Have some fun with your dinosaur loving child and make your Shabbat challah into dinosaur shapes! Making Dinosaur Shaped Challah is so easy and fun, all ages can do it and enjoy it!
What You’ll Need
- Challah dough. Here is the recipe we love to use. Your local kosher baker might also have some dough available for purchase if making dough isn’t your thing!
- Cutting boards
or other flat surface to shape (and play with!) dough
- Extra flour
- Cookie sheets
- Parchment paper
or other flat surface to shape (and play with!) dough
Putting It Together
1.Divide your challah dough among however many challah shapers you have. I gave a smaller amount to our two-year old, then divided the rest of the challah between my two older kids and myself (times two for me … I know, naughty sneaky mama).
2. I made one traditional braided challah. I just had to. Here’s a great tutorial for how to braid challah if you’re interested.
3. My other portion went to shaping my favorite dinosaur, the brachiosaurus. I pulled out some dough and rolled it into a ball, then flattened it into an oval, on its side.
I took two small pieces of dough and rolled, then flattened to make short legs.
Another small portion was rolled into a long skinny tail.
I rolled the final portion into a long neck, which I then flattened a bit and curved at the top for the head. Add a little bit of water to the pieces you stick to the body and your brachiosaurus is finished! You will probably need to use a little flour on your cutting board to keep your dinosaur from sticking. Once it’s done, transfer to a parchment lined baking sheet.
4. My oldest son made his favorite dinosaur, the T-Rex (of course!). To make this dinosaur, he took a portion and rolled it into an oval, then flattened that down. Place that oval vertical. Roll two small balls, flatten and attach them as the T-Rex’s tiny arms. They should be perpendicular to the oval body, near the top.
Roll two slightly larger balls and flatten and attach them for the T-Rex’s legs. Place these legs at the bottom of the oval body.
Roll a short thin rope, flatten and attach it to the bottom side of the oval, opposite of the arms. This will be the T-Rex’s tail.
Finally, roll one last ball, flatten it into an oval and attach it perpendicular to the oval, at the very top. This will be the T-Rex’s head. My son pulled open the end of the oval to make his T-Rex’s mouth open. Grrrrrr! Remember to use water to stick the dough pieces on and flour on your cutting board as needed.
5. My daughter chose her favorite dinosaur, the triceratops, for this activity. First roll a large portion into an oval and flatten it for the triceratops’ body.
Roll four small balls into small legs and attach them at the bottom of the oval body.
Make the tail from another small rolled ball that is then flattened.
Finally, make the triceratops’ head by rolling another ball into an oval and flattening and attaching it vertically at the side of the oval body.
But don’t forget the finishing touches that make the triceratops so unique! Roll and flatten some dough into an elongated “u,” turn it on its side and attach to the space where the head and body meet. This will be the triceratops’ frill.
Lastly, roll three tiny ropes into the triceratops’ three horns and attach those to his face. Remember to flour your work surface and use just a tiny bit of water to attach all the triceratops’ body parts.
Which dinosaur did my two-year old choose? Well his dough was thrown on the floor and thus ended up in the compost bin. Lucky for him I shared my challah when it was finished 😉
6. Once you shape all the dinosaurs, place the dino challah on a cookie sheet and let rise for another half hour (or for however long your directions say). Brush with an egg wash. Then bake in the oven per your recipe’s directions. Ours says to bake at 350 degrees for a half hour. Note that they will probably puff up when baking and may not hold the original shape exactly. But either way they look super cute and smell so good! It makes it so hard to wait until dinner!
Finished and Loving It!
These Dinosaur Shaped Challahs turned out so adorable! We loved having them at our special Shabbat dinner, Shabbatasaurus.
Check out my post all about creating a dinosaur-themed Shabbat, Shabbatasaurus, based on the sweet song, “Dinosaur on Shabbat!”
Do you ever make your challah into fun and special shapes?
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