Gingerbread dough recipe without honey. Honey gingerbread dough and honey gingerbread recipes
Honey gingerbread dough is very simple, convenient and versatile. Gingerbreads from it are fragrant, tasty and soft, even over time they do not stale (the shelf life of gingerbread from such a dough is up to six months). The dough itself can be stored in the refrigerator for about a month and not lose its qualities - products made from it will be just as fragrant and tasty after a few weeks.
From honey gingerbread dough, not only gingerbreads are perfectly obtained (although gingerbreads are especially good), but also cakes for all kinds of honey cakes, if you roll out the dough thinner. Thanks to the remarkable property of gingerbread dough to actively absorb moisture, you can make the most delicate and moist cakes from it, just layering honey cakes with any cream of your choice - sour cream, custard or whipped cream. It is this property of the dough and gingerbread that does not allow to stale - honey absorbs available moisture from the air. And if this is not enough, the gingerbread is placed in a closed container with apple peel for a day, and they gain a second youth.
This dough is suitable for making hand-painted gingerbread. In general, in my opinion, of all types of dough for decorative gingerbread and cookies, this is the most delicious. The only drawback of honey gingerbread dough is its tenderness, due to which, when baked, the gingerbread cookies float a little and their shape is smoothed out. That is, we can get perfectly round gingerbread cookies, but rectangular ones no longer. Not to mention the more intricate carved contours. For these purposes, it is better to use shortbread or goat dough - such tasks are easily solved with them.
Well, a little about additives. The spices listed below are enough for me, the combination and proportions like this. But it will be interesting for everyone to experiment, choose their own taste of gingerbread. In addition to these spices, you can add saffron, ground pepper, citrus zest, brandy, cocoa, etc. to honey dough in search of a new, unique and inimitable gingerbread aroma ...
To make honey gingerbread dough, you need the following ingredients:
2 yolks,
130 g sugar
55 g honey
100 g butter
250-270 g flour
0.5 tsp soda,
1/3 tsp salt,
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground coriander,
1/3 tsp ground nutmeg
a pinch of vanillin,
cardamom, cloves, star anise - optional.
How to make honey gingerbread dough:
So, let's move on to the process of making honey gingerbread dough.
Separate the egg yolks from the whites. We don't need proteins for the gingerbread dough (they can be used for icing).
Combine the yolks with sugar, salt, softened butter and honey. Any honey is suitable - both liquid and candied.
At this stage, add spices - ground ginger, cinnamon, coriander and nutmeg. And a pinch of vanilla. This set is my main one.
The rest of the spices - at will, availability and mood. For example, a clove - it has a specific smell, very strong, moreover. I use two or three buds for this amount of dough, no more. Or cardamom - it has a pungent aroma, I really like it. But, again, unusually bright - so I only take 4-5 grains (not pods!). But star anise (for some reason it is also called anise, but this is not entirely true) tastes something like peppermint - it just cools, although it really smells like anise. It is enough to separate one slice of a beautiful star anise star, and both the grain and the woody part are used.
It is convenient to grind these spices in a mortar with a teaspoon of sugar.
We put all the spices in a container with the future dough. Those that were ground in a mortar - sift through a sieve so that hard pieces do not get into the dough.
We mix everything together with a mixer.
And add flour and soda.
For all fans of healthy eating, I collect old recipes for Russian gingerbread, which are prepared with honey. This is a delicacy can be stored for years, but the preparation is quite simple.
Personal note - if you want to try REAL gingerbread, do not use store-bought flour: take wheat, grind it in a food processor or coffee grinder, and knead the dough on it. Wheat makes the dough dark - almost like black bread. But if there is no possibility, and store-bought flour, of course, will do. Homemade gingerbread is delicious anyway.
The high content of honey makes the finished gingerbread loose, soft, fragrant and does not stale for a long time. Honey acted as a natural baking powder, sometimes a little sour cream (100-200 g per 1 kg of flour) was added, which in combination with honey gives a light fermentation, loosening the dough. The effect of weak loosening is very important, because if you overdo it, the characteristic gingerbread density will turn into biscuit softness.
According to the method of making gingerbread dough are divided into raw, made from dough kneaded in cold sugar syrup, and custard - in hot sugar syrup.
Bake gingerbread at 200-250 ° immediately after cutting and before crusting. During baking, the gingerbread cookies acquire a spongy structure. With a small amount of baking powder or an incorrect technological process, the products are dense, damp-baked.
Small and thin gingerbread cookies are baked at a temperature of 220-240 ° C for only 5-15 minutes, and large products and gingerbreads - at a temperature of 180-220 ° C. Immediately after baking, wipe the surface of the gingerbread with a soft napkin. This increases the shine of the items.
We do not grease the baking sheets, they must be cold. We sculpt the gingerbreads themselves on flour and put them on a baking sheet, they are slightly in flour from below. The technology can also be as follows: at the very beginning, the average baking temperature, then the oven is heated to a maximum, bake for 7-10 minutes at maximum temperature and then we reduce the heat and bake until tender. The gingerbreads do not change color much, they just become a little darker, on average they are baked for 30 - 35 minutes. Readiness is determined as follows: if the thinnest part of the figure has become solid, you can turn off the oven and pull it out. The thickest part may still be soft, then it will harden.
The main gingerbread dough has three varieties: honey, sugar (without honey) and honey-sugar.
"Eternal" gingerbread
To make gingerbread, you need: 1200 g of honey, 2 kg of wheat flour, 5 eggs, 2 teaspoons of soda and a little any spice powder.
The honey is heated to the temperature of fresh milk and poured into a bowl with flour. Eggs are broken there, soda quenched in warm water is poured and spices are added. The dough is thoroughly kneaded, wrapped in a napkin and placed in a warm place for 0.5 hour. When it rises, knead it, divide it into pieces and roll it into circles about 20 cm in diameter, put it on an iron sheet, oiled and sprinkled with flour, and let it rise again. They put it in the oven. To prevent the dough from swelling, you need to prick it with a fork. When the gingerbread is browned, they take it out, cover with a towel until it cools down. The gingerbread can last for years.
Honey gingerbread "Princess Olga"
To bake this gingerbread, prepare 200 g of honey, 100 g of granulated sugar, 200 g of wheat and rye flour, 100 g of butter, 3 egg yolks, 1/2 teaspoon of a mixture of ground cloves and cinnamon, 1 packet of vanilla sugar, 1 teaspoon of baking soda ... Bring the honey to a boil over the fire, add spices to it, cool to room temperature. Mix rye, wheat flour and soda. Beat yolks with sugar and butter, add chilled honey, flour and knead the dough well. Place on a greased baking sheet and bake at medium temperature.
Gingerbread
Here are the ingredients: 
- 700 g flour
2 teaspoons of baking soda
4 tablespoons ground ginger
2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon clove, ground
300 g butter, cut into pieces
350 g granulated sugar
4 tablespoons light syrup
2 eggs
Collection of texts about gingerbread
The composition of the gingerbread is pretty simple. It is based on a mixture of rye flour (or wheat) and honey (in the old recipes the ratio was equal, but then honey was added, less), yolks and milk (in some types of gingerbread).
Over time, many types of gingerbread appeared in Russia, which conditionally can be classified by production technology (raw, broken, brewed); in appearance (handwritten, curly, printed, tarts); in composition and filling (mint, honey, almond, raspberry, treacle). Most often, gingerbread was distinguished by place of origin: Tula, Moscow, Vyazemsk, Rzhev, Gorodets.
Spices in gingerbread. Raw and custard gingerbread
As flavoring and aromatic additives, we used aromatic crushed spices rich in essential oils: cinnamon, cloves, star anise, cardamom, allspice, nutmeg, ginger, anise, lemon, vanilla or decoctions of aromatic herbs (oregano, mint).
A noticeable spice content is a distinctive feature of the gingerbread dough. 
The dough can be prepared in two ways: raw (simplified) and custard. Raw dough gingerbread dries quickly and becomes hard, choux pastry gingerbread remains fresh and aromatic for a long time.
When preparing the dough using the raw method. Put honey in a bowl or saucepan, add pre-mashed butter, eggs, spices and mix everything for 1-2 minutes, then add sifted flour mixed with soda, and knead not very tough dough. If the honey is candied, it is heated until the crystals dissolve, but they do not boil in any way, since the honey then loses its aroma.
