White Salt Dough Recipe (2024)

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ByCerys ParkerPublished on

One of the questions we’ve been asked in the past is how we make white salt dough. We’ve pointed readers to our Homemade White Clay recipe as this is brilliant white but it does involve cooking so isn’t as child-friendly as classic salt dough recipes are. But, we’ve been playing around with our recipe and have a really simple way of making it white and you can air dry or oven dry the finished articles. So here we go our White Salt Dough Recipe.

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How to Make Salt Dough White

Salt dough because of the plain flour used is traditionally an off white colour. In the past, for our snowmen Christmas tree ornaments, we have to use acrylic paints to get them white or use the homemade white clay dough recipe linked above.

But, playing around with our classic recipe a little we’ve managed to produce a bright white salt dough that is great for snowmen ornaments as well as some pretty stamped gift tags.

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This salt dough is much drier before you add in the white ingredient this is the exact one that we use as this will add moisture to the dough. It’s also intended for ornaments we have been working on a dough that makes it easy for hand and footprint ornaments with even pets and babies! So watch out for that one to come.

When it comes to drying this salt dough we have tried oven drying and also air drying. Oven drying took us around an hour for our 1/2 cm thick dough to completely dry so wasn’t too long and as we didn’t need to paint afterwards they were ready to go.

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Sealing your ornaments and gift tags will ensure that if you store them and bring them out year on year they won’t disintegrate or soak up moisture.

Simply coat with either PVA glue (white school glue) or use an acrylic sealer like Mod Podge so that the moisture doesn’t get in. Give each side at least one coat and allow to dry thoroughly before turning over.

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White Salt Dough Recipe (5)

White Salt Dough Recipe

Cerys Parker

Easy recipe for bright white salt dough to make Christmas decorations and ornaments with.

4.20 from 15 votes

Print Instructions

Activity Time 10 minutes mins

Oven Drying Time 1 hour hr

Total Time 1 hour hr 10 minutes mins

Video

Equipment Needed

  • Bowl

  • Rolling Pin

Materials Needed

Instructions

  • Place the plain flour and salt in a bowl and mix together

    White Salt Dough Recipe (6)

  • Add in the warm water and knead.

  • If the mixture is too dry then add in a little more water.

  • Once kneaded keep the salt dough in the bowl and squirt in some white acrylic paint.

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  • Knead this together. We added the white paint twice to get the desired whiteness of the salt dough.

  • Knead well until the white is thoroughly mixed then place on a surface.

  • IMPORTANT – At this point WASH your equipment and hands.

  • Roll out to around 1/2cm thick to create your Christmas Ornaments.

  • Cut out your desired shapes.

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  • Place on a lined baking tray.

Oven Drying

  • Set the oven to 100C.

  • Into the oven for around 1hr. Turn over and check that the ornaments are thoroughly dried if not return and continue drying.

Air Drying

  • Leave to dry in a warm dry place for around 12 hours.

Notes

You could also add some fine white glitter when you add the paint and mix this in. We did not do this as we don’t have any eco-friendly glitter at the moment.

Keyword Christmas, Christmas Crafts, Christmas Decorations, Christmas Ornaments, Salt Dough

Have you Made This?Let us know how it went!

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Check out our Salt Dough Gift Tags that we made with this recipe.

Favourite Salt Dough Recipes

We love Salt Dough and have a few favourite recipes that we like to use.

  • Cinnamon Scented Salt Dough Recipe
  • Lavender Salt Dough Recipe
  • Gingerbread Salt Dough Recipe
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Author

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Cerys Parker

Cerys is a marine biologist, environmental educator, teacher, mum, and home educator from the UK. She loves getting creative, whether it is with simple and easy crafts and ideas, activities to make learning fun, or delicious recipes that you and your kids can cook together you'll find them all shared here on Rainy Day Mum.

White Salt Dough Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What is the ratio for salt dough? ›

The salt dough recipe

You want a ratio of one part salt and two parts flour. For making just a few little salt dough creations with your kids, one cup salt and two cups flour should be enough. If you want to prepare more, just increase the number of cups proportionally.

How to know when salt dough is done? ›

Bake the dough at 250 degrees F or about 2 hours. You want to bake them until they're hardened. They will harden a little more once you remove them from the oven and let them cool but you want them to have a good hard texture before you remove them from the oven.

