Cute Piggy Hotdog Buns～Oink Oink!

One of my friends asked me if I could shape my bread into piggy shape. I thought it shouldn't be too difficult and did it with the Hokkaido Milk Bread dough. You can find the recipe here.

Just before the final proofing, the dough is to be shaped into the piggies.
While shaping, remember to cover the dough with a damp cloth to prevent the dough from drying up.

How to do:

1. Cut the hotdogs into size approx 4cm length.
2. Cook the hotdogs in the oven at 170degree for approx 5-10min
3. Remove the hotdogs from the oven and let them cool for easy handling.
4. When the bread dough is ready for shaping, cut approx. 40g of dough which form the main body of the pigs.
5. Shape the dough into round and flatten it into a circle with a roll pin.
6. Place the hotdog in the center and wrap the dough around the hotdog and pinch the edge of the dough together. This should form a longish bun shape.
7. Place the shaped bun onto the baking tray with the pinched side downwards.
8. Cut 5 small portions of dough and shape them round, approx pea size to form the legs and nose.
9. Use 2 tooth picks to fix the nose onto one end of the main bun body.
10. Press the rest of the 4 small round dough to body to form the legs.
11. Use 2 more tooth picks and poke into main body, above the nose to form the eyes.
12  Take another small portion of dough and roll into a thin thread and fix onto the body as tail.
13. Finally, use a small sharp scissors to cut an inverted v above the eggs for the ears.
14. Let the pigs go through a final proof for approx. 20min and egg wash the body of the pigs before baking.
15. Bake in a preheated oven at 170degree for approx. 20min or till the pigs are brown.

:: The egg washed piggies before baking ::

:: Don't forget the little details like the tail ::

:: Piggy Hotdog Buns ::

When the buns are done, remove the tooth picks from the buns by twisting while pulling gently out

:: Hello from my piglet bun ::