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East Bunny Bread

Easter Bunny Bread

Course Bread
Cuisine German
Keyword Bunny Bread, Bunny Shaped Bread, Easter Bunny Bread, German Easter Bread, german recipes
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 14 minutes
Rise Time: 45 minutes
Servings 6 Breads
Author Lora Wiley-Lennartz

Ingredients

For the Bread:

  • 5 cups bread flour
  • 2 7 gram packages of dry yeast
  • 1 cup lukewarm whole milk
  • 1/4 cup unsalted butter
  • 2 large eggs
  • pinch of salt
  • 1/4 cup white granulated sugar
  • 1 teaspoon fresh lemon zest
  • 1 large egg yolk

Royal Icing:

  • 2 tablespoons Meringue powder
  • 1/4 cup water
  • 2+1/2 cups powdered sugar sifted
  • Food coloring

Instructions

Make the Bread

  1. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
  2. Sift the bread flour into a large bowl. Use your hand or a large wooden spoon to make a well in the middle of the flour. Set aside.
  3. In a separate bowl, add the dry yeast to the lukewarm milk. When the yeast has dissolved, add it to the well in the sifted bread flour and knead together.
  4. Cover the bowl and set it aside in a warm place. Let the dough rise for 15 minutes.
  5. Melt the unsalted butter in a small bowl. Mix in the two large eggs, a pinch of salt, and white granulated sugar.
  6. Add this butter mixture to the flour yeast dough and knead everything together until it forms a smooth dough.
  7. Or place all the ingredients in a stand mixer and use the dough hook attachment to knead the dough together.
  8. Re-cover the bowl and let stand in a warm place for 30 minutes.

To shape the Easter bunny bread, here are 3 methods:.

  1. 1 - is to cut out an Easter bunny template from strong cardboard. Place the cardboard bunny shape on top of the rolled out dough and use a sharp paring knife to cut around the cardboard.
  2. 2 -If you have good hand-eye coordination, use a sharp paring knife to freehand cut the bunny shapes out of the dough. If you use the first two methods, you can leave the shape plain or cut out additional shapes to embellish the bread for the bow ties and the feet.
  3. 3- The method I found best was using the following cookie cutters to shape the bread: a large bunny head, a large egg-shaped cutter for the body, and small round cutters for the feet.

Bake the Bread

  1. Assemble the bunny parts on the lined baking sheet and pinch all the pieces together before baking.

  2. Preheat the oven to 410 degrees F.

  3. Turn the dough out onto a floured work surface and knead for one or two minutes more.
  4. Roll out the dough to about a 1/2 inch thick and use the method of your choice to cut out bunny shapes from the dough.
  5. Place the shapes on the parchment-lined baking sheets, brush with the beaten egg yolk, and bake for 10 -15 minutes.
  6. Remove from the oven, let cool completely* before decorating.

Make the royal icing:

  1. Place the meringue powder and water in a stand mixer. Beat together until foamy.
  2. Add the powdered sugar and beat on a high speed until a smooth, stiff meringue-like frosting.
  3. Divide up the icing and mix in the food coloring to tint the frosting your colors of choice. If you want pastel colors, start with mixing in one or two drops and add more according to how saturated you want the color to be.
  4. Load each color into pastry bags fitted with #2 or #3 tips and decorate the bread

Recipe Notes

For the Decoration:
For the icing: Use assorted store-bought icing in tubes or make and color your own royal icing, Sugar flowers, bows, almonds, jelly beans, assorted Easter candy of your choice. I used black and white color fondant to create the eyes.

*Important! The bread must be completely cool to the touch before you cover it with royal icing, or it will melt all over the bread.