Step 1: Make the crust. Combine crust ingredients in a food processor and pulse until combined. Divide the dough into two pieces. Wrap them and keep cool in the fridge.
Step 2: Make the bread dough. In a large bowl, add the yeast, 1 Tbsp of the sugar, warm water. Stir for about 5 minutes until foaming and bubbly. Add remaining sugar, salt, powdered milk, egg, butter, and flour, then mix to combine.
Step 3: Place the dough on your surface and knead until the dough becomes smooth and elastic. If too sticky, add 1 tsp of flour.
Step 4: Place the dough in a large bowl and cover with a plastic wrap. Allow to rise in a warm place until doubled in size. (About 30-35 minutes, but may depend)
Step 5: Punch the dough to remove the air bubbles. Split the bread dough into 7 circular pieces about the size of a golf ball for the body. Next, split the dough into seven smaller pieces (about 1inch) for the head. Use the remainder of the dough to make the feet and tail (35 small pieces). Cover the dough with a wet kitchen cloth and rest for about 15 minutes.
Step 6: Meanwhile, take one of the crusts from the fridge and divide it into 7 balls. Place one at a time on a lightly floured surface and flatten it with your hand. Using a rolling pin, roll them into about 10cm flat rounds. Use plastic wrap to avoid having the green color stick to your rolling pin. Repeat this process with the rest of the crusts.
Step 7: Take one piece of bread dough for the body, flatten it with your hand, then reshape it into a ball. Place the crust on your palm and put the main dough (for the body) in the middle, bottom side facing toward you.
Step 8: Use the plastic wrap to cover the bread dough with the crust. Make sure the two doughs are connected.
Step 9: Place the now connected body and shell onto your working surface and coat the crust with granulated sugar. Then using a dough scraper or knife, create a diamond-cut pattern on the top to mimic a turtle’s shell.
Step 10: Place the now connected body and shell onto your working surface and coat the crust with granulated sugar. Then using a dough scraper or knife, create a diamond-cut pattern on the top to mimic a turtle’s shell.
Step 11: Cover the dough with plastic wrap to prevent it from drying. Let the dough rise in a warm place until it is about one and a half times larger in size, about 35-40 minutes.
Step 12: Preheat the oven to 325 °F. Bake for about 15 minutes. If you see the bread is not browning evenly, rotate the bread once so that it gets an even color.
Step 13: Once it has cooled down, use melted chocolate to draw on the face.
There will be leftovers of the crust used for the turtle’s shell. You can use it to make matcha cookies!