Paw Print Bread #BreadBakers

Some years ago, I saw pictures of a Panda Bread and an Owl floating around the internet. It was during the time that I baked bread multiple times a week so I jumped at the chance to try. I opted for the owl. I loved the turnout even though my owl looked a bit drunk. However, I never tried anymore because I remember that kneading the different colours into the dough was tedious. Fast forward to some months ago when I wanted to do a Surprise Inside cake. I nixed that idea when I realised how much cake would be wasted. But maybe I could try surprise inside bread instead? I proposed that theme to Bread Bakers. 

I am excited that so many opted to join in on creating these loaves this month. I had planned one design and then realised that I just didn't have those skills YET. Back to the drawing board. I used play dough to plan a flower inside a loaf. It worked in play dough but when I cut into my loaf, it was just random swirls. 

I decided to move onto the paw print. It wasn't easy. While I have a lot of in progress pictures of my failed flower, I don't have many of this paw. I was too busy trying to balance the four pieces of dough on top. If I did this again, I think I would go for 3 toes instead of 4. The paw pad got a bit messed up but each person I showed, immediately recognized that it was a paw. Happiness.

Not a looker. But cut him for a surprise.

Thanks to the Bread Bakers for joining me this month. Scroll down to see all their surprises and learn about our group. 

Paw Print Bread

Ingredients

400 grams flour

2 teaspoons instant yeast

3 tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1 egg

3 tablespoons oil

220 ml milk

Food colouring

Directions

Whisk flour, yeast, sugar, and salt. Add the egg, oil, and milk. Knead all the ingredients to form a shaggy dough - no more than 2 minutes. You just want the dough to just start coming together. 

Divide the dough into 2 pieces. One piece should be three times the weight of the other. Use your scale for this. Weigh the dough. Divide the weight by 4. Remove that amount of the dough and place in a separate container. 

Example. If your total dough weighs 720 grams. The smaller portion should weigh 720/4 = 180 g. 

Knead the larger portion until it forms a soft, slightly tacky dough. 

Add food colouring of your choice to the second piece and knead until the colour is evenly distributed. This takes a few minutes. I used about 10 drops or so of red food colouring to achieve this colour. 

Cover both pieces of dough and leave to bulk ferment at room temperature until doubled. You can also refrigerate overnight. That is my preferred method. 

When the dough has doubled, the fun begins. 

Grease a loaf pan. I used a 9" x 5" pan but I think an 8" x 4" might make handling the toes easier. Or just doing three toes. I will experiment. 

Divide the coloured dough into two equal pieces. 

Divide one portion into  equal pieces. These will be the toes. The larger dough will be the paw pad. 

Divide the white dough into two pieces. One piece should be slightly larger. Now, divide the larger portion into 4 equal pieces. The large portion will surround the paw pad and the smaller pieces will surround the toes. 

Take the large coloured dough and stretch and roll it into a rectangle that's about 8" x 3". This is a rough measurement. Roll into a tight log. 

Take the large white dough and stretch and roll into a rectangle about 8" x 3". Place the coloured log on this white rectangle and roll it up really tight. 

Place seam side down in a greased loaf pan. 

Take a small coloured ball and stretch and roll it into an 8 inch by 1 inch rectangle. Roll this into a tight log. I guess you could roll it into a log as the beginning but I worry that this is what went wrong with my flower. 

Take a small white ball and stretch and roll it into a. 8 inch by 3 inch rectangle. Place the coloured log on this rectangle and roll it up really tight. 

Repeat with the other three coloured toes and their white "covers". 

Place the toes on top of the pad. It could get a bit top heavy. Just hope for the best. 

Allow to proof at room temperature until the dough is puffy. Before the dough is ready, preheat oven to 350 F. 

Bake the risen dough for 30-35 minutes. 

Remove from oven. Cool, slice and marvel at your amazing work. 

• Broccoli Bread from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Cheesy Chicken Stuffed Bread from Making Miracles
• Cinnamon Apple Surprise Bread from Food Lust People Love
• Giraffe Print Bread from Ambrosia
• Leopard Print Milk Bread from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Paw Print Bread from Passion Kneaded
• Peek-a-boo Panda Bread from Culinary Adventures with Camilla
• Picasso Floral Surprise Loaf from A Messy Kitchen
• Sourdough Coconut Swirl Bread from Zesty South Indian Kitchen
• Swirl Sourdough Whole Wheat Bread (Chocolate, Garlic & Herbs) from Cook with Renu
• Whey Watermelon Bread from Sneha's Recipe

 #BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. Follow our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated each month on this home page.

We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient.