After forty plus years of baking breads I decided to create "fun buns" for my grandchildren.  Each weekend I would make a batch of buns.  I kept notes about what worked and what didn't.  Since I wanted the option of using the buns for sandwiches I started with ones that were basically round in shape.

My first attempt was four turtles.

I then wanted a pig.  I thought it would be cute to serve pulled pork on a piggy bun.  Ironically, the pig proved to be the most difficult for me.  Even now I'm not confident the ears and nose will stay in place.  I tried to cut the ears in but couldn't secure the tips.  And then the nose . . . but for now I'll post pictures and talk how to's in a later post.  I did finally find a design I liked . . . but it's a rather difficult one.

At one point I got so frustrated with trying to make the quantity of buns I needed to feed a group that I even considered making heads and tails . . .

Since dough is a living organismI decided I needed some easy designs so I could make some difficult and some easy in the time frame I had to work in.  I created a chick and hedgehog that are relatively easy.

At this point I was using whole wheat dough.  I decided to try sweet roll dough for Easter bunny and chicks.  The dough raised so much after shaping that the designs were distorted.

Snails worked okay, the center raising up was actually desirable.

I continued on with the bunny and came up with options.  One has cut in ears and the other is basically two pieces, body and head with the ears cut with scissors.

Then came the fish.  Since my sons had aquariums I decided to start with tropical fish.  I wanted texture and tried grated cheese on top . . . but, I got "ick" . . . for those of you who don't know what that is, it's a fungus.

Being a Minnesotan, I needed more fish, lots of fish.

Then it was football for the guys.

I love frogs . . . one easy, one difficult.

Want to ruin my day?  Ask me how to keep ears on the mouse.  I sure don't know how . . .

Ahhhh, bears!  Who doesn't love bears!

How about a family of bears?

At this point I started looking on the internet for ideas.  I found the book Kids' Ideas with frozen dough by Rhodes.  I made several of their designs and learned some new techniques.

I especially liked the cat for Halloween.

And now the reason I bake.  My grandson's first batch of "fun buns".  HE LIKES THEM!

I've been invited to my niece's for Thanksgiving. I'll be travelling next Tuesday by Amtrak bus/train, 200 miles. I reminded her that I love to bake and what can I bring, and she cavalierly said nothing, we'd bake what we needed on Wednesday.

Well!!

So I decided not to bother with pies (which I have never made anyway) or cookies, but to stick with bread. Trouble is that I like 100% whole grain (fresh-ground), and she has two boys (about six and seven, I think) and a white-bread husband. So I'm looking for compromises.

I thought of white whole wheat, but I don't have any, my local natural foods store doesn't carry it, and I won't have the opportunity to go into town to get it there (if I could even find it there). What do you think I can make that they might like (going with the odds, that is)?

Marion Cunningham's Fannie Farmer Baking Book has a Brown-and-White Braided Bread that looks interesting. Each loaf has two brown braids and one white. The brown braids are colored with ww flour, molasses, and Postum (2t per loaf). I don't want to use Postum or coffee. I'd rather use cocoa.

She has another loaf, Raisin Nut, that is a flour blend and made like raisin bread but without the cinnamon.

Any suggestions would be appreciated. I plan to do the baking this weekend.

Rosalie

Ok... we tried our first yeast bread today.  I approximately halved the basic white bread recipe from the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook to make a single loaf instead of two, but used double the yeast, since what I had available had been sitting in the closet for at least a year, and probably longer.  We just dumped the yeast into the flour, and used room temp. milk.  The kids kneaded for about 30-45 minutes though, with different children kneading more or less well.  Periodically, I'd collect all the dough, mix it together, and redistribute, so the overall kneading balanced out.  Let rise once, punch down, let rise in a boule, and bake on a cookie sheet in the toaster oven.  I was really surprised at both how evenly the bread baked, and how moist it was.  The crust was really crisp and flakey, but inside it was super moist!  I hope the pic shows the crust and crumb ok... slicing warm bread with a steak knife is not my favorite technique!