Spider Bread Recipes

Steps:

• In a large bowl, combine 2 cups flour, sugar, yeast and salt. In a small saucepan, heat the water, milk and butter to 120°-130°. Add to dry ingredients; beat just until moistened. Add 1 egg; beat until smooth. Stir in enough remaining flour to form a soft dough., Turn onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 6-8 minutes. Cover and let rest for 10 minutes. Shape half of the dough into a ball and place in the center of a greased baking sheet. Divide remaining dough in half. Roll one half into a ball and place at the top for head., Divide remaining dough into eight portions. Roll each into a 5-in. rope. Attach ropes to body, forming legs. If desired, place a ball of foil under each leg to prop. Press all edges together to seal. Add raisins for eyes. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 25 minutes., Beat the remaining egg; brush over dough. With a sharp knife, make a shallow cut on face for smile. Bake at 350° for 35-40 minutes or until golden brown. Remove to a wire rack to cool.

Steps:

• Sift together the cornmeal, sugar, salt and baking soda.
• Combine the buttermilk and eggs and stir into the cornmeal mixture. Mix until smooth.
• Grease a nine-inch cast-iron pan with legs and pour in the cornmeal mixture. Bake over coals for about 30 minutes.

Steps:

• In a large mixing bowl, blend all the dry ingredients. Add buttermilk, egg, and melted butter. Lightly blend until just mixed. Pour into well-greased 10-inch Dutch oven using 4-6 briquets under the Dutch oven and 18-20 briquets on the lid to bake, or 9-inch or 10-inch cast iron frying pan and bake. If no cast iron frying pan is available, use a large cake pan. Bake for approximately 25 minutes at 350°F. Spider bread is done when toothpick inserted into bread comes out clean.Spiced with More Tall Tales - Breads

Steps:

• Mixing and Bulk Fermentation
• Mix all the ingredients together in a large bowl, minus the egg wash, mozzarella, marinara, and spider eyes. If possible, put the activated charcoal in your bowl first and gently cover it with the other ingredients. The charcoal powder poofs and gets airborne very easily. The dough should feel fairly dry, like pizza dough.
• Cover and let the dough rest for about 30 minutes. Then perform a round of stretching and folding on the dough. You probably won't need any more gluten development but if your dough doesn't feel strong and elastic already, you can do another round of stretching and folding after a 20-30 minute rest.
• Let the dough rise until it has expanded by about 75%. This took 8 hours from when I mixed the dough (cool kitchen). At this point you can refrigerate the dough overnight or begin shaping now.
• Shaping and Final Proof (See the Photo Gallery below)
• Place a sheet of parchment paper on a half baking sheet or an even larger baking sheet.
• Scrape the fermented dough out of your bowl onto a lightly oiled work surface.
• Press down on the dough to evenly de-gas it. Cut it in half, then cut one of the halves in half (two quarters). Finally, cut one of the quarters into four pieces (eighths). For less spider head and more spider leg length, cut the second half differently: 1/3 for the head and 2/3 for the four leg tubes.
• Roll the half into a tight ball for the body. Place it on the parchment paper.
• Put cheese in the center of the quarter and wrap it into a ball for the head. Place this 1-2 inches in front of the body, leaving space for the legs.
• Press the four small dough pieces flat and line them with cheese. Wrap the dough around the cheese, sealing it on all sides, and then roll the tube longer under your palms. Lay the four tubes across the space between the body and head so that each tube is two legs.
• Lay a damp cloth or oiled plastic wrap over the dough for the final proof. My dough proofed for about 1.5 hours as it was slightly chilled from being refrigerated overnight.
• Baking and Decorating
• Preheat your oven to 350°F.
• Brush the surface of your spider with a beaten egg and then load it into the oven.
• Bake the spider for about 35 minutes or until the center of the body segment is over 190°F. The legs will crisp up but shouldn't burn.
• Let the bread cool for about 30 minutes and then cut out the well in the spider's body for your dip. You can do this by placing the top of the dip cup you've chosen on the spider and tracing with your knife around it. (The spider "guts" are a tasty snack heated up with some extra cheese and marinara.)
• Warm up your marinara, place it in the cup, and fit the cup into the spider's body.
• Serve and enjoy!

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine milk and vinegar in a bowl and set aside to sour. In another bowl, combine flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking soda and salt. Whisk eggs into the soured milk. Stir into dry ingredients and set batter aside.
• Melt butter in a 12-inch cast-iron skillet. Pour in the batter. Pour cream into the center, slide skillet into the oven and bake until golden brown on top, about 45 minutes. Slice into wedges and serve warm.

Steps:

• Place cornmeal in a bowl. Sift in flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar. Mix well.
• In a separate bowl, combine eggs and 2 cups of milk. Add approximately 1/2 of this to the dry ingredients.
• Melt butter in a 10-inch skillet or round baking dish. Pour in batter and spread evenly.
• Pour in remaining cup of milk/eggs over top. Do not stir.
• Bake at once in a preheated 375°F oven for about 25 minutes or until inserted knife comes out clean.

Steps:

• In 12-inch skillet, cook beef and onions over medium-high heat 5 to 7 minutes, stirring frequently, until beef is thoroughly cooked; drain. Stir in tomatoes, chili beans and corn.
• Heat to boiling.
• Reduce heat to medium-low; simmer uncovered 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
• Meanwhile, heat oven to 375°F Unroll dough; separate at perforations into 12 breadsticks.
• Cut 4 of the breadsticks in half lengthwise; on ungreased cookie sheets, shape into 8 coils.
• Cut each remaining breadstick lengthwise into 3 strips, making 24 long strips.
• Cut each in half crosswise, making 48 short strips.
• Place 3 short strips on each side of each coil, placing ends under coil; pinch to attach. Bend strips in center to look like spider legs, or place crumbled small piece of foil (about 3x1/2 inch) under 3 "legs" to make them stand up in center.
• Brush breads with beaten egg white.
• Place 2 olive slices on each to look like eyes.
• Bake 12 to 15 minutes or until "spider body" is light golden brown and "legs" are golden brown.
• Top individual servings of chili with cheese; serve with warm spider breads.