Will salt dough harden without baking? ›

The great thing about it is that the salt dough sculptures will harden if you leave them out to dry at room temperature. Depending on the size of the pieces, it will take 2 to 7 days to dry completely. Turn the pieces from time to time for faster drying.

Why did my salt dough ornaments get puffy? ›

Make sure your oven is set to 150°f. This is SUPER IMPORTANT. I have seen others use hotter temperatures but I haven't been able to do so without getting puffiness. So, plain all-purpose flour, 150ºf oven and 1/4 inch thickness = no puffy ornaments.

What happens if I put too much salt in my dough? ›

If the percentage of salt added to a dough becomes too high, excessive dehydration will eventually kill the yeast and bacteria. Most scientists believe that at 2% of the flour weight or less, salt alone does not significantly alter either the yeast's gassing power or the bacteria's acid production.

How much salt do I add to 4 cups of flour for bread? ›

In bread baking the percentage of salt added that is considered normal, ranges from 1.8% to 2.2% of the total amount of flour, depending on the recipe and personal preference.

Can you overcook salt dough? ›

If you overcook them, they tend to bubble up. As everyone's dough will be mixed differently and microwaves have different levels of power, please keep an eye on your creations when they are cooking. Take them out to check their dryness – CAREFUL - THEY WILL BE HOT!

Do you bake salt dough or let it dry? ›

Bake in the preheated oven until dry and hard, about 2 hours. Allow to cool completely before decorating.

How long do you knead salt dough? ›

Method
  1. For this recipe you will require 1 cup of salt, 1 cup of flour and ½ cup of water.
  2. Mix the ingredients together until it begins to form a dough. ...
  3. Knead the dough for 15 minutes. ...
  4. Gently roll the dough out to approximately ¼ inch in thickness.
  5. Using a circular cutter stamp out 4 circles from the dough.

What is the fastest way to harden salt dough? ›

Salt dough drying tips
  1. Microwave. The quickest method to dry dough is in the microwave, but the dough will probably rise a bit. ...
  2. Oven. Alternatively, put the moulds into a cool oven. ...
  3. Air dry. Leave the moulds in a cool dry place for between 24-48 hours (thinner designs will dry quicker).
Jul 29, 2021

Does salt dough go bad? ›

Salt modeling dough usually doesn't 'go bad' so long as it remains dry. Many folks varnish or paint their creations, which keeps them dry among other things.

How to fix broken salt dough? ›

Much like trying to repair a baked cookie—you can't go back to the dough the way it was unbaked. Our suggestion? Prevent it from cracking further by filling the fissure with craft glue. You'll want to use an applicator that is bottled with a fine tip to neatly get into the crack, but not have it spill beyond.

Can you paint salt dough before it dries? ›

I usually dry ours in the oven because I have no patience at all, and then I leave them overnight to cool down and completely dry out! They must be 100% dry before you paint or seal them.

What to seal salt dough ornaments with? ›

How do I preserve and store these Salt Dough Ornaments? In order to keep your ornaments and use them for several years, it is best to seal them. Painting them with acrylic paint, if you choose to, will begin the process. But a coat of Mod Podge or Acrylic sealer that is applied like a spray paint will be needed.

How thick should salt dough ornaments be? ›

Roll out to a thickness of 1/8 inch; cut desired shapes with cookie cutters. Transfer dough shapes to ungreased cookie sheets; use a toothpick to make a hole in each ornament for hanging. Bake in the preheated oven until hard, about 1 hour, switching racks halfway through.

What is a good salt to flour ratio? ›

Salt provides flavor.

Generally, the correct amount of salt in bread dough is 1.8 to 2% of salt based on flour weight (that is, 1.8–2 pounds of salt per 100 pounds of flour).

What is the ratio of salt to pizza dough? ›

So, the question remains: what's the ideal quantity of salt to use when it comes to pizza dough? For Neapolitan-style pizza, Lewis recommends around 2.5 to 3% salt. For example, if you have 8 cups (1 kilogram) of flour, 2.5% of that will be 25 grams of salt.

What is the ratio of salt to flour for playdough? ›

Salt Play Dough

1-cup salt 4 cups flour 1 ½ cups water 4tbs. oil Mix flour and salt. Add water and oil slowly to the dry ingredients, stirring with a spoon until well blended. Knead dough until soft and pliable.

References

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