microwave your salt dough! dont blame me if you get addicted...LOL

[Blackhorse]

ok I am soo chuffed to bits right now..

I love salt dough and I hate drying the stuff.. it takes too long for my liking..
well I found out you can do it in the microwave!!!

there is a drawback that it will buldge up...but I found a way to avoid it..(for flat shapes like things cut out with cookie cutters anyways..)

make your salt dough...roll out...cut ouf any shapes you like with cookie cutters or whatever else takes your fancy

then put them on a plate suiteable for the microwave...then place another plate on top of the salt dough shapes..this will weigh them down and keep them nice and flat

turn on microwave on full power for 1 minute. (it smells of pop corn at that stage I find)..then remove the plate from the top as it traps moisture...put back into the microwave for another 30 seconds or so to finish drying...

and hey presto...ready dried salt dough shapes to colour in and varnish...

have already done a couple of very nice christmas trees...well the first one has a belly like santa clause..it was at this point I decided to use a 2nd plate to make a sandwich..

microwave times will vary so be careful not to burn your salt dough..

....going away to think of a way to dry other larger shaped saltdough objects like candle holders quickly without deforming them....

EDIT: Keep the plate on top of the salt dough for the whole drying time...it can still buldge sometimes even if already 'baked' for a minute or two..works very well though