Homemade Bread Bowl Recipe

Because why eat soup out of a regular bowl when you can eat it out of a bowl made of bread? On Monday, when I shared my broccoli cheddar soup recipe, I promised that I’d soon be sharing a bread bowl recipe for you to put it in. Well here it is! This recipe is perfect for the beginner bread baker. It’s simple with only a handful of ingredients, can easily be cut in half if you’re not trying to serve 6, can be made with or without a stand mixer, and yields a sturdy bowl-shaped loaf of bread that’s great for filling with your favorite soup or dip. Let’s get to it.

Ingredients

There are only a few very basic ingredients you need for this bread bowl recipe:

Water. This needs to be warmed to 105-110F. Too cool and your yeast won’t activate. Too hot and you’ll kill your yeast. And what did that yeast ever do to you to deserve that? Yeast. Active dry. Sugar. Helps our yeast grow but also adds flavor to the bread bowls. Butter. I went back and forth between using butter and olive oil for this recipe. Butter yielded a fluffier texture and better flavor. Flour. I’ve tested this recipe using all-purpose and bread flour. Bread flour yields a higher/taller, rounder (more bowl-shaped) bread bowl with a chewier center and is what I recommend. Salt. You will need 1 Tablespoon. That’s not a typo! Salt adds some much-needed flavor. Our bread bowls need to taste good and not just look good! Cornmeal. Sprinkling a bit of cornmeal over your baking sheet or parchment paper helps to keep the bread bowls from sticking to the pan.

A Few Notes on the Method

The recipe itself is as straightforward as the ingredient list. I use my stand mixer to make the dough, but if you don’t have one you can do it by hand. You will have to use a little muscle to work the dough together until the proper consistency is reached and then knead by hand until the consistency indicated in the recipe is achieved. Scoring the dough (cutting an “X” into the top of each loaf) is done to encourage the rolls to expand upwards in the oven. Use a sharp knife. We brush the dough twice with egg wash, once before baking and then again halfway through. This encourages a deep golden brown crust, deeper than it would be if you were to only brush your bread bowls once.

Tips

Brush your bread bowl dough with egg wash and score it before letting them rise. I did not do this in my video, and if you watch it you’ll see one of my bread bowls deflated pretty badly. As did my ego. Let your bread bowl cool before slicing. Use a serrated knife and a sawing motion to slice the top off of your bowl without squishing it. Bread bowls are best served warm and fresh (isn’t all bread) but will keep for 2-3 days in an airtight container at room temperature.

What to Serve In Your Bread Bowl

Time to fill it up! Basically any soup will work well in this bread bowl recipe, but here are a few of my favorites:

Lasagna Soup Potato Soup Corn Chowder Chicken noodle soup Chili (OK, not a soup, but still great)

When it comes to soups, thicker soups (like my butternut squash soup) are ideal, while thinner ones (like French onion soup) don’t work quite as well. Dips are also great, reserve the bread you’ve torn out for dipping purposes! I love serving dill dip in a bread bowl.

Enjoy!