A small gingerbread house that fits one baking sheet
With one batch of dough and one pan, it's easiest when all six pieces (two gable walls, two side walls, two roof panels) bake at the same time. They then come out equally done and equally thick. The houses marked "fits one" bake on a US half sheet pan (18 × 13 in) in one go.
| Footprint | Walls | Pitch | Half sheets | Quarter sheets | Dough | Template |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 × 5 in | 3 in | 45° | 1 fits one | 3 | 608 g | Open |
| 3.5 × 6 in | 3 in | 45° | 1 fits one | 2 | 625 g | Open |
| 4 × 5.5 in | 3 in | 35° | 1 fits one | 3 | 601 g | Open |
| 4 × 5 in | 3.5 in | 35° | 1 fits one | 3 | 617 g | Open |
| 4.5 × 5 in | 3 in | 35° | 1 fits one | 2 | 615 g | Open |
| 5 × 5 in | 3 in | 35° | 1 fits one | 3 | 666 g | Open |
| 6 × 8 in | 4 in | 45° | 2 | 6 | 1,299 g | Open |
Dough rolled to 1/4 in, 1/2 in roof overhang, side walls between the gables. Pieces about 0.79 in apart and 0.79 in from the rim. Dough includes 25% for trimmings.
What decides the fit
The gable walls are usually the tallest pieces. Their height is the wall height plus the roof's rise, and the rise grows with both the house width and the pitch. A narrow house with a gentle roof is the easiest to fit.
Here is one 4 × 5 in house with 3.5 in walls at three roof pitches:
| Pitch | Peak | Gable wall | Roof panel | Half sheets |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 35° | 4.9 in | 4 × 4.9 in | 6 × 2.94 in | 1 |
| 45° | 5.5 in | 4 × 5.5 in | 6 × 3.33 in | 2 |
| 55° | 6.36 in | 4 × 6.36 in | 6 × 3.99 in | 2 |
The sheet counts treat every piece as its bounding rectangle. A gable wall leaves two empty triangles beside its peak, so with some shuffling a side wall's corner can sometimes tuck into that space. If a house in the table needs two sheets by a small margin, try it on paper first.
Leave room between the pieces. Gingerbread spreads a little, and pieces that bake into each other need recutting. Trim the edges against the paper template while the dough is still warm and soft.
On a 40 × 30 cm oven tray
Built-in oven trays are often about 45 × 37 cm (the Bosch HEZ631070 is 45.5 × 37.5 cm). 40 × 30 cm leaves room for the rim and fits smaller ovens too. Measure the flat part of yours. These assume dough rolled to 6 mm and a 1.5 cm overhang.
| Footprint | Walls | Pitch | Trays | Dough | Template |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 × 10 cm | 7 cm | 45° | 1 fits one | 482 g | Open |
| 8 × 12 cm | 7 cm | 45° | 1 fits one | 459 g | Open |
| 9 × 13 cm | 7 cm | 35° | 1 fits one | 489 g | Open |
| 12 × 15 cm | 9 cm | 45° | 2 | 806 g | Open |
| 15 × 20 cm | 10 cm | 45° | 3 | 1,211 g | Open |
Your own size
The template generator counts the sheets for any size and any pan. Open "Baking sheet and dough density" and enter your pan. For bigger houses, see the dimensions guide, and for putting the pieces together the assembly guide.