In the manufacture of sugar gingerbread, the sugar and water are brought to a boil, the foam is removed, the butter is put in the syrup, and the syrup is stirred to cool down to room temperature. In the cold syrup, stirring, add spices, eggs, and then flour mixed with soda.
Cooking gingerbread dough using the choux method. Put honey, sugar in a saucepan, pour water and heat to 70-75 ° С, add half sifted flour and finely grated spices and mix quickly with a wooden spatula. Cool the kneaded dough to room temperature, add eggs, baking powder, remaining flour and knead until a soft dough is obtained. The dough must be cut immediately, otherwise the product will be of poor quality.
Mandatory components in gingerbread are black and white confectionery molasses and burnt sugar (but you can do without them). Gingerbread cookies were often prepared with a filling of berries (jam, marmalade), sometimes nuts, candied fruits, raisins and other dried fruits were added.
Most of the Russian gingerbread was made lean (without eggs and milk). The main binding component of the gingerbread dough was honey, molasses or sugar. If milk and eggs were added, then very little (1 glass of milk and 1-2 yolks per kilogram of flour). The components were mixed until homogeneous, after which the dough had to be kneaded with a homogeneous plastic mass. After punching or, as they said, "beating" the dough should be allowed to rest for 15 minutes, and then bake the gingerbread.
You can use the composition of the spices suggested below or come up with your own - the main thing so that in the finished and mixed form, the prepared spices are pleasant to you. 
- 35% coriander,
30% cinnamon
10% cardamom
10% nutmeg
5% cloves
5% star anise,
5% allspice.
All components must be thoroughly ground into dust and kneaded into the dough when it is still quite liquid.
Tula gingerbread
There were several recipes for Tula gingerbread, but one has survived to this day, and even then not much was known about the recipe honey, flour and molasses.
Tula gingerbread recipe
Sugar - 1 glass
Egg - 2 pieces
Soft margarine (butter) - 125 g
Honey - 3 tbsp. l.
Ground cinnamon - 1 tbsp. l.
Soda (do not extinguish!) - 1 tsp.
Sugar (for glaze) - 4 tbsp. l.
Milk (for glaze) - 2 tbsp. l.
Wheat flour - 2.5 cups (about that)
Jam (any thick) - 1 glass.
Mix sugar, eggs, baking soda, cinnamon and honey. Add margarine. I prefer butter. Stir well and place in a boiling water bath for 10-15 minutes. Stir occasionally. You will have a homogeneous air mass.
Add one glass of sifted flour to this mass. Stir and cool. In the cooled, warm dough, gradually add the remaining sifted flour, stirring well with a fork, at the end of the batch - with your hands. The amount of flour is approximate, you may need a little more. If you pour flour into a hot dough (without having cooled it beforehand), then much more flour will go away, and the dough will turn out to be very tight, but we need soft and elastic.
Roll out the dough into a 0.5 cm thick layer and cut into squares. Dust the table well with flour, otherwise the dough may stick. Place jam on one half of the square, cover with the other half and press well on the sides with your fingers. The dough forms very well and sticks together, the filling will not run out.
Place on a greased sheet of parchment and bake in a hot oven at 180 degrees 10-15 minutes, no more! Tula gingerbread cookies are baked quickly - they rise well and brown. While baking, prepare the icing: mix sugar and milk, put on fire and stir until sugar dissolves, bring to a boil and boil for 3-4 minutes. As soon as the gingerbread cookies are baked, immediately grease with hot icing and let cool.
Do not reduce the amount of cinnamon - the taste will not be the same! You can add nutmeg and ginger to cinnamon - 1/2 tbsp. l. cinnamon + 1/2 tsp nutmeg + 1/2 tsp ginger.
Store the gingerbread cookies in a plastic bag - they stay soft and fragrant for a long time.
As additional elements in the gingerbread dough, you can add: lemon zest, chopped roasted nuts (for example, walnuts), a little vanilla. If it was not possible to find rye flour, then you can tint the wheat flour dough with burnt sugar. However, as I wrote above, if you made the flour yourself from wheat, it will be very dark and without coloring. Burnt sugar is added together with spices to the still batter.
Gingerbread mistakes and their fix
| Types of marriage | Causes of occurrence |
| Products are dense, not streamlined | Reduced moisture content of the dough: the brew was not cooled enough: there are few sugar substances; a lot of baking powder. |
| Products are vague | Dough with high humidity; a lot of soda, poor gluten: low oven temperature. |
| Products are rigid, rubbery | Low sugar: high dough temperature during kneading; long kneading. |
| The upper crust is detached; raw crumb | Very soft dough; the oven is overheated. |
| Products sat down, fell off | The dough is soft and a lot of leavening agents; high oven temperature, took the product out of the oven early. |
| Products with empty bottoms | The dough is dense; the oven is not preheated. |
| Products have few pores | Not enough baking powder. |
The tradition of using honey for baking bread and flat cakes has been around for a long time. The ancient Egyptians smeared unleavened cakes with honey, and the famous gingerbread cookies cannot do without it. In Russian gingerbread, honey is contained in the dough in large quantities, and you will not find such a variety of baked products as in Russia anywhere else.
The first gingerbread cookies baked in Russia back in the 9th century were quite simple in their recipe and were made from a mixture of berry juice, rye flour and honey. The composition of the modern gingerbread has become more complex and rich. It is based on a mixture of honey and rye flour, yolks, butter and milk (in certain types of gingerbread). As flavoring and aromatic additives are:
- Decoctions of mint and oregano;
- Nutmeg;
- Cinnamon;
- Cardamom;
- Ginger;
- Allspice;
- Carnation;
- Vanilla;
- Badian.
The obligatory components of the delicacy are white and black confectionery molasses, burnt sugar. Gingerbread cookies may contain berry filling, nuts, raisins, and other dried fruits.
The bulk of Russian gingerbread recipes involves lean delicacies (no milk and eggs). Honey, sugar or molasses acts as a binder for the dough. All ingredients are mixed, and the dough is kneaded until a homogeneous plastic mass is obtained. The gingerbread cookies are baked after the dough has rested for 15 minutes after mixing.
Due to the high content of honey, the gingerbread of those times turned out to be soft, friable, fragrant. Products kept their freshness for a long time and did not get stale.
Honey dough for gingerbread is prepared using the custard and raw method:
- For raw honey dough, mix honey with softened butter, add eggs and spices. The mass is whipped until smooth, after which baking powder and flour are added to it. The finished dough turns out to be quite steep.
- Choux honey dough involves heating honey, sugar and water to 75 C. Part of the sifted flour is added to the resulting composition, along with spices. When the dough has cooled, add eggs, the remaining flour and baking powder. The kneaded dough turns out to be soft, as soon as it is ready, they immediately start baking gingerbread.
Honey dough recipe
- Eggs - 2 pcs.;
- Soda - 0.5 tsp;
- Spices - 0.25 tsp;
- Flour - 3 cups;
- Honey - 1 glass;
- Oil - 50 g.
Mix oil, spices and eggs in a separate bowl, add honey. Stir or beat the mixture well. Add flour combined with baking soda, knead the dough. It is necessary to knead the dough manually, the longer the kneading process lasts, the more magnificent and softer the finished gingerbread will be.
Russian honey dough recipe
- Egg - 3 pcs.;
- Ghee - 4 tbsp spoons;
- Dry black currant - 6 tbsp. spoons;
- Soda - 0.25 tsp;
- Glaze sugar;
- Natural honey - 0.75 cups;
- Nutmeg (ground) - 0.25 tsp;
- Flour - 2 cups;
- Ground ginger - 2 tsp;
- Ground walnuts - 0.5 cups;
- Ground cloves - 0.25 tsp;
- Brown sugar (optional) - 0.5 cups;
- Ground cinnamon - 0.5 tsp;
- Raisins - 10 tbsp spoons.
Dilute honey in a water bath until liquid using a heavy-walled saucepan. Add oil, baking soda and spices.
Pour flour on the table in a slide, make a depression by driving in 3 egg yolks and adding the honey mixture. Gently mix everything with your hands, knead the dough. Knead the dough thoroughly until smooth. Add nuts, berries, raisins, knead the dough again and leave in the refrigerator for 2 hours, wrapped in plastic wrap.
If you want to please your loved ones with delicious gingerbread with natural filling, or surprise your business partners by presenting a fragrant delicacy as a gift, the Bogorodsky Gingerbread company offers a wide range of gingerbread products for every taste. ... We work with wholesale and retail buyers, and also invite dealers to cooperate.
