Edible Christmas Tree Ornament: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 14:44, 22 December 2017

What to Make:

(Designers might call this the Design Brief and/or the Specification)

Design and make a range of Christmas tree ornaments based on an edible Gingerbread dough mixture

What to Use:

Gingerbread Dough
Boiled Sweets to add colour
Pastry Cutters
Baking Tray lined with Baking Parchment (or Greaseproof Paper)

Things to think about:

It is believed that Christmas tree tradition was started by a monk in Germany in the 7th or 8th centuries. The trend to bring them indoors and decorate them began in 1605 in Strasbourg when trees were adorned with paper roses, candles, painted eggshells, nuts, biscuits and sweets. The practice became more and more popular in German homes and, from the start of the 18th century, foods like gingerbread or other hard biscuits were baked in various shapes such as fruit, bells, hearts, stars and angels.

Some ideas:

Search for Christmas related shapes using the internet and collect suitable pastry cutters - two cutters of the same shape but different sizes can be used one inside the other to create outline shapes. Rods, tubes, bars and other 'found objects' can be used to make depressions into the cut-out shapes (e.g. to represent baubles on a tree).

Ways of Making:

Choose a suitable Gingerbread Dough recipe (e.g. most recipes are based on Creaming together 100g soft butter and 50g brown sugar to which is added 250g sieved plain flour, half a teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda, two teaspoons of ginger and sometimes a pinch of salt. The mixture is beaten into a smooth paste, adding five tablespoons of Golden Syrup as required - and optionally an egg yolk).

Leave the dough in the fridge to cool then roll out to 6mm to 8mm thickness on a lightly floured surface.

Cut out shapes with pastry cutters and place on a baking tray lined with baking parchment. Smaller shapes can be cut right through using a smaller pastry cutter (or knife) and the piercings filled with crushed boiled sweets. Alternatively designs can be pressed into the surface to create depressions which can also be filled with crushed boiled sweets.

Use a skewer to make a small hole in the top of each biscuit so it can be suspended from the tree (this might be done part way through the baking process).

Bake in an oven pre-heated to 180C/350F/Gas 4 for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown and the boiled sweets have all melted. Leave on the tray for 10 minutes and then move to a wire rack to finish cooling.

Note: Creating depressions in the cut-out shapes and filling with crushed boiled sweets is a good model of Champlevé enamelling as used in Art Metalwork. Cutting right through the shapes to create piercings which are filled, replicates Plique-à-jour enamelling and produces a much more 'sparkly' effect as "the daylight shines through".

Testing Final Design:

Are there limitations on the complexity of shapes which can be used?
Does the effect of light playing on filled piercings really look different to the way the filled depressions reflect light?
Does the shape used affect the way it hangs on the tree?
Did the biscuit bake without sticking to the parchment?
Were they enjoyable to eat!

Further work:

Find out how the word 'biscuit' originated
Investigate a range of recipes for a variety of dough.
Create Stained Glass Window Christmas Tree Ornaments based on the intricate stone tracery seen in the stained glass windows of medieval buildings.

@@ Line 62: / Line 62: @@
 * Find out how the word 'biscuit' originated
-* Investigate a range of recipes for a variety of dough. Explore the effect of varying ingredients and mixing methods on the physical characteristics of the dough with the aim of developing a dough elastic enough to create tree ornaments based on the intricate stone tracery seen in the stained glass windows of medieval buildings. i.e. :
+* Investigate a range of recipes for a variety of dough.
-** [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dough '''Dough'''] is made simply by mixing flour with a liquid such as water or milk. Other ingredients are added to change or control characteristics such as '''[[Elasticity]]''' of the dough mixture or texture, colour and taste of the finished product.
+* Create '''[[Stained Glass Window Biscuits|Stained Glass Window Christmas Tree Ornaments]]''' based on the intricate stone tracery seen in the stained glass windows of medieval buildings.
-** During mixing, individual [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gluten '''Gluten'''] proteins in the flour unravel and bond together to create a network of interconnected gluten strings which hold the dough together and give it its structure. Most recipes will use Plain or All-Purpose Flour, but some flours contain more gluten than others - e.g. Italian Tipo 00 flour has a lower level of gluten proteins so produces a much crisper crust in bread, and a finer texture in cakes.
-** Adding a little salt will neutralise electrically charged parts of the gluten allowing them to slide along one another to make a more elastic and stretchable dough. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salt_dough '''Salt Dough'''] includes lots of salt which produces almost a modelling clay type material which is good for making painted tree ornaments but not really good to eat.
-** Adding oil or butter can suppress the formation of gluten by coating the protein with fat - especially if oil or softened butter is added directly to the flour before the dough is formed. Such recipes are used for traditional flatbreads and pizza bases for example.
-** Eggs add richness and colour to the mix. They add water which helps glutens develop but yolks contain a high percentage of fat, which like oil weakens gluten development. They also add their own proteins which are softer and less chewy than gluten proteins.
-** [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium_bicarbonate '''Baking Soda'''], [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baking_powder '''Baking Powder'''], and [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yeast '''Yeast'''] are added to create gas bubbles which are trapped within the elastic dough and which set when cooked to give the product its texture.
-** A small amount of sugar or other sweetening ingredient may help activate and feed any yeast present in the recipe. Adding more sugar or syrup will make the product sweeter, of course, but may also add colour and flavour depending on the type used.
-** Additionally various flavourings and spices can be added as required.
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