Painted gingerbread is always a holiday

2024 Author: Isabella Gilson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:14

Gingerbread is a confection, the taste of which has been familiar to us since childhood. And how many kinds of them exist: honey, walnut, chocolate, gingerbread with cinnamon, honey, painted and, of course, Tula gingerbread.

Types of gingerbread

Painted gingerbread is a flour confection made from a special gingerbread dough with jam, honey, jam, nuts, candied fruits and other sweets. Few people know that the gingerbread appeared a long time ago, but in many countries this type of sweet symbolizes a holiday, happiness.

The first mention of it appeared in Russia in the 9th century. And it was gingerbread that they began to call it after they began to use various spices for cooking.

The shape of this product is flat, it can be round, oval or square, but with the obligatory application of a special pattern on it.

There are several types of gingerbread:

1. Printed, made using special gingerbread boards. As a rule, apple or pear wood was used for their manufacture. To do this, it was carefully dried and only then craftsmen applied on ityour skillful drawing. Moreover, this was a very difficult and responsible procedure. The drawings were different, from simple ones with congratulatory inscriptions to complex ones in the form of angels, animals, nesting dolls.
2. Stucco gingerbread. They could be molded by hand.
3. Silhouette gingerbread, the so-called royal gingerbread. It was distinguished by its special beauty, shape and painting using various elements, such as gold leaf, feathers.

Tula gingerbread

Not a single gingerbread in the world can be compared with Tula. Its recipe was carefully guarded for a long time and was strictly inherited from generation to generation and only to sons.

Tula confectioners were famous all over the world for the quality and taste of their gingerbread. Even special fairs were organized in St. Petersburg, where Tula masters had the opportunity to present their next masterpiece.

It was in this city that they began to bake painted gingerbread, stuffed, unusual shape, honey, custard.

World confectioners claim that the main secret of the Tula gingerbread is the correct matching of flour and water. However, craftsmen insist that the main secret lies in cooking it on Tula soil, from Tula flour enriched with delicious Tula air.

It was prestigious to present a real Tula painted gingerbread as a gift for any holiday.

Recently, a museum of gingerbread was opened in Tula. Despite its young age, the museum is already very popular with tourists.

Tula gingerbread recipe

You can try to cook Tula gingerbread at home. This recipe is for making gingerbread stuffed. For this you will need:

• 100 grams of butter or margarine;
• 1 glass of sugar;
• 2 tbsp honey;
• half a glass of milk;
• 1 teaspoon baking soda;
• half a teaspoon of cinnamon;
• 1 egg;
• jam or jam;
• 3, 5 cups sifted flour;
• ground ginger and a pinch of black pepper.

To knead the dough, melt the margarine, and beat the protein from one egg with a whisk. Mix all the remaining ingredients and pour in the protein, then ghee. Knead elastic dough. Then roll out one half of it with a thickness of 6-7 mm. Place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Lubricate with your favorite jam, and top with the remaining dough. You can cut out various figures or flowers from the rest of the dough using ordinary molds. Top with yolk. Bake in the oven for about 20 minutes at 180 degrees. Royal gingerbread is ready.

Painting gingerbread: types

Painted gingerbread is not only a delicious confectionery product, but also an object, when decorating which a whole art can be born.

Today, there are as many types of decorating gingerbread as there are bakers. The recipe for making cream may be the most unique, but basically they are all based on icing.

The gingerbread decorating technique can be as simple as just applying an even layer of sweet icingover the entire surface of the cake. It is noteworthy that it should be applied only after the gingerbread itself has cooled well, otherwise the sugar used for the glaze may simply melt and spread.

The next type of decorating and painting a gingerbread is applying carved figures from gingerbread dough to it. To glue the gingerbread with a decoration, it is necessary to carefully smear its still raw base with egg yolk, and then put a decoration on top of it, which is also greased.

Art painting. Here you will need imagination and skills. If you do not know how to draw, then you can get out of the situation in a simple way: prepare glaze of different colors. To do this, add food coloring to it while still hot to achieve the desired color. Again - the icing must be applied to the cooled gingerbread.

Gingerbread frosting recipe

Preparing the glaze is very easy. For this we need:

1. Powdered sugar, if not, then regular sugar will have to grind in a coffee grinder.
2. One egg protein.

Mix powdered sugar with egg white in the ratio of 250 grams of powder 1 protein. If the glaze turns out to be liquid, then add more powder, if it is thick, then you can add a little water. But don't overdo it - we don't need syrup.

If you have achieved a good glaze consistency, then you need to immediately transfer it to a bag or a pastry bag and start decorating the gingerbread cookies as you wish.

This type of glaze can be used for bothpouring the gingerbread completely, and for painting it. An important tip: if the glaze turned out to be too much, then it is recommended to store it under a damp towel until use, otherwise it will dry out.

If, in the process of applying air bubbles to the gingerbread, then just take a toothpick and pierce them. Painted gingerbread is a whole heritage, it is a tradition that has been passed down for centuries. Bake gingerbread - it's always a holiday, fun and joy!