Santa Bread - #BreadBakers

This month I challenged the Bread Bakers to create art with their dough and I am so excited that so many were able to join me. Dough can be such an amazing canvas to work with. You can braid it. You can take your lame to it. You can twist it and turn it and add some colours and veggies to it. The possibilities are endless.  

For my part, I decided to go with the spirit of the season and make a Santa Bread.  Santa Bread has been on my To-Do list for years. In fact, Facebook reminded me of it just yesterday.  It is actually pretty easy to make and I had wanted to make several versions but I ran out of time. By the way, my nephew and Santa had a run-in so his nose was creased. 

Santa Bread

Ingredients

400 grams flour

3 tablespoons sugar 

2 teaspoons yeast 

1 teaspoon salt 

220 ml milk

3 tablespoons oil 

1 egg yolk, beaten

2 raisins, currants, or chocolate chips (eyes)

1 egg yolk (egg wash)

Red food colouring (painting)

Directions 

Mix together all the ingredients (except the raisins, egg yolk for egg wash, and food colouring) and then knead until you have a smooth dough. The dough should not be sticky. If it is sticky, add in some more flour. Place the dough in a greased bowl. Cover and allow the dough to rest at room temperature until it has doubled. Alternatively, you can allow it to rest in the refrigerator overnight. 

Now it's time to have some fun!

Divide the dough into 4 equal pieces. 

Take the first piece and flatten it into an oval/circle. Mine had a diameter of about 5 inches. This will be Santa's face. 

Take a second piece and shape it into a rough triangle then form it around Santa's head for his hat. 

The third piece will be Santa's beard. I wanted to try some different beard techniques here. In this version, I formed an elongated semi-oval/ U-type thing, put it in place, and adjusted it as necessary. 

The fourth piece will form the band for Santa's hat, the pompom on the tip of his hat, his moustache, nose, cheeks, and eyebrows. You can even use the dough for the eyes. I didn't have any black or brown paint so I stuck with the raisins. 

Use scissors and snip the beard, if you like. You can use any extra dough for any decorations for your Santa.  Put in his eyes.

Preheat oven to 350 F. 

Let Santa rise until very puffy. Whisk the egg yolk with a splash of water and paint over the beard, moustache, face, eyebrows, hat band and pom pom. 

Add some red food colouring to the remaining yolk and paint the hat, cheeks, and nose. 

Bake 35 minutes until golden. 

When the Santa has cooled, you can touch up any areas with plain food colouring. 

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• Santa Bread from Passion Kneaded
• Shekerbura from A Messy Kitchen
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• Wool Roll Bread With Cranberries 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.