Easter chick Buns

1. Put flour in a bowl and make a well in the middle. Crumble in the yeast, remove 1 teaspoon from the sugar, sprinkle over it and mix everything with half of the lukewarm milk until the yeast has dissolved. Cover the bowl and let the yeast mixture rise in a warm place (oven 35 °) for approx. 20 minutes.
2. When the volume of the yeast has more than doubled and bubbles have formed, work in sugar, butter, egg, egg yolk (save the egg white for brushing), salt and remaining milk with the dough hook of the hand mixer. Then place the somewhat crumbly dough on the work surface and knead everything with your hands to form a somewhat heavy, but smooth dough. Shape the dough into a ball, return it to the bowl, close it tightly and place it again in a warm place to rest. The dough should have doubled in volume. This can take 20-30 minutes (but possibly a little longer).
3. Halve the risen dough and cover a portion again until processing. Shape the other portion into a thick roll and cut it into 6 equal portions. Since you can make individual chicks, but also pairs, you decide how many servings you need in each case. For a single figure it is one serving, for a double it is 2.

Making the figures:

1. For a single chick, form a roll of approx. 30 – 32 cm from one of the 6 portions and simply tie a knot in it. The upper, protruding end forms the head. There you immediately form a small beak. The lower protruding end forms the tail. This is cut 4 times in a fan shape.
2. For a double figure, form 2 rolls. One 21 cm and the second about 26 cm long. The short one is placed on the work surface in a horseshoe shape – with the ends pointing away from you. The larger one is also slightly horseshoe-shaped – with the ends opposite the other – on the lower roll so that a round opening is created. Both sides of the roll must be threaded through this from below. Even if the opening looks very small, it works because the dough stretches. If the opening is too big, it cannot be made any smaller later, because the dough is not a tight string. The ends sticking out at the top are the two heads. Here, too, the beaks are formed right away. The ends below are also the two tails and are incised in a fan shape. Process the second half of the dough in the same way.
3. From the dough you can either form 12 single chicks or 6 double ones ….. or you can combine both.
4. When all the chicks are formed and “sit” on the baking sheet lined with baking paper, they must rest again – covered with a cloth – for approx. 30 minutes at room temperature. Meanwhile preheat the oven to 180 °. When the dough blanks have risen a little, you can brush them with some egg white or cream. The baking time is about 25 minutes on the middle rack. In places, they should be golden brown.
5. When they have cooled, you can give the beaks even more expression with a little fondant or colored icing. The eyes can also be marked. I had a food coloring pen for this.