Consider making bread decorations with your children instead of buying new Christmas ornaments. Bread decorations are simple to make and provide endless hours of fun for young children. There are endless possibilities when it comes to what you can create with the bread dough. If you do not have cookie cutters available, try making simple shapes with your hands such as candy canes, houses and animal faces. Your children will want to make this a family tradition every year.
Instructions
1. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees.
2. Combine the flour, salt, vegetable oil and warm water in a mixing bowl until well blended. Knead the dough with your hands until it is soft and pliable.
3. Remove the dough from the mixing bowl. Use a rolling pin to flatten the dough until it is ¼ inch thick.
4. Cut out your designs with cookie cutters. Place the cut out dough decorations on a cookie sheet sprayed with nonstick spray.
5. Place a hole in the top of each dough decoration with a toothpick. This hole will allow you to hang your bread decoration.
6. Brush egg whites over the dough. This will turn the dough into a golden color. You can leave the egg whites off if you want the dough decorations to be a plain white color.
7. Bake the dough decorations for 45 minutes. Use a fork to ensure that there are no soft spots in the dough. Continue to bake the dough until the decorations are free of soft spots.
8. Allow the dough decorations to cool completely. Apply color to the dough by painting it with acrylic paint.
9. Protect the surface of the dough by applying clear nail polish. The dough decorations need protection against moisture or they will mold. If you do not have clear nail polish, buy a clear varnish or lacquer at your local hardware store.
10. String ribbon through the decorations once the paint dries and tie it in a loop. Make sure there's enough ribbon to tie these decorations to your Christmas tree.
