These Homemade Bread Bowls have a crisp crust, soft and tender interior, and are perfect for holding your favorite soups and dips. The dough is based on a basic bread recipe that can also be used to make pizza, rolls, and breadsticks.
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Homemade Bread Bowls
Once you learn how to make Bread Bowls at home, you’ll be serving all of your favorite soups and dips out of them. This recipe uses a basic bread dough that can be made by cooks of any skill level. They’ve got a crisp crust, soft interior, and are such a fun and beautiful way to present a simple meal.
Feel free to add different herbs, cheeses, and spices to the bread dough. You can even use this recipe to make pizza crust, dinner rolls, or mini Bread Bowls. To avoid soggy bread, try and stick with creamy soups like this Roasted Acorn Squash Soup, Creamy Tomato Soup, or White Chicken Chili. Or, use a Bread Bowl as an impressive way to serve dips like Guacamole, Cheddar Queso Dip, or Everything Bagel Seasoning Dip.
Ingredients in Bread Bowls for Soup
- Water - you want your water to be warm (between 95-105 degrees F) in order to help “wake up” your yeast.
- Sugar - you can substitute honey if you’d like.
- Active Dry Yeast - be sure and use active dry for this recipe, or else your mixing, rising and baking times will need to be adjusted.
- Oil - this recipe calls for olive oil, but you could substitute avocado oil or even room temperature butter.
- Salt - salt is incredibly important in both the flavor and structure of bread. If you forget to add it, you’ll know!
- All-Purpose Flour - you can also use bread flour, but you’ll probably need to adjust the amount of flour that you need to add so keep an eye and make sure your dough is looking nice and shiny.
- Egg Wash - the egg wash for this bread uses egg whites and water.
How to make Bread Bowls for Soup
- Activate the yeast. In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the warm water, sugar, and yeast. Mix well, then let sit for 5-10 minutes, or until the yeast is frothy and bubbly.
- Mix the dough. Once the yeast has proofed, add the oil, salt, egg and half of the flour into the yeast mixture and mix on low using the dough hook until combined. Continue adding one cup of flour at a time, then mixing on low speed, until the dough pulls away from the sides and looks smooth. Once all of your flour is added, knead on medium speed for about 3 minutes. It should look smooth and elastic.
- Let the dough rise until doubled. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 30-45 minutes.
- Divide and shape the dough. Once doubled, divide the dough into 8 even pieces. Sprinkle flour on your counter, then using your hands, make each dough ball into a tight round ball. Place the dough ball onto a greased or parchment paper lined baking sheet. Make an "x" or "hashtag" score in the dough with a sharp knife.
- Top with egg wash and rise again. Whisk together the egg and water and brush a thin, even layer over the tops of each loaf of dough using a pastry brush. Let rise until doubled in size, about 30-45 minutes.
- Bake. Bake your bread bowls in a preheated 400 degree oven for 25-30 minutes, or until golden brown. Remove the baked Bread Bowls from the oven and cool for about 10-15 minutes, or until they can be handled.
- Scoop out the center and enjoy! To serve as Bread Bowls, cut a large circle out of the top and scoop out the center. Add your favorite soup, and enjoy!
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes! Just like any kind of bread, these Bread Bowls freeze very well. Once they are completely cool, wrap well in plastic or store in freezer bags for up to 2 months. To thaw, transfer to the fridge overnight. Reheat in a 350 degree oven for about 10 minutes if desired.
The baking time for these Bread Bowls depends on how large you make them and how hot your oven is. If you divide this recipe into 8 loaves and bake at 400 degrees F, they should take between 25-30 minutes to bake. The smaller the loaves, the less time it will take to bake.
As bread bakes, the moisture trapped inside needs to get out somehow. Cutting an “x” or a few scores in the top encourages the moisture to exit on top allowing the bread to expand up and rise evenly.
Storing and Freezing
- Room Temperature: you can store Bread Bowls in an airtight container or freezer bags at room temperature for up to 3 days.
- Refrigerator: if you want your bread to stay fresh slightly longer, store in freezer bags in the fridge for up to 1 week.
