Yesterday’s Bunny Bread Experiment was a big success.  I ended up using some tips that I’d found on the web along with some things I’d observed at our local grocery store’s bunny bread.  And of course I had to make my own dough with the bread machine.  Here’s what I did . . . .

The Dough

This is the same recipe that I used when I made hamburger buns and dinner rolls.  Use the dough setting on your bread machine.  Follow the instructions that came with your bread machine in terms of which ingredients to put in the machine first.

1 – 1/2 Cups water
1 – 1/2 Tablespoons olive oil
3 – 3/4 Cups bread flour
1 – 1/2 Tablespoons sugar
1 – 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 – 1/2 teaspoons active bread yeast

The Bunny

Place the dough on a floured surface.  Divide the dough into two sections, one should be about 2/3 of the dough (we’ll call this part one) and the other section will be about 1/3 of the dough (we’ll call this part two).

Have a greased baking sheet ready.  That’s where you’ll assemble Mr. Bunny.

Part One – Head and Body

Divide this section of the dough into two sections.  This time we’ll use 3/4 of the dough for the body and 1/4 of the dough for the head.

Take the body section and make it into an oval.  Place it toward the bottom of the baking sheet.

Take the head section and make it into a pear shape.  Place it above the body section with the wider end touching the body.

Part Two – Ears and Paws

Divide this section of dough into four equal sections.

Take one dough portion and divide it in two for the top paws.  Form two ovals and place one on each side of the body.

Take another dough portion and divide it in two for the bottom paws.  Form two ovals and place one on each side of the bottom of the body.

You have two dough sections left.  These will be the ears.  Roll each of the sections into dough ropes.  Fold the ropes in half and arrange by the head.  (Place the rope ends toward the head.)  If you’re running out of room on the baking sheet the ears can go downward.  I opted for one going up and one going kind of sideways.

The Finishing Touches

Use raisins for eyes.  I found two raisins that were stuck together for the nose.  Using a sharp knife (sharper than mine anyway) make cuts on the bunny’s face for whiskers.

Baking

This is what you should have at this point.  I’d like to take this opportunity to ask you to overlook the state of our well-used pan.

Cover the rolls with a clean, light-weight kitchen towel and let the dough rise for half an hour. Then brush the dough with one beaten egg.

Place the rabbit bread in a 400 degree oven for 15 to 20 minutes.

And that’s it.  If you’d like you can hollow out the tummy and use it as a place for chip dip.  We had soup for dinner last night so we just ate the bunny bread along with the soup.