Gluten free playdough is an essential option for children with celiac disease or who have a wheat allergy. Most regular playdough recipes and store brought playdough’s contain gluten, and whilst playdough is not made for consumption, a young child may not understand the importance of keeping their hands, playdough or play equipment away from their faces and mouth when playing with it. Even the smallest trace of gluten can make someone who has celiac disease extremely unwell, this is why it is safer for these children to use gluten free playdough.
After having a child diagnosed with celiac disease ourselves, I decided to turn our regular playdough recipe into a gluten free one and now I’m sharing it with you.
Let’s dive in !
What you need
- 1 1/2 cups of white rice flour ( no recommended rice flour brand just whatever is cheapest option)
- 1 cup cornflour ( make sure your getting gf cornflour- some contain gluten… check your labels
- 1/2 cup table salt
- 5 teaspoons cream of tartar
- 3 tablespoons oil ( I use rice bran but vegetable and olive should work)
- 2 1/4 cups of water
- A couple drops of food colouring ( liquid or gel)
+ medium saucepan and wooden spoon or silicone spatula.
+ a little bit more rice flour for kneading.
* you HAVE to cook this recipe. It is very thin at the beginning and thickens up as you cook it.
Instructions
- Combine all dry ingredients in a medium saucepan. Add oil to dry ingredients. Next slowly add water, stirring consistently until it’s all combined and is a smooth, thick consistency.
- Cook on a medium heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon or silicone spatula to ensure to mixture doesn’t get stuck to the bottom. Continue to do this until the slurry becomes a very thick dough ( this part can require some elbow grease to keep stirring when it’s thick but don’t rush it. If it’s thickening faster than you can work with it, reduce the heat). It is finished cooking once there is no more wet areas and looks like a shaggy dough ball.
- Transfer your dough to a bowl to cool down, or put it on a heat proof surface to cool until you can touch it.
- Once it’s cooled, lightly flour the surface of your bench and begin kneading your dough until it’s beautifully soft and smooth. (If your dough is slightly sticky, add a little sprinkle of rice flour and knead until it is no longer. If your dough is REALLY sticky and you can’t work with it, this means you haven’t cooked it long enough).
- Now you can seperate it into portions and colour it, or colour the whole lot one colour or keep it white.. choice is yours! To colour it, just add a couple drops of your desired food colouring and knead until it’s coloured. ( gel food colouring works best because it doesn’t add too much liquid into the dough and its really pigmented so you don’t need much. If using liquid food colouring, and it’s made your dough slightly wet and sticky just add a little bit more rice flour and knead until you’re happy with the texture).
Thats it ! Super easy and it lasts for weeks if stored in an airtight container.
Have fun little daydreamers xx