How to make DOUGH BASKETS

Bread dough has been used for many years as an excellent medium for modelling. You must have seen the corn dollies and corn stacks made from baked bread dough. We saw the Spanish coat of arms done perfectly in dough just last week. It was glazed and looked really impressive. At first glance, it looked like a clay modelling.

Dough can be used to make an excellent fruit or bread basket. The dough can be made into many other shapes: any number of cut-outs can be created. All you need is the basic recipe, which includes a large amount of salt which acts as the hardening agent.

4 cups plain flour
1 ½ cups salt (see note below)
1 ½ cups water, approximately
1 egg yolk
2 tablespoons water, extra

Sift flour and salt into basin, mix well with fingertips. Make well in centre, add water, mix with knife; when ingredients become too stiff to stir, use your hand to combine ingredients, a little extra water may be needed to make dough firm but pliable. Turn onto lightly floured surface, knead until smooth. If dough is at the correct consistency, it will not be necessary to use any more flour for handling or kneading the dough.

Cover a flat scone tray with a piece of aluminium foil. Grease outside of an upturned loaf tin lightly but evenly.

Place tin in freezer or refrigerator for few minutes, or until greasing is set. Place on tray upside down. Take small handfuls of dough, work with fingers until smooth, then roll to sausage shape about the thickness of your fingers, lay rolls crossways over tin, as shown. lt doesn‘t matter how thick the rolls are, or how many there are, but it is important that there be an uneven number across the tin. Leave rolls about 2.5cm longer than the width of the tin, as shown.

Make rolls to go Iengthways over the tin. Lift every second cross roll and place the long rolls in position, weaving the rolls of dough, as shown. Make a roll long enough to go right around the sides of the tin, or make two rolls; they can be joined, as shown. Weave the roll over and under the other rolls, as before. Make sure the joins meet under a roll of dough so the joins will be hidden. Use combined egg yolk and extra water to join pieces of dough together.

Roll two long sausage shapes of dough to same thickness as before and twist to form a rope edging for basket; do not stretch the dough.

Cut off ends of criss-crossed rolls at an angle against tin, brush with combined egg yolk and water, press rope edging into position over cut ends. Rope edging can be made in one long piece, or can be joined neatly, using egg glazing. Glaze the whole basket as evenly as possible with egg glazing, bake in very slow oven for about 4 hours. Time will depend on thickness of dough.

Glaze basket once or twice more during the cooking time for a richer colour. Turn oven off, leave basket to become cold in the oven; when cold, remove from tin. If dough does not feel completely dried out, return basket to very slow oven without the tin for another hour or two. It is important the dough be dry before varnishing or the basket will develop mould. Brush basket completely with
clear varnish or lacquer, leave to dry, preferably overnight. Another coat of varnish will give an even better appearance to the basket.

Note: Use only coarse cooking salt (common salt) for making this dough; do not use fine table salt.
Note: If using ovenproof glass bowls to shape the baskets, remove the bowls halfway through cooking time to allow the baskets to dry out.

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