Daring Bakers-Gingerbread Houses

There is a winged lion on the left panel and an angel on the top

I can't believe that another month has passed, and it is time for another Daring Bakers' challenge. I had some troubles with the pictures, and more importantly with the stability of one of my creations. I chose the first dough, suggested by Anna, and noticed that the recipe has the wrong gram amount, which should be 1,330 instead of 1,660. I measured the flour in cups and the resulting dough was nice and soft, not dry like some of the other daring bakers mentioned. After baking, the dough stayed a little soft when I first made some houses, so for the second creation I cooked the heck out of it to the point of almost burning the edges.

Since we celebrated a birthday in the family, and the dough was really big, I cut enough for 9 small gingerbread houses, one for each of the kids who came to the party. The houses were a huge hit since they are things from story books and none of the kids had assembled nor decorated a gingerbread house before. They also loved the royal icing and couldn't stop eating it, really funny. I wish I had a pictures of all the creations because they were beautiful and unique, and one in particular was outstanding and looked like a log cabin. Alberto was the budding artist.

When not licking his fingers Alberto managed a beautiful log cabin

Since I am in Venice, visiting my home town, my family, and my "old" friends, I decided to propose something Venetian as well. Initially I thought of a palace, then decided to make a gingerbread reproduction of the famous Campanile di San Marco. It was really challenging to put the pieces together since during baking they lost the perfect edges, and when glued together they were not straight. I assure you that the real campanile is quite straight.

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.

Check here for the recipes and pictures of the amazing creations by other bakers.

Really crooked

The real thing

Anna's Recipe
Spicy Gingerbread Dough

2 1/2 cups (500g) packed dark brown sugar
1 1/2 cups (360mL) heavy cream or whipping cream
1 1/4 cups (425g) molasses
9 1/2 cups (1663g)* all-purpose flour
2 tablespoon(s) baking soda
1 tablespoon(s) ground ginger

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. 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.

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 (17-inch by 14-inch/43x36cm)

4. Roll out dough, 1 disk at a time on each cookie sheet to about 3/16-inch thickness. (Placing 3/16-inch dowels or rulers on either side of dough to use as a guide will help roll dough to uniform 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.

Royal Icing

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

Beat all ingredients until smooth, adding the powdered sugar gradually to get the desired consistency. Pipe on pieces and allow to dry before assembling. 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.

* if a cup is 5 oz. and 1 ounce is 28 grams than the correct amount should be 1330 grams.

A special thanks to Anna and Y, and to the founders of the Daring Bakers for bringing all of us together with amazing ideas, month after month.