Section "TABLE SERVICE, DISH DECORATION, ETIQUETTE"
The section helps to decorate a wide variety of dishes with minimal effort.
Chapter
2nd page of the chapter
Gingerbread House (or gingerbread palace) is a cake made from gingerbread dough, which, in addition to its beautiful appearance, should have an excellent taste befitting the cake. In the formation of the proper taste of the gingerbread house, an important role is played by the composition and method of preparation of the gingerbread dough.
Making gingerbread is a truly creative process that provides the gingerbread master with the widest opportunities; It is not without reason that many secrets and mysteries have been associated with gingerbread technologies at all times, which the masters carefully guarded from meticulous insidious competitors.
A LYRICAL BACKGROUND, WHICH IS NOT NECESSARY TO READ AT ALL. Making gingerbread (like) can be yours or a nice pleasant home hobby, or a wonderful thing for your independent business. Even a dozen good sold gingerbread houses a month will be a good help in the family budget. Today in Russia we have both good gingerbread and gingerbread houses - these are rare and expensive things, although in many cases they are pleasant and highly desirable as gifts for all anniversaries. And for making gingerbread houses, a kitchen table and a stove in your kitchen are enough. After all, it is not so much the number of houses that is important as the quality of the gingerbread dough (so that it melts in your mouth), the thoroughness and originality of the design of the products.
With a careful thoughtful reading of the contents of the pages in this section, as well as the pages about gingerbread, which are linked here, you can achieve considerable heights in your gingerbread creativity. The main thing is not to be afraid to try and experiment, using your taste and your creativity. Everyone can repeat the recipe, but it is the ability to create their own excellent and unique style that distinguishes the great masters from all others. And for this you need to enthusiastically experiment and experiment, carefully assessing (and certainly writing down) all your successes and failures, so as not to repeat mistakes twice.
And always remember - you can't make good stuff with bad raw materials. Even the addition of one low-quality product will ruin everything. But using good raw materials will surpass and leave any current food production behind. If it is not possible to surpass it in terms of volume, it is necessary to focus on quality and prices corresponding to it.
Of course, this is up to everyone's personal choice, but:
- in all cases, to obtain a good gingerbread opening, add 4 tbsp. spoons vodka, brandy or rum for 1 kg of flour;
- if instead of honey you have to use sugar (sucrose), try to replace it in the same amount with natural natural sugar fructose(fruit sugar);
It is even better to glaze the gingerbread cookies with honey boiled to a caramel state, mixed during boiling with a small addition (about 10%) of any acidifier (juice of cranberries or other sour berries and fruits, lemon, etc .; or you can add a little strong citric acid solution ) is the ancient traditional way and it is the best.
You can also add finely chopped with a knife (or minced) to the gingerbread dough dried fruit(raisins, dried apricots, dates, prunes, etc.) - the gingerbread will be even tastier.
Surprisingly, reduced-grade flour produces the best results in gingerbread.
DRY SPIRITS- Russian confectionery designation for a set of spices used in confectionery production, especially in gingerbread.
The dry perfume includes (according to Pokhlebkin): cinnamon, black pepper, allspice, star anise, cloves, anise, ginger, coriander, lemon and orange peel, calamus, nutmeg, nutmeg, vanilla.
Typical of a good gingerbread dough is a whole mixture of spices: cloves, cinnamon, ginger, anise, coriander, cardamom, nutmeg, some black pepper, paprika, and salt are all crushed into a powder.
Pounded bitter almonds, lemon and orange peel are also added.
Dry perfumes (flavoring and aromatic additives) are laid at the stage of kneading the dough so that they properly saturate the gingerbread dough with their smells.
You can use the compositions proposed below or come up with your own signature one - the main thing is that the prepared spices are pleasant to you in the finished and mixed form.
If any component seems inappropriate or you just don't like its smell, change it as you see fit.
- 35% coriander,
- 30% cinnamon
- 10% cardamom,
- 10% nutmeg,
- 5% cloves,
- 5% star anise,
- 5% allspice
Usually 1-2 tsp are added to 1 kg of gingerbread dough. mixture, necessarily crushed into the finest dust.
(how much of this mixture to put in the dough - this is decided according to your own taste, i.e. for the first time we just add a little bit, smell and taste the dough, during the next preparations we put it according to our own experience)
- as additional elements in the gingerbread dough, you can add pounded zest of lemon, orange, roasted and then grated nuts (for example, walnuts), a little vanilla.
All components must be thoroughly ground into dust and kneaded into the dough when it is still quite liquid.
Good results are obtained with an additional addition of 1-2 tbsp. spoons of good brandy or rum per 1 kg of flour. Or part of the water can, to taste, be replaced with good fortified wine (sherry, port, nutmeg, tokay, various dessert wines).
There are a lot of dry gingerbread perfume compositions - gingerbread craftsmen have always kept them in great secret. For example, once in Tula, various private bakeries made wonderful gingerbreads from many different types of gingerbread dough. After the hardships of the revolution and the Second World War, all the gingerbread secrets were lost, and only one single recipe for Tula gingerbread was reliably restored, all other recipes were irretrievably lost. Much had to be reinvented. So don't be afraid to experiment and create your own great gingerbread recipes.
SOME MORE OPTIONS OF GINGERBREAD DRY PERFUMES
These and other variants of gingerbread mixtures are used mainly in the confectionery industry, where 1-2 teaspoons of powder are used per 1 kg of dough.
1st OPTION (in teaspoons):
- cinnamon - 4,
- star anise - 2,
- nutmeg - 1,
- ginger - 1,
- Jamaican pepper - 1,
- orange peel - 1,
- nutmeg color - 1/2,
- anise - 1/2,
- black pepper - 1/2.
2nd OPTION (in teaspoons):
- star anise - 3,
- anise - 2,
- cinnamon - 2,
- ginger - 1,
- lemon zest - 1,
- cloves - 1/2,
- nutmeg - 1/2,
- cardamom - 1/2.
3rd OPTION (in teaspoons):
- cinnamon - 4,
- star anise - 2,
- nutmeg - 1,
- ginger - 1,
- cardamom - 1/2,
- cloves - 1/2,
- lemon zest - 1/2,
- orange peel - 1/2,
- orange zest - 1/2,
- black pepper - 1/2,
- Jamaican pepper - 1/2.
NOTE.
Confectionery spice mixtures are used in many types of baked goods.
They usually include in various forms such spices as anise ( cookies, gingerbread, gingerbread); star anise ( Easter cakes, cookies, muffins, gingerbread); vanilla ( all baked goods, cream, cakes, curd products); Carnation ( gingerbread); oregano ( Pizza); ginger ( cookies, gingerbread, candy, marmalade, jelly; an obligatory component of "dry perfume"); cardamom ( Easter cakes, biscuits, honey lovers, gingerbreads, yeast dough pies); coriander ( bread, cookies, gingerbread, gingerbread); cinnamon ( cookies, rolls, biscuit, gingerbread, gingerbread); lemon balm ( cakes, pastries); nutmeg mixed with cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, star anise ( gingerbread, gingerbread, cookies); black pepper ( gingerbread); allspice or Jamaican pepper ( gingerbread; is a part of "dry spirits"); cumin ( bread, biscuits, gingerbread cookies, buns, bagels, cheese sticks, cheese and feta cheese biscuits); saffron (as a flavoring and yellow dye for cakes, muffins, rum babies).
Modern confectionery mixes in Russia, as well as in European countries, have many options, fairly stable recipes and usually consist of 7-10 spices.
If it was not possible to find rye flour or it is not provided for in the recipe, then you can tint the dough:
- burnt sugar (burnt sugar) - burnt sugar is added in the form of a thick syrup along with spices to a still batter;
- grated chocolate or cocoa powder;
- various dry berries crushed into a fine powder (berry coloring is the best option).
All coloring additives are added at the beginning of the dough kneading.
If the jam is thin, it should be additionally boiled with constant stirring (so as not to burn) to the desired thickness.
Gingerbread filling(not to be confused with a layer) can be thick fruit jam, jam, jam well strained from liquid, as well as marzipan or nuts passed through a meat grinder, thoroughly mixed into a thick mass with whipped proteins with sugar. It is useful to add a small amount of good cognac to the filling.
The filling is put into the products before baking in a thin even layer and carefully pinch the edges of the dough until it is completely sealed.
