I lived most of my early life thinking that gingerbread is something that cannot be made from scratch at home, and the store-bought mystery dough was all I’d seen of the process. A couple of years ago, however, I was struck by a child-like curiosity towards learning the truth behind the whole thing. I googled, I saw, I conquered. My curiosity quickly changed into anger. Why had I been kept in the dark about something so simple yet so profound? Naturally, I can’t go back in time and tell little me the truth, but I can ease the pain a little by telling it to all of you who might have lived in the same darkness for too long. So here it goes, my wonderful, versatile, gingerbread recipe:
200 g butter (coconut oil if avoiding dairy)
1,5 dl sugar (I use palm sugar)
1,5 dl syrup (I use maple syrup)
2 eggs
7-8 dl flour (I use a mix of buckwheat, rice, teff and almond)
1 dl potato flour
2 tsp baking soda
3 tsp ground cinnamon
3 tsp ground cardamom
3 tsp ground ginger
2 tsp ground cloves
a pinch of salt
+ flour for rolling the dough
+black pepper to sprinkle on top
- Leave out the butter so it softens a bit, and beat into smaller pieces.
- Add the sugar to the butter and turn until even.
- Bring the syrup to boil and pour over the sugary butter. Mix until even.
- Add the eggs and continue turning until even.
- Mix all the dry ingredients in another bowl (not the black pepper).
- Little by little, add the flour mix to the dough, continuously turning, using your hand once it begins to thicken.
- Shape the dough into a ball, wrap with cling film and place in the fridge for at least 4 hours (overnight is better).
- Sprinkle some flour on a clean table, break a piece of the dough ball, and roll it out on the floured surface using a rolling pin. Use gingerbread molds to press the dough into desired shapes.
- Place on a baking tray with baking paper, sprinkle with black pepper, and bake in 200°C for ca 5 min.
