Wednesday Baking | Easter Bears
Today's recipe is a long-standing Easter tradition in my immediate family. My mom didn't bake bread quite as often as I do, but we did almost always have a loaf of bear bread for our Easter breakfast. I'm not entirely sure why we eat bear bread at Easter instead of bunny bread, but we do. You can use the dough to make a bunny (I've done it before), but habits are hard to break, and so to me, bear bread seems very appropriate for an Easter breakfast. 😉
The dough recipe is from my grandma, my dad's mom. She hand-wrote a lot of her recipes down and put them in an notebook for my dad when he left home, and this recipe is one of those. I have a scanned copy of it in my recipe binder, and I love to look at this recipe written in my grandma's handwriting.
Grandmothers' handwriting is special, you know? This is the same familiar handwriting present on so many birthday cards and Christmas cards and letters and notes (my grandma and grandpa lived in South Dakota, far away from my childhood home, so my grandma sent my siblings and me lots of mail), and I like it better than any font.
Though my grandma shunned technology and modern advancements (she used a wringer instead of a washing machine until she died!), I have no doubt in my mind that she'd be very pleased to see her recipe featured on my blog. My grandma lived through the depression and was, as a result, exceedingly frugal, so if she was still here, I'm quite sure she'd be an ardent supporter of my blog and what it represents. 😉
She used this dough to make sweet rolls during our summer visits (oh, delicious memories!), and I'll probably show you how to do that in a future post, but for today we're going to use the dough to make Easter bears.
First, dissolve 2 packages of yeast (4 ½ teaspoons) in ⅓ cup of warm water.
Then heat the milk, butter, sugar, and salt together to about 110 degrees F. My grandma did this in a saucepan on the stove, but a microwave works too. 😉
Add the warm milk mixture to the yeast mixture along with about 3 cups of the flour. Beat for several minutes.
Add enough additional flour to make a soft dough, turn out onto a floured surface, and knead for 3-5 minutes, or until smooth and elastic.
I completely forgot to take a picture of the dough when I turned it out onto the counter, so all I have is a picture of the kneaded dough.
Place the dough back into the mixing bowl, cover with a wet tea towel, and let it rise in a warm place for an hour. Punch the dough down, and divide it into fourths.
This amount of dough will make two bears if you divide it as follows. Leave 2 fourths alone, as these will be the bodies. Divide 1 fourth in half to make two head pieces, and divide the remaining fourth into 14 pieces for the paws, ears, and noses.
Shape each piece into a neat ball, and arrange them on a greased baking sheet like so:
Normally I use raisins for the eyes and belly button, but I only had craisins on hand.
I think this makes the bear look a little bit possessed prior to baking.
Anyways, cover the bears with a wet tea towel, and let them rise in a warm place for about 30 minutes, or until they're doubled in size and look soft and puffy.
Bake in a preheated 350 degree F oven for 25-30 minutes or until brown. Because of the unusual shape of this bread, you'll need to make sure you bake it sufficiently...if you take it out when the nose looks done, the neck area of the bread will be doughy and undercooked. So, don't judge the done-ness by the appendages!
I was relieved to see that the heat of the oven turned the craisins black...my bear looks much less disturbing now.
When I was a kid, I loved to eat the paws and ears warm, with a bit of butter inserted in the middle. So tasty.
If you're not eating the bread promptly, you'll want to let it cool on a wire rack. I find a plastic cooking spatula to be very helpful in removing the bread from the baking sheet to the rack. I use the spatula to loosen the bear from the baking sheet and then I kind of slide the bear onto the cooling rack.
I hope you enjoy our non-traditional Easter tradition. 😉
Printable Sweet Dough/Bear Bread Recipe
Sweet Dough for Bear Bread
2 pkg. (4.5 teaspoons) active dry yeast
2 cups milk
½ cup sugar
½ cup butter (8 tablespoons)
2 teaspoons salt
2 eggs
about 6.5 cups flour
In a large mixing bowl, dissolve yeast in ⅓ cup warm water. Heat milk, sugar, butter, and salt to 110 degrees F. Add to dissolved yeast along with eggs and 3 cups of flour. Beat for 3 minutes on medium speed (or stir thoroughly by hand). Add enough of the remaining flour to make a soft dough.
Turn dough out onto a floured surface and knead for 3-5 minutes or until smooth and elastic. Place in a bowl, cover with a wet tea towel, and let rise 1 hour.
