Wednesday Baking | Turtle Rolls
Every Wednesday (ok, most Wednesdays!) I share a baking recipe. And lots of pictures of said baking recipe. I don't call this Wednesday Baking because I bake solely on Wednesdays...no, my oven gets a workout much more frequently than once a week! Wednesday just happens to be the day I share baking recipes with you. All the past baking posts are archived in the Wednesday Baking category, which can also be found in a tab underneath my blog header.
If you've been a Frugal Girl devotee for long at all, you probably are well aware of Sonia's turtle obsession. For her birthday last week, she requested that I make snake rolls, so that was the plan.
But around lunchtime, plans changed because somehow, I remembered that in one of my Fleischmann's Yeast cookbooks there was a recipe for turtle-shaped rolls. Sure enough, I looked it up, and there was a photo of turtle rolls!
The original recipe was for a peanut butter yeast dough, though, which kind of squicks me out. I suppose it's possible that the recipe is delicious, but I'm skeptical.
Peanut butter + chocolate? Yes.
Peanut butter + jelly/honey? Mmm-hmm.
Peanut butter in most non-yeast baked goods? I'm totally open.
But for some reason, the idea of peanut butter bread is just...weird.
So, I made my usual Basic Roll recipe and use the Fleischmann's directions for the shaping.
One recipe of Basic Roll dough will make 16 turtles. I'm going to warn you, though, they do take some time to shape. I was in a bit of a hurry the day I made them, so I made 8 turtles and used the rest of the dough to make simple rosette rolls (directions and photos are included in the basic roll recipe).
Ok! So, you've got your risen batch of roll dough. Divide it into 16 equal pieces.
You can shape your turtle using any proportions you want, but here's how I did it.
Take one of the 16 portions of dough, and remove ⅔ (this will be the body). Divide the remaining third in half. Use half to make 4 legs, and use the other half to make a head and a tail.
Here's a labeled version, in case you like more detail.
Shape the body and head portions into a ball shape and place on a greased baking sheet. Roll the tail and leg portions into small, stubby rope shapes (I made the tail portion more pointy), and tuck under the turtle's body in the appropriate places.
Once your baking sheet is populated with turtles, cover them with a damp tea towel, and let them rise in a warm place for about 30 minutes (45 if your kitchen is chilly).
Before the turtles bake, cut raisins into small pieces, and push into the turtle's head for eyes.
Using a kitchen scissors, make cuts on top of the turtle's back for texture and on his flippers to make them look webbed.
Your turtles are now ready to bake!
Bake them in a preheated 350 ° F oven for 12-15 minutes, or until they're lightly browned.
Let them cool on a wire rack. I think they're at their yummiest served warm, but then again, leftover rolls never linger long at Chez Frugal Girl, so they must not be terribly inferior when completely cool.
Now, some of your turtle's eyes may pop out during baking, but never fear! Blind turtles are easily healed. Just cut up a new raisin, use a paring knife to make two slits in the turtle's head, and tuck the raisins in. No one will ever know. 😉
Incidentally, the roll-shaping possibilities are nearly endless....I've made bears, bunnies, and snakes before(as you can see above!), so if turtles aren't your thing, try something else. As long as your shape isn't too big and can lay down flat on the pan, it should work.
You know what I just realized I haven't made? I did snakes for Joshua, Peep bunny rolls for Lisey, and turtles for Sonia, but I have not made any aquatic creature rolls for Zoe. I need to rectify that...I bet I could make whales or fish.
And of course, when I do, I'll report back on how it works out.
You could use whole cloves for eyes too!
Hello Mrs. FG,
Just a couple of questions regarding your baking/grocery supplies.
1. Where do you buy bulk yeast? Your price, tho I don't remember it, was great!
2. You get your milk from a local dairy ( I think); how did you go about finding that dairy and what is your cost (if you don't mind sharing).
3. Do you buy bulk flour or just use Aldi?
DH & I watched the documentary Food Inc. the other night & were disturbed at what is being produced to say the least. We eat simply and mostly from scratch. However,we would like to eat organic or naturally raised meat, but it isn't financially feasible for us right now. Aldi's milk is 99c/gallon and eggs are 49c/dz, which is hard to pass up, unless you start thinking about the conditions the animals were in when they produced the food. Any suggestions on going natural or organic? Thank you for your simple insperation!
"Any suggestions on going natural or organic?"
Here are some ideas, I expect that none of them are feasible for everyone so pick what might work for you:
- Eat less meat & dairy, allowing to spend more per lb.
- Raise a garden or chickens, or trade something (labor? sewing?) with someone who does.[1] Even a window box of herbs can save you a ton of money and yield fresher, more natural food.
- Buy meat in bulk, meaing half a pig, quarter of a cow, etc. I just got half a pig for about $4/lb, including butchering, cutting to my order, shrinkwrapping/labeling/freezing, and some cuts cured. (I can't wait to pick it up when the curing is done.) http://www.localharvest.org as one place to find sources.
- Read M Pollan's "The Omnivore's Dilemma" before deciding if organic is what you want. It really helped me focus on what I wanted when I thought "organic" and it turns out that I didn't really want organic. Turns out I don't want organic meat, I want happy meat - animals raised as god/nature intended. BTW, there's no way to make chicken inexpensive without a confined operation; if you want happy chicken it's going to be at least as expensive as pork or beef.
[1] This is coming from someone with a pure black thumb - I make fantastic soil but I'm not so good at getting food to grow in it - so I'm not trying to minimize the effort involved.
Fabulous rolls! My kids would go crazy if I made animal shaped rolls. Today is baking day so maybe the hamburger buns will be turtle or pig shaped ( we have pig fans here) this week. Maybe sloppy joes will be a gourmet treat on a animal shaped roll! 🙂
Soooooooo cute!!!
THOSE TURTLES LOOK AWESOME!!! I CAN SEE GOLDFISH FOR ZOE! YOU ARE AN AWESOME BAKER!!! HAVE YOU USED CHOCOLATE CHIPS FOR EYES?
Starfish rolls for Zoe would be easyyyyy
You are a super nice mom! Thanks for sharing 🙂
The turtles are so cute! I wish I had even the tiniest bit of creativity as you.
Going to all the trouble to make Turtles b/c they're your daughter's fave = Mother LOVE. Blessings to all of you.
Those are the cutest rolls ev-ah!!! 🙂
So cute! We use the same concept to make teddy Bear pancakes - just use a spoon to put out the big circle, smaller circle for the head, smaller still for legs and ears. The kids loved it.
Oh my goodness! Those are the cutest little guys!
Yummy I would like to do that with other types of breads to serve with dinner. My kids love that. Great ideas you always have.
Baked thees today. My kids loved them.
Those are some of the cutest rolls ever. I hope Sonia enjoys them for her birthday. 🙂