When making printed gingerbread cookies with a filling, a layer of dough is laid in an oiled gingerbread mold, then the filling is applied (make sure that the filling does not fall on the edges), closed with a second layer of dough and everything is carefully pressed into a mold for good printing of the relief (when making large gingerbread cookies, a press is used ). Then the form is tipped over, the gingerbread is released and sent to baking.
When baking parts for gingerbread houses, the filling is usually not used. For large gingerbread houses, assembly parts can be sandwiched by gluing them together from 2 or more baked thin layers (6-8 mm thick), then trim the edges of the glued part with a knife (chop the resulting cuttings and use for decoration).
It is best to store the gingerbread cookies in a wooden or metal box, in which several slices of apple are placed - then they do not stale for a long time, retain their taste and aroma well.
ADVICE. If the gingerbread cookies are dry, they can be grated, mixed with or a mixture of condensed milk and butter softened at room temperature (1: 1 in volume) and make delicious Potato cakes (it is advisable to add a little brandy to the mixture).
For recipes of various Russian gingerbread, see the page in the section.
Below on this page are given various recipes for gingerbread dough, features of its preparation, as well as recipes for sugar glazes - to choose from.
Gingerbread houses are a wonderful decoration for any dessert table.
Gingerbread dough
Gingerbread products include gingerbread and gingerbread. The word "gingerbread" comes from the word "spices", the presence of which in these products is their characteristic feature.
Gingerbread is one of the oldest Russian delicacies. Once they were cooked only with honey, since sugar imported from distant countries was very expensive.
Nowadays, gingerbread is cooked both with sugar alone and with a mixture of it with honey and molasses.
In the old days, gingerbread cookies were widespread at almost all folk festivals, they were made of different sizes, given them all kinds of shapes and decorated with intricate designs.
Compared to other types of dough, gingerbread dough is the easiest to prepare and very fast to bake.
Before choosing a gingerbread dough and familiarizing yourself with its very simple preparation (this is below on this page), you need to choose the idea of your future gingerbread structure - a small house or a large luxurious palace, an impregnable castle or something completely fantastic.
Gingerbreads allow you to build anything you want.
Your creative imagination is unlimited!
You can make a very simple gingerbread house with minimal decorations, glued together with sugar glaze from several gingerbread plates:
You can decorate your house richer. For example, like this:
Or like this:
Or build a small village out of houses:
Even the simplest house can easily make candy or marmalade windows that glow in the dark at night:
On the basis of the house, you can make a small edible composition. Such:
or more complicated:
You can make a gingerbread copy of your personal home:
and decorate a copy of your home with figurines made of gingerbread, protein dough, icing (sugar-protein mass) and confectionery mastic.
Confectionery decorations will be discussed further on the 4th page of the section, but in order to become a real gingerbread builder, this section must be read in order from its first page to its last.
You can also build a whole palace by creating a festive background for it:
Or make a gingerbread mountain:
You can build a castle with turrets - small or larger:
And if you are expecting a lot of guests, build a whole gingerbread city with palaces, skyscrapers and a toy train rolling around it:
To make the windows of the structure glow in the dark, make them from marmalade or candy, or simply cut holes in the walls.
Place a small flashlight inside the house, loosely wrapped in a thin cloth - white or pink, or yellow, or orange for light scattering:
From the designed gingerbread parts, you can build a structure with a complex structure:
And you can create something incomprehensible fantastic:
Halloween haunted house:
Gingerbread house for St. Valentine. It can be presented as an original valentine:
"Gifts of the Magi". Gingerbread Nativity Scene for Christmas:
You can create gingerbread dough not only at home. Gingerbread Train:
The children's experience of gingerbread houses always surpasses all expectations:
A gift gingerbread house will always delight any child:
A gingerbread house as a gift will delight every adult.
Give your oligarch friend a birthday present with a gilded gingerbread house on a gold stand with diamond pendants:
And if you have very little time, you can quickly make something very simple, but also very tasty from gingerbread dough:
We bake on Saturdays! The simplest and most delicious homemade gingerbread cookies:
Roll out a layer of gingerbread dough 7-8 mm thick on a baking sheet, bake for 8-10 minutes.
After readiness, cut the hot layer into two equal parts with a sharp knife.
Put jam or jam, or strained jam on one half of the hot layer, close with the other half of the layer and cut into squares, rectangles, triangles, rhombuses while hot (baked gingerbread dough becomes crumbly after cooling).
Let cool and serve fresh fragrant gingerbread to the table.
NOTE. It is undesirable to store any gingerbread for more than one week.
Cooking different types
gingerbread dough
(any gingerbread dough is very easy to prepare)
Gingerbread dough recipe
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Products |
Number of products for dough |
|||||
|
honey |
sugar |
honey-sugar |
||||
|
Flour, tea glasses (250 ml) |
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|
Granulated sugar (fructose desirable), tea glasses |
1,25 |
0,75 |
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|
Honey, tea glasses |
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|
Butter (or margarine), g |
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|
Eggs, pcs. |
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|
Soda, teaspoons |
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|
Chopped spices, teaspoons |
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|
Water (or kefir, yogurt, fermented baked milk), tea glasses |
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|
The output of the baked piece, g |
850 |
850 |
950 |
1000 |
950 |
950 |
Depending on the sugar and honey content, the main gingerbread dough has three varieties: honey dough, sugar(no honey) and honey-sugar.
The dough can be prepared in two ways: raw and custard.
IMPORTANT NOTE FOR HONEY TEST:
Real gingerbread is prepared without chemical leavening agents.(without the addition of soda, ammonium carbonate, etc.).
Making gingerbread dough only on honey(without sugar or molasses) with the addition after brewing and cooling the dough thick (fat content not less than 20%) sour cream 100-300 g per 1 kg of flour (the amount of sour cream is selected according to the resulting dough consistency) makes the addition of a baking powder unnecessary.
In combination with honey, sour cream gives a slight fermentation, accompanied by slight gas formation, moderately, almost imperceptibly, loosening the dough. It is this slight loosening that creates the special consistency of real gingerbread dough.
For additional loosening, it is always useful to add 4 tablespoons of flour to 1 kg of flour. spoons of vodka or brandy, rum.
The addition of soda to such a dough will not allow the "gingerbread" sour cream-honey fermentation to go.
The main thing is that any gingerbread dough should be thoroughly rinsed. until the products are evenly distributed in it, i.e. until complete homogeneity is achieved.
Kneading the dough actively with your hands can take from 10-20 to 40 minutes.
The better the dough is rinsed, the softer and more fluffy the gingerbread will be.
(this is the only way to make real gingerbread!)
Put honey, sugar in a saucepan, pour water and heat to 70-75 ° C, add half sifted flour and finely ground spices and mix quickly with a wooden spatula or a strong spoon.
If, after pouring flour into hot syrup, leave it unmixed for 1-2 minutes, then lumps will form that will be difficult to stir.
The kneaded dough must be thoroughly cooled to room temperature (so that no warmth can be felt in it! - this is important), only then add eggs, fatty sour cream (from 100 to 300 g per 1 kg of flour - according to the consistency of the dough) or baking powder, flour residues and knead until a soft dough is obtained (depending on the amount of dough, knead vigorously for 10-20-40 minutes).
The finished dough should be plastic, not very sticky to the table, to your hands, and easy to form.
The washed dough should be immediately cut and baked, otherwise it will drag on and the products will turn out to be of poor quality.
Raw (simplified) dough preparation
(this method is undesirable, although it is often used)
Put honey in a bowl or saucepan, add pre-crushed butter, eggs, spices and mix everything for 1-2 minutes, then add flour sifted and mixed with soda and knead the not very tough dough.
If the honey is candied, it is heated until the crystals dissolve. Honey should not be boiled, as this will cause it to lose its aroma. After heating, the honey is cooled to room temperature and the dough is kneaded as described above.
In the manufacture of sugar gingerbread, sugar and water are brought to a boil, remove the foam with a slotted spoon, put butter in the syrup, stir and cool the syrup to room temperature. If the syrup turns out to be liquid, boil it down to test it on a thick thread. In the cold syrup, stirring, add spices, eggs, and then flour mixed with soda.
About acceptable changes in the recipe
It is possible, but highly undesirable, to replace cow oil with margarine or vegetable oil, since it is not very sensitive in gingerbread. You can cook the dough with a doubled amount of fat (including by adding fatty sour cream) or without fat. Gingerbread without fat will, of course, taste worse than with fat.
You can also give twice as many eggs in the dough or not at all, changing the dosage of water accordingly.
