Adolf Loos Gingerbread

"When I want to eat a piece of gingerbread, I choose a piece that is plain, not a piece shaped like a heart, or a baby, or a cavalryman, covered over and over with decoration."

That is architect and theorist Adolf Loos, writing in his essay "Ornament and Crime".

Once upon a time, my friend A. was taking a much beloved history of architecture class. The final project was an architectural model, and these were all displayed at a festive show in the art building at the end of the semester. A. thought it would be dandy, considering the Loos quote, to make some very plain gingerbread cookies, accompanied by a very plain label bearing that quote. But she was working up to the very last minute on her model, so I volunteered to be her technician.

What, we wondered, would qualify as the most functional and plain possible shape for the cookies? Round was all right, but didn't make very efficient use of each rolled-out sheet of dough, requiring unnecessary re-gatherings and re-rollings. Squares were appealing, but the corners always cooked faster than everywhere else, resulting in an unhappy inconsistency in the texture of the finished cookie. We settled on using the top to a container of amaretti, which had rounded corners. We would use A.'s mother's excellent gingerbread recipe, and of course no icing.

They did indeed look very stark and functional, piled up on the plainest white plate. Then we tried them and discovered that hey! This was a really excellent size and shape for gingerbread! The cookies were indeed evenly cooked to a delightful degree. They fit pleasingly in the hand. They tasted good and were large enough to feel like a substantial treat, but not so large as to be overwhelming.

As S. said when I told him this story, it is a happy fable about two girls who intend to merely imitate form following function, for the sake of appearances, but find that their functional form does indeed follow function, and they like it.

ADOLF LOOS GINGERBREAD
This is a large batch of a very stiff dough. You can make it by hand, but a Kitchen-Aid is of course easier. I suspect most hand mixers wouldn't be able to handle the dough after the flour goes in. It can be divided in half.

1/3 c. Crisco
1 c. brown sugar
1 1/2 c. molasses
2/3 c. cold water
7 c. flour
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. allspice
1 Tbs. ginger
1 tsp. ground cloves
1-2 tsp. cinnamon

Cream sugar, Crisco, and molasses together in a very large bowl until fluffy. Add the cold water and mix. Sift together the remaining ingredients and add in thirds. Mix thoroughly.

Gather the dough into a ball. You may want to divide it into a few batches for easier handling later. Wrap in plastic wrap or wax paper and chill for an hour or more.

Roll dough to about 1/4" thickness, perhaps a little less. Cut out your cookies. Bake on an ungreased sheet at 350° F. until the cookies are softish but bounce back from a touch, but before the edges get dark. This will vary depending on the thickness of your dough and the size of your cookies. I seem to recall that it tends to take about 14 minutes, but I don't know where I got that number from. Keep an eye on them.

Posted by redfox at August 28, 2003 06:25 AM (essays)

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