Turtle Bread

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Turtle Bread
I still can’t believe this actually worked! It really looks like a turtle. If you are new to my blog, I have been experimenting with bread art for awhile now, its pretty much hit or miss but I have been learning some techniques to help make it err more on the hit side.

Turtle Bread
My inspiration for this came from the tortoise that my 3 year old son colored in his Easter coloring book. I watched him taking his time, focused on holding that crayon the right way and applying the color in all the right places and I couldn’t stop my brain from analyzing how I would turn that pretty turtle into a loaf of bread. I know, I know… I have lost my mind. If you are a food blogger you probably know what I’m talking about… blogging is always on the brain.

Moving on… some of the steps for making this silly turtle.

Allocate your dough, color it. This is my least favorite part. It’s why I choose subjects with few colors. I like cocoa because its more natural.
Dough Allocation

Form the turtle head. I wanted a nose shape so I made sure the eye was not in the middle. Lots of rolling and wrapping. The eye has got to be the thinnest possible.
Turtle Head

Fresh baked loaf. After so much work went into making this, you can imagine how it would feel to slice it. My little guy stands next to me and we are both beyond excited to see if the experiment worked or failed. Even if it didn’t look anything like a turtle… a 3 year old is very easy to please. He was doubly pleased when he realized that the picture he colored for me was the inspiration.
Baked Loaf

For complete steps for this turtle bread and many others, check out my new eBook!

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Serving up some turtle bread

Recipe: Turtle Bread

Ingredients

  • 1 cup warm water
  • 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
  • 2-1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast (1 packet)
  • 1/3 cup white sugar
  • 3/4 teaspoon salt
  • 3 cups all-purpose flour
  • cocoa powder
  • green food coloring or matcha green tea powder

Instructions

  1. Stir the warm water and yeast in the bread machine, wait 5 minutes for it to foam. Then add remaining ingredients (except the cocoa powder and green coloring). Set on dough setting. (If you don’t have a bread machine, make this like any other bread.. knead the dough, let rise in warm area.)
  2. Separate into 3 dough balls. For the brown colors, start with 1 dough ball, place in an electric mixer with the dough hook attachment. Add a little cocoa powder and mix… repeat until you the right light brown color and dough is even (you can knead by hand to help). Then divide that brown dough into 2 balls. Take one and make it even darker by adding more cocoa powder and knead by hand or use mixer again until color is even. Wipe clean the mixer. Add the next dough ball to the mixer and add green coloring, mix and knead until you get the desired green color.
  3. Shape your bread! Use a rolling pin, pizza cutter or chopper if you have it. Place into a greased 9×5″ bread loaf pan. Cover with a towel. Let it rise for 30 minutes.
  4. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes. Slice and Enjoy. Store in a ziploc bag to retain freshness or it will get hard over night.

Preparation time: 1 hour(s) 40 minute(s)

Cooking time: 30 minute(s)

Number of servings (yield): 12

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45 thoughts on “Turtle Bread”

  2. Thanks Bianca, you are right it does look like Squirt! I forgot about that little sea turtle. Maybe its time to show that movie to my little guy and have a turtle sandwich 🙂

  8. omgosh! I thought I was cool baking stars and hearts into cake, but this is a new level of awesome. I am in awe – it looks fantastic!! Great job!!

  17. Thanks Lindsay.. Im really not though, for every one that comes out at least 2 fail 🙂 But its fun to play with bread so I keep doing it 🙂

  19. Haha! Thats funny, I never told you Brooke, but I made the batman cheese cutout on top of my bean soup the other day and my son thought it was sooo cool. Thanks for stopping by again!

  21. I’ll have to make this for my sons (in their 20’s now), it reminds me of one of the poke mon they always played with. What a cute idea!

  27. Ok Jenny, so after reading your comment I spent 45 minutes on her site 🙂 Ummmm, I will be making cupcakes today.

  28. This is fantastic! Great job, I don’t think I’d have the patience to pull this together. 🙂

  29. I admit It does take some time, but its a good activity for a slow day. My 3 year old likes to play with the dough as if it were play dough so we are both happy. Thanks for visiting Jess!

  32. I found you via Epicute on I can haz cheeze burger. this is amazing. I am going to share it with my baking crazed/Poke’ freak daughter. I hope this will inspire her to try her hand at it

  37. Thats fantastic! If you took a picture and want it displayed let me know, I was thinking about starting a new section on my site that features what people have made. Thanks for stopping by Katie.

  38. I made this today with a two year old, we didnt wrap the individual rolls inside the shell as patience is low with toddlers lol but we gave it a go and it considering we just threw it altogether i was soooo suprised it actually resemble a turtle when we cut the first slice! we had a lovely lunch, shared some out and ive frozen some as well. definately goin to make more as his little face lit up 🙂 thank you!

  39. Gem, It felt so wonderful to hear about your experience, thanks for sharing! This bread really is fun for the kids. If you have any requests let me know, I enjoy getting them 🙂

  40. have you made butterfly bread? i love your turtle and your rainbow i will be trying that out.

  41. Not yet, but the idea had crossed my mind. I actually just finished ladybug bread and will be posting that in the next day or so. Thanks for leaving a comment, I think butterfly bread will be next on my list!

  42. I have been baking bread with vegetables baked into them for a little while, and have been wanting to experiment with a “rainbow” of colours to allow for different vegetables to be “packed” in without kids knowing. I have tried making a rainbow & a happy face using beet dough (red/pink), blueberry dough (purple), spinach dough (green), I faked the blue dough with some food safe dye, but I am going to try using some red cabbage for the blue (at some point). I have many friends who are interested and intrigued by the concept of sneaking some veg into the bread, and so far the kids are not objecting to the flavour, so it is a great way to naturally colour the bread & get some veg in at the same time. I was thrilled to come across your site, as it gives me some more great ideas for shapes, and configurations.
    Thanks for the great ideas!

  43. Thank you Shelley, I was planning on converting it into a different format and now I know someone is interested in that I will start work on that soon. I promise to let you know when its available! Thanks for stopping by my site. I love how you use veggies for food coloring that is truly ambitious. I wish I could try some of your bread!

  44. I was just looking through images online looking for something else and saw this. I just have to say it’s AWESOME. I love turtles and I wish they sold this bread when I was a kid. I love it love it love it.

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