the Ferndale Baker: EASTER BUNNY BUNS !

The Easter Bunny was brought to America by the German settlers who arrived in the Pennsylvania Dutch
country during the 1700s. The arrival of the Osterhase or Easter Bunny, was considered one of "childhood's greatest pleasures," similar to the arrival of the Christkind on Christmas Eve. The Easter Bunny would, if the children had been good, lay brightly colored eggs in nests (usually made of baskets or hats) that the children would place in secluded areas of the house. From this came the hiding of the eggs and the Easter egg hunt.

I used to make these little sweet dough Easter bunnies when I was a kid, my Dad would have us kids help him around the holidays making things like this. Good memories.

I am planning on making some sweet dough bunnies for the Family Easter get together this year.
I hope to involve my kids too this year again although they seem to be getting a little old for this kids stuff. These bunnies are not your average looking bunny but they are very cute.
This of course brings me back to when I was a kid learning all the basics of baking from my Dad and trying not to get in the way or slow production down by asking a lot of dumb questions or trying to get my Dad to show me how to do things. Fortunately he was very willing to do just that and is the reason I am still in the business today . I suppose he was willing partly because I would be sweeping the floors and washing the dishes or cracking the eggs later anyways (yes we cracked whole eggs into buckets for later use in baked goods back when shell eggs were cheaper than whole frozen buckets of eggs).

I'm going to post the recipe I used but you can use any good sweet dough or egg dough.

Easter Bunny Bun Recipe

1 lb bread flour

1/4 oz salt

1 oz sugar

3 oz shortening or butter or margarine (I used stick margarine)

1/4 oz baking powder

8 oz warm water (8 oz = 1 cup)

1/2 oz active dry yeast (allow yeast to reconstitute in the warm water)

1 egg

after reconstituting the yeast in the warm water add the rest of the ingredients and mix in stand mixer for about 12 to 15 minutes or until the dough is nice and stretchy

after mixing let stand in a warm place for about 45 minutes or until about double in size
divide into 3 approximately equal pieces knocking the air out of it and rounding them up a bit
allow to rest again about 15 minutes
divide each chunk of dough into 12 pieces or whatever size piece you decide on
round each piece and roll long as seen in the picture
let them relax and then roll one end narrower than the other and flatten the fat side down and cut according to the pictures
make the eyes out of raisins cut in half or whole dry currents
allow them to rise for about 30 minutes and brush with egg white (for a shine) and bake at 350* for 12 to 15 minutes or until golden and still tender
brush them with a simple powder sugar glaze while still warm