Several years ago I put up a tutorial on a previous blog on how to make dinner rolls shaped like turkeys.  Actually- to my eye they look more like mourning doves, but everyone who gets one is delighted- so I’m repeating the tutorial today.  I usually make 5 or 6 dozen of these for The Bake Shop just before our American Thanksgiving- so I’ll be making these this week. 

Turkey Dinner Rolls are easy to portion- easy to shape!
Roll out half of dough on pastry board into large circle. Cut circle in quarters, then cut each quarter into 5ths – so you have 20 long triangle pieces of dough.

And now you shape them!
If you just want a crescent roll, roll them up from the largest end and place them with the point on the bottom- raise and bake at 375 degrees F for about 12 to 15 min.

But if you are wanting to make rolls that look like turkeys-
( they don’t taste like turkey!)

But they LOOK like turkeys-
I put a dozen on a baking sheet. And they raise and get all bristly looking in the oven!

Then you need to shape them, using a bamboo shish kabob stick.
Starting at the small pointy end of the dough triangle you roll up the dough about half way up and form it into a ball.

Save back a small piece to make the turkeys head.

After you roll it into a ball (only halfway)
Then pinch the back of the ball together and press the circumference of the ball into the flat part of the triangle that you have left.

So- at this point you have a small ball attached to a flat piece of dough

Using your fingers press firmly on the edges of the ball.
It will start to look like a big belly of a turkey against the flat back tail piece.

Now – using your bamboo stick -
catch a small portion of the belly piece and make tail feathers by pressing the stick into scored lines around the belly. Don’t press so hard that you cut all the way through the dough- but you want to leave deeply scored lines to delineate the tail feathers.

Now attach the reserved ball of dough poking all around it .
Place the small ball on the top of the belly and poke around the edges to attach.
Allow to raise about 15 minutes and then bake until golden brown!(375 degrees)

They come out all cute and puffy!

And there you have them- turkey dinner rolls.
For Thanksgiving!

Roll recipe- makes about 3 dozen rolls.
Ingredients;
6 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 cups milk ,scalded in microwave (about  2 min on high)
1 stick butter or margarine
2 eggs
1/2  cup sugar
1 Tbs salt
2 Tbs yeast
1 cup warm water
scant tsp sugar
Method:
Put flour, sugar and salt into large bowl and whisk together- form well in center of flour.  Melt butter or margarine in the hot milk and set aside.  Proof yeast (mix  together yeast and sugar, stir in water and watch for growth reaction- it should start growing  almost immediately).  Beat eggs and pour into well, add milk mixture (butter should be completely melted) and stir until the flour and liquid are one mass.  Add proofed yeast-(  if the yeast didn’t raise ,proof another batch, either it is too old or your water was too hot) and mix the whole mess into a sticky dough!  Flour counter, dump dough onto flour , add some more on your hands and knead for at least 10 minutes.  This is a Big ball of dough so put your muscles into it.  Grease large bowl, form dough into a ball and allow to raise, covered, for at least an hour , until doubled in volume.  Cut ball in half and roll into large circle.  Form your rolls and enjoy! 
Don’t forget to be thankful – I usually pray while making these- it makes the whole experience Totally worthwhile!