A structurally sound gingerbread house. Fraiche Living
Gingerbread houses are one of the best parts of the holiday season, with tons of colorful candy, sweet frosting, and crunchy gingerbread. The problem is getting the house to stay upright with all the decorations loaded on top. This year, I want to make sure that my gingerbread house stays upright! Luckily, science has some interesting tips to make sure our gingerbread houses are structurally sound! There is a lot of really interesting science behind gingerbread house making.
It all begins with the gingerbread biscuits that create the walls and the roof of the house. UCLA’s Science and Food Organization found that for the gingerbread to be sufficiently sturdy and resistant to deformation, the dough of the cookie should be tough and springy in consistency, with decreased moisture content. This texture can be achieved by using high protein flours like bread flour, which contain larger quantities of proteins, such as glutenin and gliadin, that form an elastic gluten framework when mixed with water. This protein network is stable and stretchy, giving the baked gingerbread a tougher and denser texture.
Other food and science blogs like Serious Eats and Sally’s Baking Addiction also have some good tips. They recommend limiting or excluding leavening agents, like baking powder or baking soda, to keep the gingerbread from rising, making the cookie flatter and denser. Additionally, limiting water and eggs in the gingerbread dough will decrease steam formation, again allowing a denser and flatter cookie. Keep in mind that this means the gingerbread cookies that make good gingerbread houses are not going to be as delicious as those made for eating.
The next major component of a gingerbread house is the icing. Icing acts as a glue, keeping all components of your gingerbread house together, and should dry into a very hard cement-like structure to ensure this stability. The key is using egg whites and making a royal icing.
Egg whites are composed of many different proteins. Proteins are made of amino acids, some of which are hydrophilic (water-loving) while others are hydrophobic (water-fearing). When egg whites are beaten, the proteins in the whites denature and coagulate. When the denatured proteins are pushed against the air bubbles, the hydrophilic amino acids will stay immersed in water, while the hydrophobic amino acids will be attracted to the air, creating stiff, white, foamy peaks that make a very stable icing.
However, some people don’t like using icing to make gingerbread houses, as it can be a bit finicky. In this case, white chocolate is a great alternative, as it cools to become completely solid and is the same color as frosting. More far-out alternatives are melted caramel, gummy bears, and marshmallows, which combine to act just like super glue. However, they can be very difficult and potentially dangerous to work with when molten.
While the components that make a gingerbread house are important, a gingerbread house is not just the sum of its parts. The most crucial step is attaching all the pieces together and ensuring that the house is stable and strong. One needs to consider the shapes of the structure and the forces that act on a gingerbread house. For example, a triangle is the strongest shape. With its three sides, a triangle can absorb pressure applied to its side and remain sturdy.
In addition, the roof and the walls of a gingerbread house are affected by friction from the frosting, a force perpendicular to the surface, and gravity pulling the roof or wall down towards the ground. The best way to prevent the house from collapsing is to try and spread out the forces across as many surfaces as possible. Thus, a wider house with a flatter roof is much sturdier than a narrower house with a steep roof. Finally, if you decide to go the route of creating a tall house, buckling can occur due to the weight of all the gingerbread used. For more information, scan the QR code for an article by Tim Jones, which includes an equation to calculate the critical point where buckling occurs!
There is a lot of science that goes into building a gingerbread house! If you decide to make one this winter, try to think about some of the structural components described above. Hopefully this will make your house stay up all winter long!
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