Gluten Free Playdough

By seamline

When I was speaking with my daughter’s teacher last week, she told me that she likes to use play dough in the classroom. I told her that it would be a problem for my daughter, but that I’d be happy to make some gluten-free play dough for the class. For some classes in the past, I’ve purchased pre-made play dough, and my kids have just used their own personal supply of gluten-free play dough. But, I’ve also made play dough for the whole class to use. I’ve done well with the Kool Aid recipe below without problems, but I didn’t have the Kool Aid needed. And, I often had to add a lot of cornstarch to it after it cooked.

I decided to adjust the recipe to make it easier and faster to make. After one completely disastrous attempt, I came up with a recipe that was absolutely the easiest and fastest I’ve ever made. I kept Cream of Tartar in the recipe, but found that Xanthan Gum wasn’t needed. Five minutes of measuring and mixing, three minutes of cooking, and another five minutes of kneading in the color resulted in hours of fun! And, the texture was perfect – just like you would expect homemade play dough to be.

Ingredients

• 1 Cup White Rice Flour
• 1/2 Cup Cornstarch
• 1/2 Cup Salt
• 1 Tbsp Cream of Tartar
• 1-1/2 tsp vegetable oil
• 1 Cup Water, hot but not boiling
• Food Coloring, as desired

Details

Servings 2
Adapted from celiacfamily.com

Preparation

Step 1

1. Mix all dry ingredients together in a medium pot.

2. Add the vegetable oil, then the water, and continue to mix until thoroughly combined.

3. Heat the pot on the stove over low heat for about 3 minutes. I like to stir frequently with a silicone spatula.

4. When the dough starts to pull away from the sides easily, turn out the dough onto parchment paper. Let it cool briefly until you can work it with your hands.

5. Knead food coloring into the dough until you get the color you desire.

Additional Notes:
* Don’t overcook the dough. It shouldn’t need more than five minutes.

* To add food coloring, I use the method I’ve used since I was a kid: Using your thumbs, make a well in the middle of the ball of dough and drop the food coloring into the well. Close up the well with the outside dough, keeping the food coloring in the middle of the ball. Then, carefully begin kneading it until the color is evenly distributed throughout the dough.

* You don’t have to use the parchment paper. The dough shouldn’t be sticky. I use the parchment paper to simply keep residue and food coloring off my counter top. Wax paper or a plate would work just as well.

* If needed, adjust the texture with small amounts of water (for dry, crumbly dough) or cornstarch (for sticky dough).

* Makes about 2 cups of play dough, or about 2 baseball-size balls of dough.

* Store in tightly sealed plastic bags or containers.