Easter chicks made from yeast dough

Place the flour in a large mixing bowl and make a well in the center. Crumble in the yeast. Add the vanilla sugar, a teaspoon of the sugar and the lukewarm water to the well. Gently mix the yeast, water and sugar and cover with a little flour from the edge of the hollow. Cover the pre-dough and place in a warm place for about 10 minutes.

Then add the remaining sugar, the egg, a little salt and the baking oil. Knead all the ingredients into a smooth dough for about 5 minutes using the dough hook on a food processor or hand mixer. Cover the bowl again and leave to rise in a warm place for about an hour until it has roughly doubled in volume.

Line one or two baking trays with baking paper. Place the risen dough on the floured work surface and knead briefly. Divide into 12 equal pieces, shape each into balls and place on the baking trays with a little space between them. Using clean kitchen scissors, cut wings and/or a hairstyle for the Easter chicks into the dough. Optionally, press two chocolate drops or raisins as eyes relatively deep into the yeast dough chicks using a shashlik skewer. It is best to push the almonds as beaks into the dough after baking, otherwise it will burst open slightly at this point.

Gently brush the dough pieces with a mixture of egg yolk and milk and leave to rise again for about 15-20 minutes.

In the meantime, preheat the oven to 200°C top/bottom heat. Bake the chicks for approx. 10 to 15 minutes until they are golden brown. Finally, press the almonds into the yeast dough as beaks and serve.