It was the first official day of the school holidays & I had a sneaking suspicion that my daughter was going to ask me "What can I do?" It is not quite the same but it is pretty similar to the question "Are we there yet?" I stopped her asking the question by suggesting we make up a recipe for gluten free playdough using Bakers' Magic Gluten free flour. That certainly grabbed her attention, in a flash the old playdough toys were brought out & cleaned (without me having to ask).

The first batch was far too sticky, it was gloop - really really really sticky. There was no hope in salvaging it so I asked my daughter to take it out to our humus heap. Unfortunately she tripped while holding the saucepan, the gloop went on her & anything that was not anchored down to the earth stuck to her! She came back in side plastered with twigs, dried grass, leaves & a not so happy face. It was quite a sight - I must admit I did giggle. It took another 5 batches until we made some playdough that we were both happy with.

This recipe was designed specifically to be made with Bakers' Magic gluten free flour. The finished baked product will not be the same if you use another gluten free flour and you will need to adjust the recipe, particularly if the flour you're using contains rice flour.

Ingredients

150 g Bakers' Magic Gluten free flour

25 g Creme of Tartar

30 - 40 g Oil

150 g Salt

225 g Water (minimum)

2 tsp Xanthan gum 

Food colouring

Glitter - optional

Scented oils, eg mint oil & orange oil - optional

 If you want a glossy playdough use 40 g of oil (the green, blue, black & red in the photo) or not so glossy 30 g (the yellow bird & purple in the background).

The amount of water will depend on how much food colouring will be added. I find I have to add a lot of yellow colouring to get a bright yellow playdough, whereas  I don't need to add as much blue colouring. Mixing colours can also use a lot of colouring for example yellow & red to make orange. Use 225 g of water if the food colouring you will use is not that strong or you are mixing colours. Use ~240 g of water if you are not going to colour the playdough.

I have made the playdough without xanthan gum however my daughter preferred the batches with it in.

The following instructions are for use with a Thermomix. It can be made in a saucepan on the stove. I simply couldn't make 6 batches of playdough in a saucepan, stirred them all by hand & then coloured them - my arms would be useless.

Method

Thermomix

Put the Bakers' Magic Gluten free flour & xanthan gum into the TM bowl.

Mix for 10 secs on speed 9.

Take out of bowl & set aside.

Place salt, creme of tartar & water in the TM bowl.

Mix at 80 C for 3 mins 30 sec at speed 3.

Add in oil (if the playdough is going to be one colour the next time I make it I will be adding the food colouring at this stage).

Mix for 5 secs at speed 3.

Add in flour mix.

Mix for ~20 sec at speed 3. 

The mix will be warm/hot, allow it to cool slightly. It is easier to knead in colour when the dough is warm.

Store each colour in a separate airtight container/bag. I usually store the playdough in plastic bags & twist the tops of the bags to seal them. When my daughter cleaned out the playdough toys she found a plastic bag containing some wheat based playdough that I had made at least 2 years ago & it was still good. Other playdough not in bags was not as fortunate & had dried out.