- Freezer: Bread Bowls can be wrapped in plastic, placed in freezer bags, and stored frozen for up to 3 months. To thaw, pull them out to room temperature overnight. You may wish to reheat them in a 350 degree oven for about 10 minutes before serving.
- Make-ahead: if you want to make these ahead of time, you can choose to make the dough, then wrap it well with plastic and store in the fridge overnight. The next day, pull it out and let it come to room temperature for about 30 minutes before dividing into 8 portions and finishing the recipe as directed.
Homemade Bread Bowls
Ingredients
Dough
- 3 cups Water warm (between 95-105 degrees F)
- 2 Tablespoons Sugar
- 1 ½ Tablespoons Active Dry Yeast or 2 packerts
- 2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
- 1 Tablespoon Salt
- 8-9 cups All-Purpose Flour
To Top the Loaves
- 1 large Egg White
- 1 Tablespoon Water
Instructions
- Grease a large baking sheet with butter or non-stick cooking spray and set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the warm water, sugar, and yeast. Mix well, then let sit for 5-10 minutes, or until the yeast is frothy and bubbly.
- Once the yeast has proofed, add the oil, salt, egg and half of the flour into the yeast mixture and mix on low using the dough hook until combined.
- Continue adding one cup of flour at a time, then mixing on low speed, until the dough pulls away from the sides and looks smooth. Once all of your flour is added, knead on medium speed for about 3 minutes. It should look smooth and elastic.
- Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 30-45 minutes.
- Once your dough has doubled, divide into 8 even pieces. Sprinkle flour on your counter, then using your hands, make each dough ball into a tight round ball.
- Place the dough ball onto the greased baking sheet. Make an "x" or "hashtag" score in the dough with a sharp knife.
- Whisk together the egg and water and brush a thin, even layer over the tops of each loaf of dough using a pastry brush. Let rise until doubled in size, about 30-45 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. while the loaves are rising.
- Bake your bread bowls for 25-30 minutes, or until golden brown. Remove from the oven and cool for about 10-15 minutes, or until they can be handled.
- To serve as Bread Bowls, cut a large circle out of the top and scoop out the center. Add your favorite soup, and enjoy!
Notes
- Proof the yeast in a large bowl by mixing together the warm water, sugar, and yeast and letting it sit for about 10 minutes until it bubbles.
- Once your yeast is nice and bubbly, whisk in the oil, eggs, and salt and mix to combine.
- Place about 7-8 cups of your flour in a circular mound on your countertop and make a well in the center that’s large enough to hold the wet ingredients. If you have a bowl that is large enough, you can use that instead.
- Add your wet ingredients into the center well and start to press the flour into the well. You are basically trying to mix it all together while avoiding the flour dam breaking and liquid spilling onto your floor!
- Continue to mix until it is all combined, and add knead in more flour, about ½ cup at a time, until your dough is nice and shiny and not sticky.
- Knead on your counter top for about 8-10 minutes, or until the dough is very shiny and elastic.
- Once you have kneaded the dough, you can transfer it to a clean bowl that has been lightly sprayed with pan spray, and let rise until doubled in size. From here, just continue on with the same steps as they are listed in the instructions.
- Divide your dough into 3 even pieces. Take each piece one at a time and gently roll them into a rectangle - the shorter end should be about as long as your baking pan, and the longer end should be about 12”.
- Once you’ve got your rectangles, you can tightly roll them up and pinch the end to seal the seam up.
- Tuck each end of the loaf under and place seam-side down into your greased baking pans.
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Once your loaves have doubled in size, bake all three at the same time for 28-30 minutes or until golden brown (an instant-read thermometer should read 195 degrees F when inserted into the center of your loaves).
Nutrition
More Soup Recipes to Serve with Bread Bowls
- Southwest Black Bean Soup
- Stuffed Pepper Soup
- Tuscan Soup
- Creamy Curry Squash Soup
- Best Creamy Cauliflower Soup
- Broccoli Cheddar Soup
- Loaded Baked Potato Soup
- Creamy Potato Broccoli Cheese Soup
- More Soup Recipes
- More Bread Recipes
- Cheese Filled Pull Apart Rolls
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You won't believe how easy and delicious these Homemade Bread Bowls are. Use them to serve your favorite soups and dips in a fun and beautiful way.
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