Bunny Bread: Making Spring Delicious (The Good Way)

My son asked me to make Easter bread. I said yes before I knew what I was agreeing to.

To be fair, I thought he meant a regular loaf. Something shaped like a cross, maybe. Traditional. Modest. The kind of Easter bread you bring to brunch and everyone admires and then politely eats a slice of.

He meant bunny-shaped rolls. With little ears. And a cottontail.

So that's what we made.

Bunny bread is exactly what it sounds like: individual rolls shaped like bunnies, baked soft and golden, served warm from the oven at Easter brunch or any spring morning when you decide the world needs more bunnies. They look complicated. They are not complicated. If you can shape a dinner roll, you can make bunny bread.

The magic is in the shaping, and it's genuinely fun. You take a piece of dough and pinch off a small ball for the body. Then you take a slightly smaller piece and roll it into a long thin rope. You fold that rope in half to make ears and press them onto the body. Roll a small round ball for the tail and press it gently onto the back. That's a bunny. It takes about two minutes per roll.

My son made twelve bunnies. Not twelve perfect bunnies. Twelve bunny-adjacent creations with varying ear lengths and questionable proportions and one that he declared was 'a really fat one.' I loved every single one of them.

We did the initial mixing on Saturday morning with my Peace Dough Whisk, which handled the sticky sourdough perfectly. The silicone surface glides through dough that would normally cling to everything. My son did a few of the mixing passes himself and was very proud of his contribution to the bunny-making enterprise.

The dough cold-proofed overnight in the fridge. Sunday morning, we shaped the bunnies together, let them proof one more time while we made coffee (me) and watched cartoons (him), and baked them at 375 degrees for about 20 minutes until they were golden.

The smell that came out of that oven on Easter morning was genuinely magical. Brown butter and warm bread and something a little tangy from the sourdough.

He ate three bunnies. He was very specific that the fat one was his.

Here's what I want to say about making special food for your kids: it doesn't have to be Pinterest-perfect to matter. My bunny rolls had character. Some had one ear longer than the other. None of them looked like a bakery photo.

But my son said this was the best breakfast we'd ever had. And I believe him.

You should make bunny bread. Make it with whoever is nearby. Don't worry if the ears aren't symmetrical. Worry about whether you have enough soft butter.

This spring, sow peace with every stir. Even if the bunnies are a little lopsided.