If sugar (sucrose) is used in a recipe, it is always advisable to replace it with the same amount of fructose (fruit sugar).
Gingerbread is usually made with first grade wheat flour, but you can also use second grade flour, and the gingerbread will be slightly darker. For certain types of gingerbread, premium flour is desirable, which is indicated in the corresponding recipes; you can make gingerbread cookies from rye baked flour or from a mixture of wheat (2 cups) and rye (1 cup).
The amount of flour can vary depending on the thickness of the syrup or honey, the amount of fat and eggs.
You cannot knead very steep dough, as it will rise poorly and the finished products will turn out to be unsatisfactory in appearance, and to taste - tough. A very soft dough is difficult to shape, it spreads during baking, and the gingerbread turns out to be shapeless and without a pattern.
The finished dough should be plastic, not very sticky to the table, to your hands, and easy to form. Baking soda can be substituted for ammonium carbonate, but it is best to take the same amount of soda and ammonium, this will weaken the taste of alkali and the smell of ammonia in the finished gingerbread.
Dough aromatization and coloring
Gingerbread cookies made with honey have a strong honey aroma, so they need to be slightly scented. Gingerbread without honey needs to be flavored much more. Finely ground dry spices are added as aromatic substances. For the spice mixture, take 35% coriander, 30% cinnamon, 10% cardamom, 10% nutmeg and 5% each clove, star anise and allspice. You can change the ratio of spices to taste. In addition, for aroma and taste, you can add an additional 1/2 cup shelled roasted chopped nuts, peanuts or almonds, candied fruit, lemon or orange zest and 5-10 g vanilla sugar.
If the gingerbread is made from dark varieties of honey and dark varieties of flour, then you should not tint the dough. Gingerbread cookies cooked in sugar or from light varieties of flour and honey should be tinted with burnt sugar (burnt) until light brown.
Burnt beef is added to the syrup at the beginning of the batch.
It is even better to tint the dough with an additive at the beginning of the kneading of various dry berries, ground into powder (choice of berries according to taste and availability).
You can tint the dough by adding cocoa powder or slightly warmed up in a water bath until dark dark chocolate softens (65% cocoa and above).
Cutting and baking gingerbread dough
The finished dough is placed on a flat board or table. To prevent it from sticking to your hands and to the board, sprinkle flour on the board and dough. They form the dough in the form of a brick by hand, put it on a floured board, sprinkle it with flour on top and roll it out into an even layer 5-8 mm thick with a rolling pin. When making a gingerbread, the prepared layer 10-12 mm thick can be rolled onto a rolling pin and put on a baking sheet.
If gingerbread or biscuits are prepared, then the finished layer of dough is cut with a knife or with the help of grooves into all kinds of figures. The weight of one gingerbread, depending on the size of the groove, can vary from 20 to 40 g. Certain varieties of gingerbread, for example, Tula loafs, can weigh up to 100 g.
Gingerbreads are gingerbread products that differ from piece gingerbread in large sizes. The rug is usually a large baked layer with or without filling and decorations, which is cut into pieces when finished.
Cool gingerbread dough can be put for baking on a clean, washed baking sheet without grease, and soft dough on a greased baking sheet, otherwise it will stick to the baking sheet and the products will have large bubbles and torn bottoms.
Before baking gingerbreads, sweep away excess flour from them and smear them with an egg or, better, egg yolks. So that the gingerbread cookies do not move when lubricated, you need to sprinkle the baking sheet with water before laying them.
To speed up the work, the entire layer of dough is lubricated with an egg and, if desired, various patterns are made with a fork or pastry comb; You can also sprinkle the layer greased with an egg with peeled unroasted chopped nuts, almonds, peanuts, and when the egg grease dries up, divide the layer with a knife or with the help of notches into different figures and transfer to a baking sheet.
Small and thin gingerbread cookies are baked at a temperature of 220-240 ° C for 8-15 minutes, and large products and gingerbread - at a temperature of 180-220 ° C.
Immediately after baking, wipe the surface of the gingerbread with a soft napkin or brush. This increases the shine of the items.
Gingerbread icing
After baking and cooling the gingerbread, they are covered with a thin layer of glaze (boiled sugar syrup or honey), which retains the aroma and freshness of the gingerbread and gives it a more beautiful appearance and pleasant taste.
Gingerbread icing
and other confectionery
Glazes are used to cover the surfaces of flour confectionery. Glaze is applied to the products with a brush, and then dried in a non-hot oven (at 80-100 °).
You can glaze products in two ways: simplified or real glaze.
Products with real glaze (with egg whites) look prettier and tastier.
Protein glaze (real glaze)
(the whipped egg whites frosting is real glaze)
:
- 1 glass of granulated sugar,
- 2 egg whites,
- 1 glass of water
Boil sugar with water until sample on a soft ball. Beat the whites into a thick foam. The resulting thick hot syrup gradually (with continuous beating) pour in a thin stream into the previously well-beaten whites, without stopping the beating of the mass.
Then put the mixer (or brooms) aside, add aromas and food colors for coloring the glaze in the desired color and, stirring with a spatula, heat to 60-65 °.
After this, glaze the product with a brush and then dry it.
The glaze will be even better and tastier if, instead of sugar syrup, you use honey boiled to the desired thickness in this recipe.
Gingerbread with real glaze looks prettier, retains its freshness better and tastes better.
Icing sugar
(if the glaze is prepared without egg whites, this is simplified glaze)
Ingredients for 200 g glaze
:
- 1 glass of powdered sugar,
- 3 tbsp. spoons of water
- aromas and food colors.
Sift the finest powdered sugar through a sieve, pour into a saucepan, pour in warm water and add aromatic substances. Heat the glaze, stirring with a spatula, to 40 °. If the icing is too thick, add water; if it is thin, add powdered sugar.
The glaze can be painted in any color.
To speed up drying and improve the quality of the glaze, instead of water, add 3 egg whites to the glaze(i.e. replace in the recipe with 1 protein every 1 tablespoon of water).
Chocolate glaze
Ingredients for 270 g glaze
:
- 1 glass of granulated sugar,
- 1 teaspoon of cocoa powder
- 1/2 glass of water.
Mix sugar with water and cook until sample on a thick thread.
Then add the cocoa powder, cool the glaze to 60-80 ° C and, to cause the sugar to crystallize, periodically dip a spatula or spoon into the glaze and rub it over the edges of the pan.
Friction makes the glaze lighter and a thin, shiny crust forms on its surface, which indicates that the glaze is ready.
NOTE:
- All explanations for the recipes for cooking syrups, glazes, as well as recipes for the preparation of the components needed for decorating gingerbread houses and compositions with gingerbread houses- various simple and flavored POMADES, JELLY on gelatin and agar - see page section.
- About the preparation of fruit puree, jam, marmalade for icing products, jams from fruits and berries, jam for decorating confectionery, candied fruits - see on page.
- About decorating confectionery, making drawing masses (protein, fruit and flour), decorations from jelly, chocolate, marzipan, caramel, sprinkling for confectionery, streusel - see on p.
First, put 1/2 cup flour (after mixing all the ingredients - add flour until you get the desired dough consistency),
1/2 to 2 cups thick apricot jam (amount to taste)
- 1/2 cup honey
- 1/2 cup chopped candied orange fruits,
- 50 g softened butter,
- 1 teaspoon of ground dried orange peel (or 2 teaspoons of grated fresh),
- 1 teaspoon of baking soda,
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- 1 tbsp. a spoonful of brandy, rum or vodka (this is desirable, but not necessary).
Knead everything well for 20-30 minutes. Add flour until a viscous plastic dough is obtained, which almost does not stick to the table and hands.
White icing sugar
1 protein
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar.
Pour the protein into a small bowl and, whisking it continuously, add, sifting through a strainer, powdered sugar (it must be freshly ground).
The consistency of the finished glaze should be sufficiently thick and fluid at the same time.
Add a few drops of lemon juice to enhance the taste.
Strawberry, cranberry, raspberry glaze
200 g icing sugar
- 3-4 tablespoons of strawberry, raspberry, cranberry, viburnum or red currant juice,
- 1-2 tablespoons of hot water.
Sift the icing sugar through a strainer into a small bowl, add the juice of the berries and hot water and rub thoroughly with a wooden spoon until a homogeneous shiny mass is obtained.
To dye it pink, gradually add berry juice.
