and honey. Add this to dry mix. It will be stiff you can 1 T of honey. Knead mixture. Cover in a bowl. Let stand overnight. Cook pieces in oven of 325 F. It helps to cook gingerbread slow. Pieces should not be more 1/8 in thickness.
or
Humidity Proof Gingerbread
Posted on HTTP://gingerbread-house-heaven.com
By Susan Boyle
2 3/4 cups al- purpose flour
1 1/8 cups sugar
2 eggs, slightly beaten
1/3 cup honey
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon ginger
*For darker gingerbread use more ground cloves this mixture is stiff. In your food processor blend flour, sugar and all spices. Add eggs one at a time. Heat honey for about 10 seconds in micro pour in to processor blend until mixture is away from the sides and is completely mixed. Pat into ball knead on a lightly floured surface. Roll out dough the thickness of a nickel and lay your pattern pieces on prepared dough and cut out with a sharp knife or pizza cutter. Preheat oven 325 F. Transfer pieces with a spatula to a lightly greased cookie sheet or on lined with parchment paper. Baking time 18 minutes for the walls, doors and shutters. 20 minutes for the roof pieces. Remember to roll out your dough for your roof panels to the thickness of a dime. Always making your roof lighter than your walls. Remove immediately from cookie sheet and lay flat to cool.
Allow to cool thoroughly before decorating and always decorate your sections flat. Let dry for days before standing your house up. I roll this dough out in my cookie sheets and when it is baked and cooled I mark my pattern pieces on the slab and cut it on a band saw. It’s amazing! Enjoy the Journey!!
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Smartcookie,
Thank you for the recipes. I'll give them a test run. Since the house isn't edible, I may bake the dough longer than normal. I usually cut mine out first while on parchment, then slide the entire piece of parchment onto the flat side of the cookie sheet. I don't have a band saw, but now I want one!
I do love my Dremel for detail work. Last year I was cutting a candy cane to size and the spinning blade made the teeny, tiniest fluff of cotton candy.
Even the "construction grade" version has softened, so this is certainly a challenge.
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l live in Australia now (transplanted Canadian) so l know about building gingerbread in hot weather!
l save those annoying 'anti-moisture' packets that come in various and sundry things you buy...l have friends and family doing the same. When constructing a gingerbread house l scatter them around inside..it helps a lot!
Also try putting royal icing on both sides of the walls and doubling up any support walls. l have been known to 'glue' bamboo skewers on walls and as roof supports.
l should add, my houses are for personal display not for contests nor are they edible.
Good luck!
l should also add they are inedible simply because they sit around from mid November and, being in Aus, they are sprayed liberally with bug spray, lol. My first Christmas in Aus l made a Gingerbread display and woke the next morning to find the entire thing covered in ants...we didn't have any ants in the house the day before!!! LOL!