My daughter is trying to make a salt dough craft for her 4H craft project. We have a salt dough recipe that I swore we used before just fine but this time, it was very gooey, when she made the little balls, they just melted down. Here is the recipe we used: 3/4 C flour, 2/3 C salt, 3/4 C cornstarch, 2/3 C water. We even kneaded the dough in flour after it was mixed thinking that would help the stability but after they sat for a while, they again turned to blobs and didn't hold shape. Does anyone have a tried and true recipe? She is trying to make a candle holder that she can put her homemade bees wax candle into so if there are any other materials she could use (and paint onto) we are open to suggestions. Thank-you!
Edit to add: We tried cooking it in the oven at 150 to 200 deg for 15 min then let them finish air drying, when we went to paint them, the bottoms were still extremely doughy so we turned them over and cooked them for 20 more min at 175 and now they feel dry but the items still look "melted" since the dough didn't harden, we will probably scrap this set of items and try again with another recipe.
In addition to altering or switching your recipe, try drying it out in a low temp oven as opposed to letting it sit out to harden. I don't know how the weather is where you are, but the dough will absorb humidity from the air and that might be why you are having so much trouble. If it's a recipe you have to cook, try cooking it a little longer to get out some of the gooey-ness before you start working with it. Good luck!
1 cup flour
1 cup salt
1/2 cup water
We had great luck with this one, and it's really really simple.
Just microwave for 20-30 seconds at a time to set the dough after you make the shapes you need.
I used to teach preschool, and here is the recipe that I always used:
2 cups flour
1 cup salt
2 cups water (with food color added, if desired)
2 tablespoons oil
4 teaspoons cream of tartar (I made it once w/o cream of tartar and the dough melted down much like you described)
Add dry ingredients to cooking pot
Mix in wet ingredients
Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly and scraping sides of pot.
The mixture will become more difficult to stir, and eventually a big ball of dough will form. I cook it until it is no longer sticky when I give it a quick touch. Then I turn the dough out onto some wax paper or foil and let it cool.
Good luck - sounds like a wonderful and creative project!
Here is a link to a variety of recipes. It looks like no matter what recipe you use, your dry to wet ingredient ratios are way off. If you don't want to throw out what you already did, try adding another cup of flour.