Punch dough down and divide into fourths. Shape 2 fourths into balls and place on two greased baking sheets to serve as the body of the bear. Divide 1 fourth in half, shape each piece into a ball, and place above the body piece to serve as the head. Divide remaining fourth into 14 pieces, and shape each piece into a ball. Use 4 balls for the paws, 2 balls for the ears, and 1 ball for the nose of each bear.
Cover the bears with a wet tea towel and let them rise in a warm place for 30 minutes, or until doubled. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 25-30 minutes, or until browned. Cool on a wire rack.
TOOOO CUTE!! Loving the belly button. This is so special. Thank-you for sharing! The kids will love this.
That is so adorable!! One day when I have more counter space in my apartment I hope to try this! I am sure he (or she) is a delicious bear, too 🙂 lol
What a lovely tradition! I have my grandmother's (dad's mom) yeast biscuit recipe that she wrote out for me, and like you, I treasure it because of the memories that come flooding back when I see her writing. We only saw her in the summer when we were growing up, and all we seemd to talk about between visits was eating her biscuits. She made them for us over and over, something that must have been unbearable at times in the hot, sticky, and humid Indiana summer weather. I've made them many times, but they never taste as good as hers did.
And my other grandmother also used a wringer washer!
I love this too!! Sounds easier now that you've explained exactly how you make it... thanks for sharing with us!
Oh wow!!! They are so cute and adorable. I'm going to learn to bake one day, lol. I need a mixer since I've been using my whisk for the simple recipes that I do make.
That is seriously cute. I may do that for my family on Easter Sunday. Here in France, brunch is not such a common thing, but they love fresh baked stuff when they wake up in the morning!
This is so cute. Can I half this receipe and only make 1 bear? Also, you have talked before about putting dough in the fridge, can I put the dough in the fridge after it has risen and I have shaped it, but before the 2nd rise? Then when we are ready I will let it rise and put it in the oven (so we can have it warm). I am pretty new to bread, your stuff looks so good that I have been trying some of it. Also, I got a Kitchen aid for Christmas and have had a great time playing with it. This gives me another reason to use it! Thanks!
I love that one Easter, when I was a kid, my mother made rabbit for Easter dinner. It wasn't until I made the comment that we were eating the Easter bunny that she realized her logic error.
So, I love the idea of an Easter bear!
So adorable! We are headed back home for the Easter weekend so I will have my full kitchen back for a few days. I just might have to try this one!
Aww so cute! Looks like a giant Teddy Graham 🙂
There is a large Portuguese population where I grew up and where my parents live, and around Easter the bakeries always have Portuguese sweet bread with an egg in the middle. It's a round loaf of bread with literally a raw egg in the shell pressed into the middle of the loaf. Very yummy. Is there something about sweet bread and Easter, or is this coincidental?
For the non-artistically inclined, can you tell us how to make a bunny? It doesn't have to the be the full "9 photos and long description" treatment (assuming you're capable of not doing the full photo treatment) but I could really use the help.
I guess there wouldn't be a Passover equivalent, would there? Maybe one coud mock something up out of matzo balls or coconut meringues.
WilliamB,
I found a few interesting "bunny breads" by using google images. I did a search for "bunny breads" and there are several ways that they are shown! I hope that you can find one that works for you!
Kate
I love handwritten recipes too! I have a couple from my grandma and a few from my husband's favorite aunt. I cherish them and I never get rid of them.
This is adorable- I love that it's an Easter bear (inexplicably)- I love those family traditions that we sometimes don't even know the root of. And when we find out it's often some kind of mistake or substitution, usually completely unplanned.
A possessed bear- that cracked me up!
Thanks for sharing such a special and meaningful recipe with us 🙂
I love your grandma recipe i wish my grandma's had baked .. The bear is so cute .Thank you for inspiring me to try homemade bread recipes ...Love it and so does my daughter who is 14 .thank you again
Have you ever made white chocolate bread? I researched and found a bread maker recipe but I would rather use a stand-mixer. White chocolate bread is seeming to become a family favorite...
So cute. I'm not a baker, but this seems like such a great idea for a cute breakfast treat.
My grandmother used a wringer washer until she died too!
Thanks for the recipe.
I'm surprising the kids with bread in the shape of a turtle for Easter dinner.
I use this dough for cinnamon rolls and pigs in a blanket every Christmas. Thank you for making this a memorable meal every year.