Sea buckthorn glaze
200 g icing sugar
- 1 protein,
- 3-4 tablespoons of sea buckthorn syrup.
Beat the egg white with a whisk, gradually, 1 teaspoon each, adding powdered sugar.
When the mass becomes lush and white, you also need to gradually add sea buckthorn syrup to it.
Even a small addition of this syrup gives the glaze a wonderful delicate color, taste and aroma.
NOTE. If you replace the sea buckthorn syrup with mint, you get a mint glaze that has a delicate light green color and a mint aroma.
Cocoa glaze
100 g icing sugar
- 3 teaspoons of cocoa powder,
- 2-3 tablespoons of hot water.
Mix the powdered sugar with cocoa powder, add hot water and grind well.
:
400 g wheat flour
100 g rye flour
2 fresh yolks
0.75-1 glass of milk or yogurt
125 g sour cream
500 g honey
1 tbsp. a spoonful of burnt sugar
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
2 cardamom capsules
4 carnation buds
0.5 tsp of star anise
1h a spoonful of lemon zest
0.5 tsp baking soda
Boil honey in a saucepan over low heat until it is red hot, removing the foam, then add some rye flour to it and stir it with the rest of the honey, cool until slightly warm and beat until white.
Wipe off the burnt milk with the yolks, add milk and knead the wheat flour on the egg-milk mixture, pre-mixing it and mixing with powdered spices.
Combine the honey-rye mixture with sour cream and add it to the dough, beating it thoroughly. Place the finished dough in a greased dish (or baking sheet) with a layer of 1-2 cm and bake over low heat. Cut the finished gingerbread plate into squares.
Usually, these gingerbread cookies are not glazed and are immediately served on the table.
When used for the construction of a gingerbread house, these gingerbreads should be glazed over for a longer preservation.
:
4 cups dry raspberries
3 cups honey
1-1.5 cups rye bread crumbs, powdered
2-3 st. tablespoons of powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla sugar
Pour 3 cups of dry raspberries with 4 cups of boiling water and simmer until boiling and completely soft, then squeeze 3 cups of thick juice.
Mix juice with honey, boil.
Powder well-dried crackers and mix it with dry raspberry powder prepared from the remaining 1 cup of dry raspberry, and then combine this mixture with the honey-raspberry mixture into a thick dough, which is placed in an enamel bowl (low saucepan, bowl) and put in boiling water to warm up until the dry raspberries are boiled and the rusk mass completely swells.
Cut the dough cooked in this way into flat cakes and dry them on a sheet either in a preheated, but turned off oven, or on top of the plate in which the oven is lit.
Roll the dried gingerbread cookies in powdered sugar mixed with vanilla sugar or vanilla.
:
3-4 cups crushed rye bread crumbs (rusks) or rye bread crumbs half with butter - cookie crumbs
2-3 cups jam syrup (currant, cranberry, lingonberry) or a mixture of currant and raspberry syrup
2-4 st. spoons of honey
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
0.5 tsp star anise
0.5 tsp ginger
3 carnation buds
1 pinch nutmeg
1-0.5 teaspoons of ammonium or baking powder
2 fresh yolks
1 tbsp. a spoonful of flour
Mix the jam syrup and honey and heat, not boil, add ground spices and knead the tough dough on this mixture with rye breadcrumbs.
Knead it well, spread with a layer of 1 cm on a pastry sheet and dry on the stove, like raspberry gingerbread.
Then cut in a warm state with a notch and glaze.
Add the raisins, washed in hot water and cut in half, to the Black Gingerbread dough (see above).
Roll the dough into a rope, cut into pieces, roll out balls the size of a walnut and place them tightly on a sheet, framing every 10-20 pieces with a dough flagellum (i.e. combining them into a block - in one line or in a round group).
After baking, cover these blocks with glaze.
:
700 g flour
2 teaspoons of baking soda
4 tablespoons ground ginger
2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon clove, ground
300 g butter, cut into pieces
350 g granulated sugar
4 tablespoons light syrup
2 eggs
In a large container (you can in a saucepan), combine flour, baking soda, ground ginger, cinnamon, cloves.
Add softened butter and chop it into crumbs along with the flour and spice mixture.
Add sugar, syrup and eggs. If the dough does not bond, add 1-2 teaspoons of water.
Lightly flour the work surface, place the dough on it and knead until smooth.
Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
This dough can be used to make gingerbread houses.
Gingerbread
Soft scented gingerbread has long been a symbol of Christmas. But in fact, this is a delicious and original gift at any time of the year and for the whole family. Whether it's a whole gingerbread castle or small gingerbread cakes laid in pretty paper or tied with a ribbon, this is a very nice gift and treat.
Ginger, one of the oldest spices, has been traded from country to country for centuries. It is now used in all sorts of recipes, including sweet pastries and biscuits. Ornate holiday houses, spicy fruit cakes, fragrant sweet breads with and without yeast, succulent cakes and, of course, cookies - they are all called "gingerbread."
Usually ground dried ginger root, sold in powder, is used for their preparation, but pieces of candied ginger are also sometimes added chopped to the dough or cream.
Gingerbread baking is an art that has undergone a special development in the last century, since gingerbread has been gaining popularity in Europe. In Medieval Europe, where fairs were widespread, gingerbread was sold in various shapes, often gilded and decorated with spices. The fairs became known as the "Ginger Fairs" and participants bought gingerbread as a present from the fair.
Nuremberg (Nuremberg) in Germany is known as the "Gingerbread Capital of the World" due to its central location on the northern trade routes. It was here that the art of making gingerbread cookies of exquisite shapes and ornaments appeared. Here, kings and queens, mills, letters, hearts and animals were molded from gingerbread dough. When the gingerbread was taken out of the mold, it was often painted with golden paint and sold at markets and fairs.
The German fairy tale about, in which children discovered a house built entirely from gingerbread dough, sweets and sweet pies, marked the beginning of the tradition of creating various buildings from gingerbread dough. These fabulous houses, decorated with powdered snow sugar, are an amazing Christmas present for friends.
Nowadays, for many, gingerbread is associated with Christmas, but in fact it is a delicious and original gift at any time of the year - a treat for the whole family. Whether it's a whole castle or gingerbread cookies wrapped in pretty paper or in a box and tied with a ribbon, this is a very nice gift.
WE WORK WITH GINGER DOUGH
There are a few rules to remember when working with ginger dough for the first time. You may find it easier to roll out the dough in a large layer and cut it out on the baking sheet with a mold so that the items do not get distorted when you transfer them from the table to the baking sheet. Unless the recipe says otherwise, leave some space on the baking sheet between the gingerbread cookies to allow them to rise.
Gingerbread cookies, unlike other cookies, do not become dense and crunchy when removed from the oven. So it's very difficult to tell if it's ready, especially since baking time is so much dependent on the oven. As a rule, if the gingerbread is slightly raised and browned around the edges, it is ready. Leave it on the baking sheet for a few minutes, during which it will begin to turn crispy (if the gingerbread is still soft, return it to the oven for a few minutes). It is very common for gingerbread to lose its shape during baking, but this can be easily fixed by trimming it properly after baking.
Large, flat pieces of gingerbread must be refrigerated and stored on a flat surface or their shape will be distorted. It may be more convenient to bake the gingerbread the day before decorating. If you do this, let it cool completely and then wrap it in parchment or plastic wrap.
:
- Flour - 1 glass with a slide
- butter - 100 g
- sugar - 1/2 tbsp.
- egg - 1 pc.
- baking powder - 1.5 tsp.
- cocoa -1 tsp
- ground ginger - 1 tsp.
- ground cinnamon - 1/2 tsp.
- salt - a pinch
For glaze:
- egg white - 1 pc.
- powdered sugar - 1/2 cup
- lemon juice - 1 tbsp. l.
Sift flour, baking powder, cocoa, ginger, cinnamon through a sieve.
Add butter to the crumb, chopped with a knife.
Add sugar, add an egg, quickly knead the dough. Roll into a ball, wrap in plastic wrap, put in the refrigerator for 1.5-2 hours.
Roll out the cooled dough on a floured table into a layer 7-8 mm thick. Apply stencils (or use curly cutters) and cut out the gingerbread.
Place the gingerbread cookies on a floured baking sheet. Bake for 15-20 minutes at 180 ° C.
Beat the cooled protein with a mixer until firmly. Continuing to beat, add in small portions powdered sugar, lemon juice. Beat for another 15-20 seconds.
You can add food coloring to the frosting if desired.
