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With only a handful of ingredients, this Easy Homemade Bread Bowl recipe is simple, tasty, and freezes well. Fill with your favorite soup, like Broccoli Cheddar, and dinner is served!
Instant Pot Potato Soup makes a great filling for these Easy Homemade Bread Bowls which are made with only a handful of ingredients. These Easy Homemade Bread Bowls are perfect for when you want to indulge at home, and not break the bank at a restaurant. Pair this delicious homemade bread bowl with some hearty soup, and you have a winning meal! I love using them for Hamburger Soup, Beef Chili Recipe, Chicken Mushroom soup or Loaded Cauliflower Soup also!
How to make the Easy Homemade Bread Bowl recipe:
**scroll down for full ingredients list and printable directions**
Using a stand mixer or large mixing bowl, add warm water and sprinkle in yeast. Let the yeast dissolve for a few minutes until yeast becomes foamy (You only have to do this step if you are using regular yeast, not fast acting. If you are using fast acting, just sprinkle it in the water and move to next step, no waiting needed). Add butter, sugar, and salt, then mix well.
On the lowest speed, slowly add the flour until completely combined. Remove paddle attachment and insert the dough hook. On a medium/high setting, 'knead' the dough for 4-5 minutes or until smooth. Place the dough into an oiled bowl, then cover with a damp kitchen towel. Let the bread sit for 45 minutes in a warm dry place.
Remove the towel and punch the dough down in the center. Remove from the bowl and cut into 6 even sections. Form each section into a small ball. Place the dough balls on a lightly greased baking sheet, a few inches apart. Cover loosely with damp towel, and allow to rise again for 40 minutes.
Brush an egg wash all over the tops and sides of the bread bowls, then sprinkle with your favorite herbs. I like oregano and thyme.
Place in a preheated (400 degrees) oven, and bake for 15 minutes. Remove and brush again with the egg wash. Place back in oven and bake 10-15 additional minutes, or until tops are browned and slightly crisped. Remove and cool on a wire rack.
Once the bread bowls have cooled off, you can cut a pocket out of the top center, and then pour the soup into the bread bowl.
With only a handful of ingredients, this Easy Homemade Bread Bowl recipe is simple, tasty, and freezes well. Fill with your favorite soup, like Broccoli Cheddar, and dinner is served!
Servings: 6bread bowls
Ingredients
2cupswarm water,+ 4 TBS water
2packages active dry yeastor 4 ½ teaspoon fast acting yeast
½cupbutter, melted
2TBSgranulated sugar
3teaspoonsalt
6 ½cupsbread flour
1egg white
Instructions
Using a stand mixer or large mixing bowl, add warm water and sprinkle in yeast. Let dissolve for a few minutes until yeast becomes foamy (You only have to do this step if you are using regular yeast, not fast acting. If you are using fast acting, just sprinkle it in the water and move to next step, no waiting needed).
Add melted butter, sugar and salt and mix until combined. Gradually add flour.
Once combined, allow your mixer to knead the dough for about 5 minutes (you could do this by hand if you weren't using a mixer).
Lightly oil a large bowl, place the dough in the bowl and turn to coat with oil. Cover with a damp cloth and let rise in a warm place until doubled in volume, about 40 minutes.
Punch dough down, and divide into 6 equal portions. Shape each portion into a 4 inch round loaf. Place loaves on lightly greased baking sheets sprinkled with cornmeal. Cover with damp towel and let rise in a warm place, free from drafts, until doubled in bulk, about 35 minutes.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. In a small bowl, beat together egg white and 1 tablespoon water; lightly brush the loaves with half of this egg wash. Sprinkle with any seasonings you may like (I use thyme and oregano).
Bake in preheated oven (400 degrees F) for 15 minutes, remove, and brush with remaining egg mixture, and bake 10 to 15 more minutes or until golden. Cool on wire racks.
To make bowls: Cut a ½ inch thick slice from top of each loaf; scoop out centers, leaving ¾-inch-thick shells. Fill bread bowls with hot soup and serve immediately.
An issue that a home cook may encounter is bread bowls becoming too soggy too quickly. To avoid this sad fate, toasting your bread bowl is an easy preventative measure. Above all, a bread bowl's main job is to hold its soupy contents.
Bread dough should be allowed to rise in a metal bowl as opposed to a plastic bowl because metal is a better conductor of heat. This means that the dough will rise more evenly and at a consistent temperature. Additionally, metal bowls are easier to clean and do not absorb odors or flavors as easily as plastic bowls.
In a toasty kitchen, your dough may proof in as little as an hour (or less!). When the temperatures dip, it can take much longer—upwards of two or even three hours. You'll know it's done when it has a full, puffed appearance, like in the image below.
The joke of the video is that bakers get emotional seeing their works of art, their loaves of bread, get turned into a bowl. That's because when it's turned into a bowl, much of the dough is carved out and discarded, which is just a waste of food. Not only should bakers hate it, but we all should!
Bread bowls can be used to serve chili, New England–style clam chowder, and other thick stews (often, but not always, with a cheese or cream base). Soups with thinner bases are not generally served in bread bowls, as the broth would make the bread get too soggy too quickly.
Crafted from the same artisan Sourdough bread used in the classic Bread Bowl, the Double Bread Bowl features a crunchy crust and chewy center that pairs perfectly with all Panera soups, from sweet Creamy Tomato to the cheesy goodness of Broccoli Cheddar.
Glass bowls have one major advantage over ceramic and metal variations: they are transparent. This is especially beneficial to bread baking because it allows the baker to see whether or not the dough has risen to a desired size without relying upon height alone. Glass is oven and microwave safe.
Bread bowls are casual foods, so don't be afraid to use your fingers to eat the bread once you've finished most of the soup. Unfortunately, bread bowls don't keep well once you've filled them with soup, so eat as much of the bread as you want!
Most bread recipes have two rises, a first rise (also called bulk fermentation), and a second or final rise. You can chill your dough during either the first or second rise. Your yeast won't give you much love if it's asked to do both rises in the fridge, so it's best to do one or the other at room temperature.
Yes!If a recipe calls for proofing bread dough overnight in the refrigerator, it can be proofed on the counter at a warmer temperature for a shorter period. Rather than placing the dough in the refrigerator overnight, leave it covered on the counter for 1 to 4 hours until it's ready to bake.
Can I use active dry and instant yeasts interchangeably? Yes, they can be substituted for one another 1:1. We've found that active dry yeast is a little bit slower off the mark than instant, as far as dough rising goes; but in a long (2- to 3-hour) rise, the active dry yeast catches up.
Traditionally, this type of bowl was used for bread making. The ingredients were mixed and kneaded into dough in the bowl, then covered with a cloth and left to rise.
First, homemade yeast breads and quick breads should be completely cooled on a wire rack as soon as they're done baking. This prevents the bottom from getting soggy. Keep them in a paper bag (rather than plastic) or consider getting a reusable bread bag ($8.99, Etsy), which will wick away moisture.
To cool your loaves properly you need to transfer your loaves from the oven to a wire cooling rack, and let them rest until they have cooled to about body temperature. The air that circulates around the bread will keep the crust from becoming soggy and is a crucial step to having that perfect crust.
Waxed paper and paper bread bags are also great for keeping bread warm because they are made of material that will retain the heat and keep it from escaping. They are also good at preventing sogginess because they are breathable.
If the dough doesn't fill out with gas, perhaps because it hasn't had time to rise properly, the inside of the loaf will remain soggy and dense as the dough won't bake properly. You should therefore leave plenty of time for your dough to rise.
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