Teddy Bear Bread

These baby bear breads are so cute I just wanna eat 'em up.  The blog where I got this pic is in Japanese. It's called "Happy Rainbow 365, fashionable rice every day".  The man's daughter asked him to make these for her. What a good daddy! Using google I translated the site to English but the recipe was still in Japanese. 

http://yaplog.jp/gorogoronta/archive/1106

After researching I found these 2 translations. The ingredients are exactly alike in both recipes except for the amount of dry yeast.  I don't know who's correct. I will definitely make both recipes, but I'm guessing the 2nd recipe is correct because of the details and pics she posted.  I also need to download a cups to grams conversion chart for the measurements. I wonder if America will ever change to the metric system.

http://ediblecrafts.craftgossip.com/bread-bears/2011/02/25/

Here is a simplified version of the recipe listed here –http://kitchen.yaplog.jp/yaplog/RecipePopup.blog?blog_id=1126624&extension_id=976&kind=popup

I kept all the measures metric like the original recipe.

Kuma-chan Pan (Little Bear Bread)

200g Bread Flour
10g Sugar
3g Salt
60g Water
60g Milk
10g Butter
1/2 Teaspoon Dry Yeast

1. Warm the milk to just below boiling in a heavy pan. Place the flour and salt into the bowl. Add the milk, lukewarm water, sugar, and yeast. Combine into a smooth dough.

2. Knead the butter into the bread and form a ball. Allow to rise in a warm place until doubled in size.

3. (Just noting how much the dough should double via the picture)

4. Place the dough on a rolling mat. Cut off one gram and divide it into 20 pieces for the ears. Divide the rest of the dough into 10 pieces. Allow them to rest for 15 to 20 minutes on a damp tea towel.

5. Gently dampen the dough all around. Lightly press the two ears each onto the head. (The dough is easier to handle when slightly damp.)

6. Gather up the sides of a tea towel to form channels, placing the dough inside the channels, and allow it to rise until doubled in size once again.

7. If you don’t have a tea towel instead, place the dough on parchment paper-lined cookie sheet. (If you don’t have paper, spray it with water.) Cover loosely with plastic wrap as it rises. (For baking, you’ll be using the paper-lined cookie sheet)

8. For Brown Bears – Preheat the oven to 220 C, lower to 190 C and bake for 15-20 minutes.

For White Bears – Preheat the oven to 190 C, lower to 160 for the first 10 minutes, then lower 130 for the last 5-10 minutes.

(Know that ovens and bake times will vary)

Draw on the face with a food coloring marker.

I found a 2nd translation. 

http://www.enjoylivingsustainably.com/2011/05/cute-bear-kuma-chan-japanese-bun-recipe/

Kuma-chan pan (Cute bear buns)

Ingredients

• Bread flour: 200g
• Sugar: 10g
• Salt: 3g
• Water: 60g
• Milk: 60g
• Butter: 10g
• Dry yeast: 2 teaspoons

Preparation

Sift flour.
Heat milk until almost boiling and let cool (this encourages the gluten in the bread).

Instructions

1. In a bowl, combine the bread flour and salt. Add the water (heated to about 32° C if you’re making this in winter), cooled milk, sugar, and dry yeast. Mix thoroughly. When it resembles one ball, place on a flat surface and knead until a smooth texture is achieved.
2. When smooth, knead in the butter [which has been melted, then cooled to room temperature] bit-by-bit. Place the dough into a round bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and leave in a warm place. Wait until the dough has risen to approximately twice its initial size. This is the first stage in letting the dough rise.
   
3. It should look something like this after the first rising.
   
4. Place the dough on a benchtop or chopping board and prepare the bears’ ears by cutting 20 1g pieces and rolling them into small balls. Cut the remaining dough into 10 equal portions and roll into balls. Place all pieces between a pair of damp cloths (e.g. wrung-out teatowels) for 15-20 minutes (use a timer).
   
5. Squeeze each ball a bit to force out any gas pockets, and then re-roll into spheres. Take each large ball and firmly press two ears onto it. Place a damp cloth over them to prevent any drying-out.
   
6. Gently placing all 10 assembled bears into damp “bread mats”, then put them in a warm place for the second rising stage. Make sure all the bears are oriented upwards (to not disturb their ears). Place a damp cloth over everything. Wait until the bears have roughly doubled again in size.
   [I'm not sure what bread mats are, so I followed step 7 below.]
   
7. If you don’t have any “bread mats”, take some oven trays and place them on the benchtop. Placing the bears on the trays, spray with a water atomiser. Take some drinking glasses and fill them with water, then place them in various locations around the tray. Cover the whole lot with plastic wrap, gently dropping the wrap on from above. Wait until the bears have roughly doubled again in size.
   
8. For lightly browned bread, preheat your oven to 220 degrees, then bake the bears for 15-20 minutes at 190 degrees.
   For a white finish, preheat to 190 degrees, bake at 160 degrees for 10 minutes, then drop the temperature to 130 degrees for a further 5-10 minutes. If they start to brown, immediately place an upside-down enamel bowl over them, or cover with aluminium foil. Keep an eye on the bears while baking, because oven temperatures vary and are not always accurate or comparable.
   Now you can decorate your bears with edible seaweed or a chocolate pen to draw the face!
   
9. This recipe was written while using “Haruyutaka” flour. Depending on protein level and seasonal variation, the moisture content of your flour may vary slightly, so please be aware of this.
   [I used standard British Strong Bread flour and it worked well.]

Teddy Bear Bread was shared at:

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