Homemade Bread Bowls

Quick!  You must make these and make a nice, hearty bowl of chowder or chili before spring really shows up and we’re all tired of comfort food!

Bread bowls were my idea of tricking my son into eating a ham and bean soup.  He’s really not a soup fan. He likes the broth part okay, but something about the cooked veggies and meats inside just turns him off.  He’s getting better, but for the most part, soup night for him consists of a bread-like substance that he dunks into his soup until he has run out of broth.  I thought that if I served a nice hearty ham and bean soup in a bread bowl, that maybe he’d eat a bit more of it by eating the bread it was served in.

It was a nice idea, but he really wasn’t a fan of tearing the bread off the bowl.  Still, the bread bowls were delicious and I’ve made them more than once since that first experience.  They really elevate a simple bowl of soup, and took a bowl of clam chowder from basic to awesome.

The one thing I’m trying to figure out yet with these bread bowls is the ideal loaf size.  If I were to knead up a batch of dough and just bake bread with it, I think that I could get three decent sized loaves of bread out of it.  So when I divide it only into six pieces, and serve one per person, that’s like eating a half loaf of bread with a meal.  It’s just too much.  So the last time I baked them, I did them in eight bowls.  The quantity of soup the hold is less, but I thought the bread portion was a much more realistic size.  Still, I didn’t finish my bread bowl that time either- it’s still too much bread for one person.  But they are delicious, and I think that taking the bowls any smaller would negate the bowl factor, and they wouldn’t be bread bowls, they’d just be rolls.

Which they could be, the actual bread recipe is delicious, so feel free to play with it if you feel so inclined.  To use these as bread bowls, just take a sharp knife and cut a circle in the top of the loaf.  Use your fingers to dig out the bread from the inside- if you cut carefully, you can remove a whole “plug” of bread and slice that up to serve as dunkers for the soup.

Delicious Bread Bowls

Directions:

In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.
Add salt, sugar,oil and 4 cups flour to the yeast mixture; beat well. Stir in the remaining flour, 1/2 cup at a time, beating well with an electric mixer at medium speed after each addition. Alternately, mixing by hand works just fine, using a sturdy wooden spoon.  I have yet to have a batch of dough go beyond six cups of flour- when it loses it’s stickiness, stop adding flour.
When the dough has pulled together, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, about 6 minutes. 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 8 equal portions. Shape each portion into a 4 inch round loaf. Place loaves on lightly greased baking sheets sprinkled with cornmeal. Cover and let rise in a warm place, free from drafts, until doubled in bulk, about 35 minutes.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). In a small bowl, beat together egg white and 1 tablespoon water; lightly brush the loaves with half of this egg wash.
Bake in preheated oven for 15 minutes. Brush with remaining egg mixture, and bake 10 to 15 more minutes or until golden. Cool on wire racks.
To make bowls: Cut a 1/2 inch thick slice from top of each loaf; scoop out centers, leaving 3/4-inch-thick shells. Fill bread bowls with hot soup and serve immediately.