Many people have given up on making their own play dough at home.
A lot of the recipes for play dough are missing some very important ingredients.
Many of the recipes available contain salt.
Salt, as you know, is very granular and creates a texture in play dough that isn't the most appealing.
The key to preventing this type of texture is to use a recipe that calls for cream of tartar.
Cream of tartar is used in recipes for several reasons.
When there are high concentrations of sugar or salt used in a recipe that requires heating, the sugar or salt will return to a grainy state when cooled.
The acidic properties of cream of tartar prevent salt and sugar from returning to the grainy state.
It is also used to preserve color.
After trying several recipes for play dough, I believe I have the best recipe now.
The kids love this recipe because the end result is as close as you can get to the original, in store name brand product.
Play Dough 1/2 a cup of salt 2 cups of flour 2 teaspoons of cream of tartar (very important) 2 cups of water 1 tablespoon of food coloring 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil Mix all the ingredients together in a medium size pot.
You will need a wooden spoon and you should be able to mix it pretty fast.
Turn the burner on to medium to cook the dough.
You want to stir the dough constantly.
When is starts to get stiff and pulls away from the sides of the pots, it is ready.
Turn out the dough onto a cookie sheet or waxed paper.
It may seem sticky but knead it when it cools and it will be just like the name brand dough.
Very often I divide the recipe in half to make two different colors.
If you prefer you can cook up a batch and save the food coloring for when the dough is cooled.
You can then divide it and make many different colors with the food coloring.
Store the play dough in an air tight container and it will keep for about 2 months.
Have fun and enjoy!