"Bakers trade bread recipes on a knead to know basis."

As the pun above implies, these recipes require quite a bit of kneeding! But don't be intimitated the end product will be well worth it.

I initially wanted to try to make some regular white bread (now that I won't be able to buy Hostess bread anymore:(). But then my artistic side urged me to be a bit more creative, so thought I would try to make an image into the bread. Then, I thought I might as well make some tie dye bread using all the colors of die that I had. Thus, I decided to make a pac-man themed and tie dye bread but you can really make any design you want just by changing up the colors.The end result was some really awesome looking, great tasting "white" bread great for any sandwich (or really cool french toast)!

Step 1: Preparing the Dough

Ingredients:
1 cup milk
1 egg yolk
1 1/2 tablespoons melted butter
2 1/2 tablespoons sugar
1 envelope (2 1/4 tsp) yeast
3/4 tablespoon salt
3 cups flour

Procedure:
1. Mix milk and egg yolk in large bowl.
2. Microwave on high for 45 seconds or until warm (Yeast activates at 90-100F if you want to monitor with a thermometer)
3. Add yeast, sugar and butter, wisk togethor.
4. Set aside and wait for yeast to froth up (about 10 minutes depending on yeast)
5. Slowly add the flower in. Mix initially with a wisk working out flour clumps, then once it gets too thick use for a whisk use a wooden spoon until all three cups are incorporated.
6. Knead the dough ball adding flour until it is smooth and elastic. Let the ball ball sit for in hour in a warm location or until it has doubled in size.

Hints:
>If the yeast does not froth up it could be one of two circumstances:
1. The milk and egg yolk solution is'nt warm enough (If this is the case zap it in the microwave for a few seconds).
2. The yeast is dead.
> To help the dough rise I put the dough over our heat vent, which works great and quickly!
> If you are lucky enough to have a stand mixer with a bread hook, you can use it instead of kneading by hand

Step 2: Dying the Dough

1. Form the dough into a log shape and cut in the following ways:
> Pac-Man Head: 1/4 of the dough
> Black Dots: 1/8 of the dough
> "Background": 7/8 (Rest of dough)
2. Dye the 1/4 portion of the dough yellow. With my food coloring I had to add about 1 teaspoon, sounds like a lot but I wanted this to be a bright pac-man! Knead the dough for atleast 5 minutes until the dye is evenly mixed in.
3. Dye the 1/8 portion with black dye.
4. Leave the background the original color -- no dye!
5. Roll the dough into balls and place in a greased bowl with saran wrap over top. Let rise until double in size (about 30 minutes).

Hint:
> Use a scale to make dividing the dough easier.

Step 3: Constructing the Bread!

Now it's time to form Pac-Man!

***Now would be a good time to preheat the oven to 375F***
1. Flatten half of the white dough into the length of your bread pan, and twice its width (this will be the bottom and the sides of the bread).
2. Cut the black dough into two/three pieces and roll into super thin "snakes." Remember the dough will rise again, so the width you see it now is at least half of what it will be after baking.
3. Roll the yellow out until it is a 2 inches longer than the bread pan -- we will be cutting the ends off to give it a cleaner look.
4. With a sharp knife cut out a triangle from the yellow "snake" this will be the mouth of the pac-man.
5. With the white dough roll out a snake to the length of the yellow dough (step 3 and 4). Then pinch the top of the "snake" and wedge this portion into the "mouth" of the pac-man. Sound more confusing then it is! Look at photos 3 and 4 for clarification.
6. Lay the pac-man and black "snakes" in place (so it looks like pac-man is following the dots) and fill the gaps with white snakes. As shown in the last picture.
7. Slide this into a greased bread pan and cover with the remaining white dough.
8. Let the dough rise again -- untill the bread has expaned to near the top of the pan. It will continue to expand when you put it into the oven to bake.

Hints:
> Brush water on all the componets to help them meld togethor when you bake it.
> If you run low on white dough put a super thin top on the rolls. It is important you at least have a smooth white top -- so that it looks like a piece of bread. Plus, the dough will rise, even if it is super thin!
> It might take awhile for the dough to rise after working with it, but dont worry -- put it in a warm location and be patient, it will rise!

Step 4: Baking and Final Product

1. Place the bread in the oven and bake for about 30 minutes at 350F or until golden brown.
2. Let cool on a wire rack for 10-15 minutes then remove from pan to cool completly.
3. Slice and enjoy!

Hints:
> To establish a soft crust, brush the top with butter or milk after removing from the oven.
> Since this bread is not loaded with preservatives it won't last as long as store bought bread... so eat quickly :)!
> The bread will stay fresher when stored in the refrigerator.

Step 5: Tie Dye Bread Preparation (Dying the Bread)

1. Cut the dough prepared in Step 1 into 5 equal pieces.
2. Dye each piece of dough their respective colors (I used pink, green, yellow, blue, and a redish-orange).
3. For each piece knead until the dye is evenly mixed in, it took me about 5 minutes for each piece.
4. Place the dough pieces into greased bowls and let rise until double in size (about 30 minutes).

Hints:
> To make dividing the dough easier, use a scale if available.
> Dying the dough is a labor intensive process but your hard work will pay off in the end!
> In hind sight i might consider using a different color then redish-orange perhaps a solid orange. This way the pink and redish-orange dont blend togethor into one color.

Step 6: Forming the Tie Dye Bread

***Now would be a good time to preheat the oven to 375F***

1. Roll each color into the length (or a little longer) of the bottom of your bread pan and as long as possible. Again, don't be concerned about rolling the dough too thin it will rise.
2. Brush each layer with water and then stack the each rolled out dough.
3. Cut the top off the stacked dough (to create a clean center). See photo 8 for clarification.
4. Roll the dough up, insuring to brush with water while you roll.
5. Cut the roll to the length of the bread pan (cut each end to give a clean look).
6. Place in a greased bread pan.
7. Let rise in a warm location until it has risen to about the height of the pan.

Hint:
> The thinner you roll the dough the more spirals you will get and the neater the end product will look!

Step 7: Tie Dye Baking

1. Place the bread in the oven and bake for 10-15 minutes at 350F or untill golden brown.
2. Let cool on a wire rack for 10-15 minutes then remove from pan to cool completly.
3. Slice and enjoy!

Hints:
> To establish a soft crust, brush the top with butter or milk after removing from the oven.
> Since this bread is not loaded with preservatives it won't last as long as store bought bread... so eat quickly :)!
> The bread will stay fresher when stored in the refrigerator.