My daughter has been coming home from kinderkrippe with a plate full of "salzteig." Not sure if this is the correct spelling! She would like to make this at home but I don't have a recipe. I guess it must be simple to make but does anyone know what type of flour or salt you use and in what proportions? It seems like a good alternative to playdough.
Sure. Two cups flour, one cup salt, one cup water (with some food coloring in it if you want colored dough) and a little bit of oil, maybe a teaspoonful. I'd stir the flour and salt together first, then add the water and oil and knead to make a smooth dough. If it's too thick or too thin, add a little more water or a little more flour.
I would suggest using as flavorless an oil as possible. The old oil for seasoning boards would be ok too, just make sure it doesn ́t smell rancid, otherwise it will be somewhat unpleasant. I recommend a cheap cooking oil. Good luck !
You can bake the finished pieces in the oven at low temperatures, more or less drying them. This does not work well though with pieces that are thick (over 1.5 cm or so). You can paint them after drying or put food coloring in the dough.
The recipes above are to make things to bake and then paint- not really play dough (it will harden even without baking). When our girls were little I used to make a play dough with flour, water, salt and cream of tartar, like a choux pastry- and it kept soft and malleable and 'bouncy', like play dough, for weeks.
Play Dough Recipe:
1 cup white flour
1/2 cup salt
2 tablespoon cream of tartar (find it in the spice section)
1 tablespoon oil
1 cup water
food coloring
Mix first 4 ingredients in a pan. Add water and mix well. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, for 3 – 5 minutes. Dough will become difficult to stir and form a “clump”. Remove from stove and knead for 5 minutes–add food coloring during kneading process. Play dough will keep for a long time stored in a covered plastic container or plastic sandwich bag.
One minor problem with that - cream of tartar doesn't seem to exist here! At least not in supermarkets. (You might be able to ask for it in a drugstore; LEO says the German word is "Weinstein".)
Indeed " Weinstein" is cream of Tartar, and can be bought at a pharmacy in german speaking switzerland, for not too much money. I seem to have to mention that I ́m following a recipe for some handicrafts, whenever I buy chemicals, to dispel any suspicions of evil doing.
Additionally, what one finds in the baking section of super markets as "Rahmhalter" should also be cream of Tartar. Its intended use being, keeping whipped cream from collapsing too quickly after whipping. It will be more expensive than the pharmacy item though, just like the 7 gram packets of baking powder and baking soda.