Decorate the gingerbread with icing and let the icing dry.
Perhaps the best type of gingerbread is honey gingerbread according to an old Russian recipe (honey bread) 
Sifted flour + up to 50% fresh (liquid) honey + some raisins. Because good honey is tasty on its own; spices are not added to honey bread or they are added in a minimal amount so as not to overpower the taste of honey. If the honey is candied, it is preliminarily liquefied in a water bath. Honey is added to flour until a plastic mass is obtained. You can heat honey to a temperature of about 90-100 grams. C (honey does not boil at the same time) and brew half of the flour with active stirring, then add the rest of the flour - the gingerbread will turn out to be custard, even more tasty and stable in storage. Then the mass is thoroughly kneaded with hands for 20-30 minutes, small gingerbread is formed and immediately (without delay!) Baked at a temperature of 220-230 gr. From about 10-12 minutes. If you let the dough stand at least a little before baking, the dough will "drag on" and the products will turn out to be tough. Ready-made gingerbread cookies are glazed with honey boiled over a fire - gingerbread cookies are immersed in hot glaze, then dried on a wire rack until the glaze hardens. A layer of glaze prevents the gingerbread from drying out faster and makes it look more attractive.
See page
In the old days, honey bread was prepared as a well-preserved, high-calorie and always ready-to-eat food on a long journey, on a military campaign, and was folded into lari (wooden boxes made of linden or birch). If honey bread dried out from long storage during the campaign, it was crushed and brewed with boiling water.
Industrial preparation of gingerbread
Spice mixture - "bouquet" ("dry perfume")
Baking gingerbread
Types of marriage and causes of occurrence
Gingerbread dough products differ in various shapes and contain a large amount of sugar and various spices, which give them a special aroma.
The spice mixture added to the gingerbread dough is called "bouquet" or "dry perfume".
It consists (in%):
cinnamon 60, cloves 12, allspice 12, black pepper 4, cardamom 4, ginger 8.
In addition to gingerbread, gingerbreads are baked from the same dough, sandwiched with fruit filling or jam.
Sometimes, instead of sugar, artificial honey or invert syrup is put into the dough, part of the wheat flour (50%) is replaced with rye flour. This improves the quality of the gingerbread, reduces their shrinkage during long-term storage due to the increased hygroscopicity of these products.
Dough flour should be low in gluten (26-28%). Loosen the dough with chemical leavening agents (soda).
The dough is prepared in two ways: raw and custard. In the brewing method, part of the flour is brewed before kneading the dough. The peculiarities of the recipe and preparation of gingerbreads contribute to the fact that many types of them can be preserved for a long time without stale.
Gingerbread dough contains honey and molasses, which delay the staling process. In addition, flour brewing and invert syrup greatly delay staling.
To make gingerbread dough, you need the following products:
Flour 1 kg, sugar 300 g, water 200 ml, honey 100 g, eggs 2 pcs., Butter or margarine 150 g, salt 4 g, dry spices 5 g, soda 1 g.
Raw dough preparation
Raw dough has a loose and at the same time viscous consistency due to its high content of sugar, honey, molasses. Sugar or sugar syrup, water, honey, molasses or invert syrup, eggs are mixed well for 6-10 minutes. The sugar dissolves in the liquid and is evenly distributed in the mixture. The higher the temperature at which the dough is kneaded, the shorter the kneading time, as otherwise a drawn-out dough may result.
After mixing, add finely ground spices, soda, softened butter or margarine and flour. Knead the dough for 4-12 minutes, depending on the amount of dough and the temperature conditions of the room. The finished dough is a homogeneous mass of an astringent loose consistency.
Choux pastry preparation
The process of preparing this dough consists of three stages: brewing flour in sugar-honey, sugar-sugar or sugar-honey syrup: cooling the tea leaves; batch of welding with all other types of raw materials.
Brew the flour in an open saucepan. To do this, load sugar, molasses, pour in water and heat with stirring (70-75 ° C) until the sugar is completely dissolved. The clear syrup is filtered through a fine sieve, cooled to a temperature not lower than 68 ° C, gradually sifted flour is added and mixed quickly. Chilling the syrup to a lower temperature will reduce the quality of the gingerbread. When flour is brewed, the starch is partially gelatinized, which contributes to a longer preservation of the gingerbread fresh. The starch gelatinization temperature is 67.5 ° C. The flour is kneaded with hot syrup as quickly as possible (10-12 minutes), since lumps may form with prolonged contact of the mixed flour with hot syrup.
If the recipe provides for a lot of eggs and butter, then part of the flour is brewed, and the rest of the flour is used when kneading the dough, leaving 6-8% for burning.
The tea leaves are cooled in baking trays, where the dough is laid in layers and greased with vegetable oil or sprinkled with crumbs so that a monolithic mass does not form. The brewed dough is cooled to a temperature of 25-27 ° C. It is impossible to knead the dough without preliminary cooling, since it loses its properties, the gingerbread cookies are dense, non-streamlined, leavening agents and aromatic substances evaporate.
After cooling the brewed dough, it is kneaded, combined with the rest of the products provided by the recipe, and kneaded until a homogeneous consistency is obtained for 30-40 minutes. The dough should be evenly mixed and have a creamy consistency. With a shorter kneading time, products are obtained with a dense structure.
You can prepare the dough in a semi-cooked way.
To do this, take 80% of water according to the recipe with a temperature of 70 ° C. add sugar, margarine and heat to 90 ° C, mix thoroughly, gradually add 45% flour. Stirring is continued for another 6-8 minutes. This mass is cooled to 25 ° C. Dissolve honey, soda in the remaining water, combine with the cooled mass, add eggs and the remaining flour. The dough is mixed for 10 minutes and cut.
Shaping and baking
The finished dough is laid out on a table heavily dusty with flour, minced and given an oblong shape.
The layer is gradually rolled out with a smooth wooden rolling pin in different directions, periodically dusting with flour, to a thickness of 8-10 mm. The layer must be evenly rolled out, otherwise the products will be of different thicknesses and baked unevenly. Before molding the products, a test molding is carried out in different places of the layer to determine the uniformity of its rolling.
The pattern is applied to the surface of the formation with a toothed or corrugated rolling pin. For molding products, various devices are used in the form of metal recesses, which are cone-shaped rims with sharpened edges, corresponding in shape to the products being manufactured. Use wooden forms with a pattern or inscription engraved on the board.
If it is necessary to give the products a certain shape and apply a pattern to the surface, use wooden forms in combination with metal grooves. Products are formed from the rolled out layer of dough with a knife, disc cutters or using grooves.
With a notch, press on the dough layer five to six times, separating pieces of a certain shape from it, and lay them in even rows on baking sheets. The notch is periodically immersed in flour, this prevents the dough from sticking to it.
Before laying on sheets, the flour is swept from the products with a brush.
For gingerbreads and loaves, the dough is rolled into a layer with a thickness of 12 and 8 mm, respectively. The layer must match the dimensions of the baking sheet. The loaves are cut with a knife or disc cutter into rectangular pieces of the appropriate size. After rolling out, a layer of dough for gingerbreads is laid on a sheet, previously oiled with vegetable oil or dusted with flour.
The surface of the product is moistened with cold water and pierced in several places with a knife to avoid swelling.
Piece products made of tough dough are placed on dry sheets, dusted with flour or oiled. On products adhering to the sheet, voids are formed, and the bottoms are different. If the products are greased with an egg before baking, then so that they do not move when greased, they are laid on sheets greased with a mixture of fat and warm water.
Before baking, the surface of some types of products is sprinkled with sugar, crumbs, chopped nuts or almonds, decorated with raisins, candied fruits or kernels of nuts.
Gingerbread cookies are baked at 200-240 ° С for 10-15 minutes immediately after cutting, and gingerbread and mint gingerbread - at 190-210 ° С.
The mode and duration of baking depend on the thickness of the products. The thicker the baked products, the lower the temperature and the longer the baking.
At high baking temperatures, a crust will quickly form, which will prevent moisture from removing from the crumb. After baking, the product will shrink under the weight of the raw crumb.
The low temperature in the oven makes the products blurry from the excess sugar. Timely crust formation preserves the gingerbread shape.
After baking, the gingerbread cookies, greased with an egg, are rubbed several times with a soft brush to obtain a better shine.
