Turkey Bread Centerpiece Recipe

We found this fun turkey bread recipe at the Wheat Foods Council and thought we would give it a try because he was just so darn cute. 

To make him we used whole wheat frozen bread dough that we get from a local bakery.  They sell five loaves of bread dough for $3.59, a price we really can't match at home.  Check out the Wheat Foods Council page if you want to make a dough from scratch.  

The first step of the turkey is roll out a six inch circle and lay it on a greased pan.  We used a baking stone.

Take ten small ball of dough and roll with the rolling pin in oblong shapes.  With a knife cut the edges to make them look like feathers.

 For the turkey head and neck, roll an 18 inch long rope and fold it in half.   Make an indentation in the top of the turkey body.  Lay the bottom of the rope in the indentation and the top will be over the feathers.  To make the head, curve the dough like a shepard's crook.

 Cut out a diamond shape for the beak and lay it on top of the crook part of the head.

 Flatten two raisins for eyes.

                         Take a small ball of flattened dough for the foot and cut a few toes in it.

                                                   
 Let him rise for an hour or two.  Cover him with a towel so he doesn't get a hard crust on top while he is rising.

Bake him at 350 degrees until he sounds hollow when you tap on his tummy.  If the feathers, or other parts are starting to get too brown, cover them with aluminum foil like you would a pie crust edge.  He looks quite handsome doesn't he?  Supposedly you can let him sit on the counter for a few days and he will get hard for a center piece. 

                                    

We had left over dough so we made a bear with a bow tie.   We used raisins for his eyes, nose, and buttons.

He was cute all baked up.  Not so cute though that we had trouble eating him!