Shropshire Star

What better way to honour your beloved pet tortoise than by baking a bread replica of him?

Paul Hollywood would be proud of this bake.

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Tortoise and bread

Pet owners are known for really going the extra mile for their cherished animals, but this is definitely one of the more creative ways that someone has paid tribute to their pet.

While you were probably spending the Sunday watching Netflix on the sofa, cartoonist and comic artist Neil Slorance was instead baking an incredible dough replica of his tortoise, Herman.

Neil and Herman live in Glasgow, and Neil has had the 15-year-old tortoise for 12 years. When you’ve been together that long you obviously need to think of new and interesting ways to show each other you care, and Neil has done just that.

It made sense because Neil has started trying his hand at baking bread recently. “I’m only a beginner but I’ve made a couple of different things, even a sourdough which was tricky,” he says. “I love turtles and tortoises and thought the basic shape would be do-able with bread.”

Luckily, it wasn’t too tricky to pull off. Neil says: “I followed a Paul Hollywood recipe for a basic bloomer and then just before the final proving I took bits to made the head and legs and tried a simple detail for the ‘shell’.”

However, things then took a darker turn as Herman started nibbling at himself. The horror!

But don’t worry: bread Herman was safe from his real life counterpart. Neil says: “Funnily enough Herman only eats leaves and a few vegetables, but he had a little peck at the bread.”

Herman undoubtedly still appreciated the gesture – and the Internet did too.

Let’s just hope that Neil doesn’t have any other animals in more difficult shapes. A horse might be a little bit trickier to pull off in the oven.

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