Turkey Bread

I'd like to promise, this is our last turkey themed project of the year, but I've already spotted at least one more turkey project, I'm sure I won't be able to pass up. After Thanksgiving though, we'll move on.

We had so much fun making "bear" bread, a couple of weeks ago, I knew we'd have to make this turkey bread, as soon as I saw it on the Wheat Council's site. They give a recipe, and instructions. We just used a normal, white bread, recipe, on the dough setting, in our bread maker, and morphed the instructions slightly. I'll repeat the step-by step here, so I can throw in some pictures, for you visual types.

Start with one loaf's worth of bread dough, made the traditional way, in the bread maker, or thawed from the store.


Divide it in half, and pat one half down on a greased cookie sheet, into a slightly, flat circle.


Divide the other half, into ten equal pieces.


Shape eight of the pieces into tear drop shapes, three to four inches long, and cut them with kitchen shears, or a sharp knife (shears work better), up the sides, to give them a feathery look.


Fan them out, pointy ends up, under the top edge of the circle, for tail feathers.


Combine the two remaining pieces of dough, and pull off three small bits, to turn into a beak, and feet. Flatten what's left of the dough into a bowling pin shape, and place it on top of the circle, to form the turkey's neck, and head.

Pinch one small piece of dough into a beak, and pinch it down into the middle of the head.


Cut small slits in the dough, to the right, and left of the beak.


Insert raisin eyes.


Form the last two scraps of dough into small circles, and snip them two, or three times on the bottom edge, to form feet. Then, place them under the bottom edge of the turkey.


Cover the turkey with a clean towel, and let it rise for about 45 minutes.

Bake for 25 minutes, at 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Rub it with butter, as soon as you remove it from the oven.

Serve.

The Wheat Council suggests drying it out, on the counter, for a few days, and using it as a Thanksgiving centerpiece. I think, fresh out of the oven, it would be quirky replacement for rolls, on the table. Or, wouldn't it be fun to make small individual turkey rolls, for each Thanksgiving guest?

Hmmm...I've got some work to do.

It's great to be a homeschooler.