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Monday 16 May 2011

Salt Dough Miniature Food



Pretty good spread huh? Shame it's too tiny to be eaten.
That's right; I made some miniature food for my dolls house. Here's how;


Salt dough. You'll need plain flour, salt and water.
I just got roughly the same amount of flour and salt and added water until it went doughy, but if you want to do things properly then just google a salt dough recipe.
To make everything in that top photo I only used the amount of salt dough you see in my hand there.

I cooked my salt dough on the lowest oven setting - less than Gas Mark 1 - and the smaller pieces only needed about 15 minutes, the larger ones I left in for 30 minutes. You'll be able to tell when they're done as they should go white and hard and not be squishy in the middle. 


To make a batch of hot cross buns roll some salt dough into a ball then flatten it into a rectangle with rounded edges. Mark out six sections and add thin strips of salt dough for the crosses. Dab a bit of water on to make them stick. Then cut out the individual buns.


Once they've been in the oven paint the buns. The crosses and bases will already be the right colour but add some orangey brown to the tops. I also painted on a little varnish to look like the glaze.

Note; the salt dough expands slightly in the oven so flat edges don't come out so flat. To fix this just use some sand paper to file them flat again. This is something I had to do with the bottoms of the hot cross buns.


To make a croissant thinly roll some salt dough into a long triangle. Then roll it up, starting at the wide end, and curve into the right shape. 


Once cooked, paint with a golden brown colour, a little darker on top.


To make donuts roll some salt dough into a ball and then flatten it. Use a kebab skewer or a thin drinking straw to make a hole through the middle.


After they've been in the oven, paint them golden brown and then different colours for the icing.

I also made scones, shortbread fingers, cupcakes, cookies, plaited bread, turnovers and Belgian buns. The possibilities are endless, just have a play around with the dough.


Here are two ladies enjoying a cream tea and a gossip.


Hungry kids waiting for the cake to be cut.


And a family having their continental breakfast of croissants.

I'd love to see what you come up with.

12 comments:

  1. I love your miniature food!!

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  2. These are great!! They look so real. =)

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  3. This is a really cute project! Puts me in the mind to play with some salt dough and see what I come up with.

    : )

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  4. Great tutorial. I currently use polymer clay to make food for Barbie. It was nice to see the salt/dough equivalent.

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  5. Wow! I have done this kind of thing before, but thanks for the refresher course!.. And I LOVE the croissants and hot cross buns!.. So CUTE!!! ~tina

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  6. So cute food gifts for kids and more. Thanks

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  7. I used salt dough for about 20 years prior to polymer clay being available in the USA. the things you make are so intricate & beautiful, I worry that humidity over time will damage them... what do you do to preserve them? in my experience, the salt dough, even when coated with compatible varnish would, over time have salt puff up to the surface. do you have some secret tip to keep that from occurring?

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    Replies
    1. Hi Mrs. Mother Made, I am not the person you were asking to, but I always use salt dough and the way that I preserve it is: When I bake it, I let it cool and then paint it with clear Nail polish or varnish.

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  8. It looks like great..Beautiful! I'm invating you to my blog.Whith love... ;)))

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