Teddy Bear Bread

My cooking skills are a product of food television.  I've been watching cooking shows for as long as I can remember.  Rarely did I use recipe cards or cook books when I tried a new recipe.  I always saw the food being made on the TV before I made it.  That's not to say I never tried a recipe for the first time from a cook book or recipe card, but visual learning was more of the norm for me.

I learned a lot of techniques from watching the television cooks; how to dice an onion, knead dough, folding ingredients into batter, butchering a chicken, etc.  Watching the food applications unfold on the TV made it much simpler to replicate when I tried it on my own.  They gave me a good foundation of skills so I felt comfortable trying new things.

With the food shows growing stale and uninspiring (I miss you Good Eats), my attention has turned more to cook books.  Some of the books I have lay out an application in sometimes two or three pages, thoroughly detailing each step along the way.  This brings me to the old family recipes I have been trying for the first time; many of them handwritten on 3.5 x 5 inch index cards.  No longer do I have the luxury of watching a recipe unfold over thirty minutes, or reading a detailed twelve-step recipe.  My recipes are no longer fool proof.

While I adore these handwritten recipe cards, detail has given way to space, and I am left to fill in the blanks sometimes.  I also think that some of these recipes were pretty much memorized by the author, so something that was thought as a given, may not have made it to the card.  Also, some of these recipes are over fifty years old and some of the terminology and ingredients are foreign to me.  Having never seen or tasted some of these recipes in the past, it can be a challenge.

Good thing I love challenges!   I have been having so much fun with these recipes.  Sometimes I don't get it right, but more often than not, they have been delicious and a joy to make.  For the ones that produce less than ideal results, I know what I did wrong and how to fix it, so that gets me excited to try it again.  Besides, the pride and delight of preparing food from recipes I know were made and written by my family is unmatched by any recipe from a book or cooking show.

I remember Nonna making this teddy bear bread when I was a child.  One summer, it seemed like she was making them all the time.  A cute little brown bear that you can pull apart and eat, now what child wouldn't love that? 

This recipe is very similar to a yeast roll recipe that I have, and it tastes similar.  It is not a sweet bread, and I remember always wanting it to be sweeter as a kid.  I thought that if the bread was in the shape of a bear it should be sweet, more of a dessert bread.  I don't know what my rational was, but I still feel that way, and I still don't know what my rational is.  If I make it again, I may sprinkle it with a little but of sugar, or add some honey to the dough.

Besides sweetness, which is a personal preference, there is one other thing I would change to this bread.  The recipe calls for 2 tablespoons of yeast, or 1 package.  These days, a package of yeast contains about 2 teaspoons.  I didn't know if that had changed over the years, so I used 2 tablespoons, which was too much.  I would recommend 2 teaspoons or 1 tablespoon of yeast at the most.  The bread rose a little too much for my liking and had too much of a yeast flavor.

The kids got a kick of of a loaf of bread in the shape of a bear, though Emilie thought it looked like an elephant.  The bread was fun to make and brought back some wonderful memories, and it's hard to get that from a cooking show.

Teddy Bear Bread
Makes 2 Bears
Printable Recipe

Scald 1/2 cup milk.  Add 3 tablespoons of sugar, 2 teaspoons of salt and 3 tablespoons of butter.  Stir until melted.  Cool.  Dissolve 2 teaspoons yeast (1 package baking yeast) into 1 1/2 cup warm water.  Add to milk mix.  Add enough flour (approx. 4 cups) to make moderately stiff dough.  Knead 8-10 minutes.  Place into greased bowl.  Let rise until doubled.  Punch down.  Divide dough in half.  With one half, divide into 2 pieces (for head and body).  Divide rest into 7 pieces (1 nose, 2 ears, and 4 paws).  Shape into bears.  Let rise until doubled.  Mix 1 egg and 1 tablespoon of water and brush onto bears.  Make indentation in ears.  Place raisins for eyes and belly button.  Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes.