Daring Bakers: Gingerbread House

"The December 2009 Daring Bakers? challenge was brought to you by Anna of Very Small Anna and Y of Lemonpi. They chose to challenge Daring Bakers? everywhere to bake and assemble a gingerbread house from scratch. They chose recipes from Good Housekeeping and from The Great Scandinavian Baking Book as the challenge recipes."

This was super-fun to make in the end. It was looking bad at one stage when the dough didn't look like it would roll-out without crumbling. But when a much more patient Mum spotted me moving to plan B with cookie cutters poised, she intervened thankfully, and it baked up perfectly :)

















I do like a recipe that involves blueprints


1. MAKE BLUEPRINTS

First thing is to decide the style of your house. Traditional? Cathedral? Igloo? Beach shack? Castle? Possibilities are endless, but it's important to draw up a blueprint out of cardboard, so that the house fits together properly!


2. MAKE GINGERBREAD

Recipe:

I used the Good Housekeeping recipe for the gingerbread, with a couple of modifications

2 1/2 cups (500g) packed dark brown sugar
1 1/2 cups (360mL) heavy cream or whipping cream (might need extra cream)
1 1/4 cups (425g) molasses ( I substituted with 1/2 cup honey, 1/2 cup golden syrup)
9 1/2 cups (1663g) plain flour
2 tablespoon(s) baking soda
1 tablespoon(s) ground ginger
+ Nutmeg
+ Cinnamon
+ Ground Cloves to taste

Method:

1. In very large bowl, with wire whisk (or with an electric mixer), beat brown sugar, cream, and molasses until sugar lumps dissolve and mixture is smooth. In medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and ginger (and extra spices). With spoon, stir flour mixture into cream mixture in 3 additions until dough is too stiff to stir, then knead with hands until flour is incorporated and dough is smooth.
Be careful not to overmix the dough, as it overdevelops the gluten Some bakers had trouble with dry crumbly dough. Add cream to desired consistency

2. Divide dough into 4 equal portions; flatten each into a disk to speed chilling. Wrap each disk well with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 4 hours or overnight, until dough is firm enough to roll.

3. Grease and flour large cookie sheets (43x36cm)

4. Roll out dough, 1 disk at a time on each cookie sheet to about 0.5cm thickness.

5. Trim excess dough from cookie sheet; wrap and reserve in refrigerator. Chill rolled dough on cookie sheet in refrigerator or freezer at least 10 minutes or until firm enough to cut easily.

6. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F (149C)

7. Use chilled rolled dough, floured poster board patterns, and sharp paring knife to cut all house pieces on cookie sheet, making sure to leave at least 1 1/4 inches between pieces because dough will expand slightly during baking. Wrap and reserve trimmings in refrigerator. Combine and use trimmings as necessary to complete house and other decorative pieces. Cut and bake large pieces and small pieces separately.

8. Chill for 10 minutes before baking if the dough seems really soft after you cut it. This will discourage too much spreading/warping of the shapes you cut.

9. Bake 25 to 30 minutes, until pieces are firm to the touch. Do not overbake; pieces will be too crisp to trim to proper size.

10. Remove cookie sheet from oven. While house pieces are still warm, place poster-board patterns on top and use them as guides to trim shapes to match if necessary. Cool pieces completely before attempting to assemble the house.


3. MAKE ROYAL ICING

Recipe:

1 large egg white
3 cups (330g) powdered sugar
1 teaspoon white vinegar
1 teaspoon almond extract


Method:

Beat all ingredients until smooth, adding the powdered sugar gradually to get the desired consistency.
If you're piping ornate designs onto the gingerbread, do so before assembling the house.
If you aren't using it all at once you can keep it in a small bowl, loosely covered with a damp towel for a few hours until ready to use. You may have to beat it slightly to get it an even consistency if the top sets up a bit. Piped on the house, this will set up hard over time.


4. ASSEMBLE
Cover a cake board with foil.
Glue the bottoms of the walls to the board using royal icing.
Stick the walls together first, and wait until dry before attempting to glue on the roof!


5. DECORATE
Woo hoo! Go nuts :)

For my house:

roof- Freckles and red & blue Smarties
top of roof: Silver cachous
Window shutters: pink wafers
Log panelling and door: 'TV Snacks' Malt sticks
Garden shrubs: Mint Leaves
Flower bed: chopped orange and pink candies from Liquorice Allsorts
Footpath: cracked Lindt dark chocolate
Christmas Tree: cardboard cut-out with green tinted coconut glued on with royal icing, with Smartie baubles.
Red roof trim: chopped Raspberries
Stained glass decoration: Jubes


6. EAT

It was a little sad to break down the gingerbread house. Best approach is much like tearing off a bandaid; do it quickly and it's less painful! Although it was fun feeling like Godzilla, even for a brief moment :)