Form
one loaf into a large ball. Cut the second loaf into 3 equal parts. Form two of
those 3 parts into balls. Take the last third of that loaf and cut it into 4
pieces, then roll them into small balls. Divide that last 2 loaves into 4 pieces
each, and roll each piece into a short, stubby rope. (see diagram A) You can
have long legs, if you want, but they might burn while you wait for the thicker
pieces of dough to bake through. Form the Spider:
Use warm water to aid you in sticking the pieces together. The largest ball is the spider's thorax (chest). The middle sized balls are it's head and abdomen - place them next to the thorax on either side. The ropes are the spider's 8 legs - place them, bent at the "knee", 4 on either side of the thorax. The 4 small balls will make the spider's face. Put two eyeballs on the spiders head, and make the spider's mouth (it looks kind of like a lobster claw, a 'pincher' - make 2 triangles from the last two pieces of dough and put them side by side on the very top of his "head" - look up a picture of a spider on the net if you think it will aid you in sculpting mr spider)
Let it rise:
Cover the dough with a piece of saran wrap that you have greased with oil or non stick spray, put it in a warm (not hot) draft - free spot. Let rise 1-1/2 to 2 hours, or until doubled in size. (If you live in the mountains it may only take about half as long to rise) Preheat oven to 350°F. Remove plastic wrap from spider. Place on a large, greased nonstick cookie sheet or on a silicone mat on a large cookie sheet.
Paint your spider:
Beat your eggs with 2 Tbsp water and divide into 2 small bowls. Add several drops of red food color to one bowl, and several drops black to the other. Using a pastry brush or large, new paintbrush, paint your black food color mixture onto everything but the eyeballs and the abdomen (tail). Paint the eyeballs red, and paint an hourglass on the abdomen in red. Fill in the rest of the tail end with black. (If you don't have food color, you can mix 1/4 c Dutch process cocoa powder mixed with a tablespoon of melted butter added to your egg wash and mix together well. Voila - a 'brown recluse' spider).
Bake:
Bake at 350°F for about 45 minutes (depending on your oven). Remove from oven and allow to cool completely.
Finishing
touches:Cut a large hole, the size of a large sour cream container, from the thorax (see diagram 2). Place your bowl of dip inside the hole. Arrange the bread spider on a platter lined with fake cobwebs like you can get at Halloween. If you can find a big fake plastic fly to put in his web, it would look really cool.
As Julia would say... Bon A Petit!
Per serving: calories 278, fat 5.9g, 19% calories from fat, cholesterol 21mg, protein 11.4g, carbohydrates 45.2g, fiber 1.8g, sodium 474mg.