salt dough

[lozzylou]

hi does anyone know what type of flour you should use to make salt dough and is it best to bake it or microwave it as i heard you can do both. they will be for xmas tree decorations

[Jugglering]

You can use any sort of flour - plain white or wholemeal if you want to add extra colour & texture (the stuff won't be eaten so there's no nutritional benefit in using wholewheat). One useful tip is to add some vegetable oil as it makes the dough easier to form into the shapes you want. You don't have to dry it out in the oven - you could air dry the shapes for a couple of days (turn over half way through so that both sides dry out evenly). If you want to achieve the dried out shape quicker then dry in a very cool oven - 50 deg C rising to 100 deg C after an hour or so - this should take about 3 or 4 hours, depending on the thickness of the shape. I think you can use a microwave instead of the oven (see info on this site - http://www.craftforkids.co.uk/saltdough.htm) but I've never used one to dry out the shapes.

Lots more info here:- http://www.ancientnile.co.uk/saltdough.php

[lozzylou]

thanks jugglering i will take a look

[samt1985]

i've always used plain flour and i totally agree with the little bit of oil it definately does work. I'v always done mine in the microwave just be really careful when you take it out as its extremely hot on the inside of the ball of dough