>There is supposed to be a "tradition" creating doughboys, where the arms
>cover an egg placed in the stomach region, for Easter.
I have "The History of Bread" by Bernard Dupaigne, and he doesn't give much
info, but has a picture as you describe (and the picture makes me think
more of Christmas than Easter), captioned "Brioche bread enclosing an egg,
symbol of the Resurrection of Christ. Greece."
In the text, he notes several *other* traditions, but the only place that
*sounds* like it might be describing the pictured bread reads as follows:
"These bread figures recall the Saint Nicholas and Christmas figures in
Northern regions; they go by various names: estève in Provence, coulom in
the Ardèche, and pantin in the Haute-Loire near Saint-Etienne, where they
are sold during the Holy Week." The problem is, this sentence seems to
be describing bread figures to decorate laurel branches -- not something
that sounds large enough to hold an egg, so not sure if it is referring to
the same thing...
Sorry if that's not too much help. If you want to look it up, the ISBN is
0810934388, and the picture is on page 139 and the quoted text on 138.
Joe