Gingerbread can be iced up with sugar syrup. For this purpose, boilers with a capacity of 3 to 5 liters are used. Chilled products are poured with pre-prepared sugar syrup at a temperature of 85-90 ° C. The gingerbread cookies are mixed with syrup with a wooden vestka for 1-2 minutes, and then they are taken out and put in one row, dried.
| Types of marriage | Causes of occurrence |
| Products are dense, non-streamlined shape | Reduced moisture content of the dough: the brew was not cooled enough: there are few sugar substances; a lot of baking powder. |
| Products are vague | Dough with high humidity; a lot of soda, poor gluten: low oven temperature. |
| Products are rigid, rubbery | Low sugar: high dough temperature during kneading; long kneading. |
| The upper crust is detached; raw crumb | Very soft dough; the oven is overheated. |
| Products sat down, fell off | The dough is soft and a lot of leavening agents; high oven temperature, took the product out of the oven early. |
| Products with empty bottoms | The dough is dense; the oven is subcooled. |
| Products have few pores | Not enough baking powder. |
Making from a round gingerbread cake (or from a biscuit) "COCK" cake
In addition to the gingerbread (or biscuit) crust, you will need icing sugar, jelly candies in the form of orange slices, 1 round candy and a lot of coconut flakes - about 2 glasses.
According to figure A, cut the hot round gingerbread crust (while still soft) into solid lines.
The part indicated by the dotted line also needs to be cut off, but slightly above the indicated line.
This part in the cake will not be used as a whole, it can be crumbled and used for sprinkling.
Figure B shows how to fold the cut pieces of the cake:
To glue the side edges of the gingerbread (biscuit), use hot icing or hot chocolate.
Use the remaining icing to cover the entire surface and sides of the cake. And, while it's not frozen, sprinkle the cake with coconut.
Decorate the cake with multi-colored jelly candies, focusing on the photo: attach the tail, wing, scallop, beak, legs.
For the "eye" of the cock, use a dark colored round lollipop.
NOTE. Such figurines can be used to create fabulous compositions with gingerbread houses.
The joint production of even the simplest gingerbread house will always give sincere joy to the entire creative team of gingerbread house builders:
For the curious
THE SECRET OF THE FAMOUS VYAZEMSKY GINGERBREAK
In the Tula Museum of Gingerbread.
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Gingerbread is a traditional dessert of Russian cuisine loved by many, which combines the sweetness of pastries and the satiety of bread. According to some sources, they appeared in Russia as early as the 9th century. And what recipes have not been invented during this time. But, as you know, you can't cook a real gingerbread without honey.
The main products used to make gingerbread were honey and rye flour. The honey content in this mixture reached half. And honey cakes were called in those days in a different way - honey bread. Much later, already in the XII century, they began to be called "honey gingerbread", because they began to add different spices, which changed their taste.
Honey gingerbread, fragrant, printed, soft, custard, steamed, on kefir, airy, with and without glaze, with spices and additives, have become the main decoration in home tea drinking and on the festive table. You can quickly and easily prepare such delicious pastries from affordable and inexpensive products that you can always find in the refrigerator. And even the most inexperienced cook can do it at home.
Let's consider several recipes for making delicious and aromatic honey cakes.
To prepare homemade honey cakes according to the classic recipe, you will need:
- Any kind of honey - 250 g
- Flour - 450 g
- Granulated sugar - 75 g
- Butter (or margarine) - 1 tablespoon
- Baking soda - 1/2 teaspoon (or baking powder - 2 teaspoons)
- Spices (vanillin, cinnamon, cloves) - add to taste of your choice
- Egg - 1 pc.
Heat honey, butter, sugar, spices over low heat, stirring constantly. Set aside, let cool. Add an egg and warm honey mass to a bowl with flour and baking powder. We mix everything well, put it in the cold for two hours (if you are in a hurry, you can even for one hour).
Then we roll out the dough to a thickness of about a finger and cut out the gingerbread cookies of the desired shape. Bake for 8-10 minutes over medium heat on a greased and lightly floured baking sheet. Ready-made gingerbread cookies can be decorated with any icing.
Read also: Recipes for delicious honey gingerbread with jam
Honey gingerbread cookies on kefir
Even a novice cook can make delicate honey cakes according to this simple recipe.
Main Ingredients:
- Kefir (curdled milk) - 300 ml
- Eggs - 2 pcs. (1 white and 2 yolks for the dough and 1 white for the fondant)
- Margarine (or butter) - 100 g
- Granulated sugar - 1 cup for dough and 2/3 cup for fondant
- Honey - 1 tbsp. l.
- Flour - 2.5 cups
The first step is to separate the yolk from the protein (we need the protein for the fondant), the remaining yolk and beat another egg with sugar. Pour all the kefir into this mixture, add honey, melted margarine, soda quenched in vinegar (1 tsp) and salt. Add sifted flour there and mix everything.
The main thing here is not to overdo it with flour. To prevent the gingerbread cookies from turning out to be heavy and tight, the dough should not be very steep.
Roll out the dough into a layer and cut out gingerbread cookies of different shapes. We bake on a greased baking sheet (or put the blanks on parchment) for 20-25 minutes (temperature, about 180 degrees).
While the gingerbread cookies are baking, prepare the fondant. To do this, beat the sugar with protein until a white mass is formed, which should not be thick, so that it can easily lubricate the surface of our gingerbread cookies.
After 20 minutes, the gingerbread should be removed from the oven, greased with fondant and put into the oven for another 10 minutes, slightly lowering the temperature.
Custard honey gingerbread
Thanks to this method of preparation, custard honey cakes are soft and remain tender and tasty for a long time, so they can be cooked for future use for several days.
To make custard honey gingerbread we need:
- Flour - 1.5 cups
- Natural honey - ½ cup
- Butter - 1 pack
- Egg - 1 pc.
- Rum - 1 tablespoon
- Sour cream - 30-40 g
- Spices and Condiments - Cinnamon (add nutmeg, cardamom, cloves)
We heat the butter and honey in a bowl to about 75 degrees, gradually add ½ the amount of flour, spices and quickly knead everything. The mass should turn out to be dense, and it needs to be cooled. Add the rest of the products to the cooled mass and mix well until a homogeneous plastic state.
Roll out the dough, cut out the gingerbread and bake for 10-15 minutes at a temperature of 200 degrees. If desired, gingerbread can be decorated with icing.
Read also: Classic fragrant honey gingerbread recipes
Steamed honey cakes with walnuts
The peculiarity of steaming honey cakes is that they are not baked. They are cooked in a double boiler or multicooker. And, nevertheless, they turn out to be soft and ruddy.
We will need:
- Flour - 1.5 cups
- Sugar - ½ cup
- Butter - 50 g
- Honey - 1 tbsp. l. with a slide
- Egg - 1 pc.
- Walnuts - ½ cup
- Soda - ½ tsp.
Preparation:
- Cooking nuts by chopping them in a blender or with a knife.
- Knead the dough: in a separate bowl, dissolve the egg, honey, butter and sugar in a water bath until smooth. Add soda there and stir until thickened.
- Then remove the pot from the water bath and add the flour. Mix everything well. At the end of kneading, add the nuts to the dough.
- We form balls from the dough with our hands soaked in water and put them in a double boiler or multicooker.
- Cooking for 40 minutes.
New Year's honey and gingerbread recipe
Delicious honey and gingerbread with a special aroma cannot be attributed to traditional Russian pastries. Rather, on the contrary, this dessert was and remains a favorite delicacy of Europeans and the main attribute of the Christmas table.
But, since other people's traditions, whether we like it or not, are slowly migrating to us, it is possible, slightly violating the pine-tangerine aroma, to cook homemade gingerbread cookies with ginger on New Year's days.
And if you show your imagination and please your loved ones with original baked goods in the form of honey cakes in the shape of a "ginger man", this will certainly become a signature dessert on the New Year's table.
To prepare fragrant honey and gingerbread, we need the following ingredients:
- Flour - 5-6 glasses
- Strong coffee (brewed) - 5 tbsp. l.
- Extinguished soda (or baking powder) - 1.5 tsp.
- Ginger (freshly grated or dried) - 2 tsp
- Chopped cloves - 0.5 tsp.
- Sugar - 1 glass
- Honey - 1 glass
- Butter (margarine) - 200 g
- Egg - 2 pcs.
- A little salt
Cooking process:
Mix together flour, spices, salt and baking powder. Beat the softened butter with sugar and honey separately and add coffee, eggs and some of the flour with spices. You need to mix everything with a mixer, as much as possible.
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