It feels so special when you’re in a restaurant and they bring your soup out in a bowl made of BREAD! There is something so delicious and fun about being able to eat the container your meal came in! Our kids especially love it! When you’re cooking at home and wanting the same level of food comfort from your own kitchen, you can whip up these homemade bread bowls in the morning or afternoon so they are ready to serve with dinner. Nothing beats the taste and smell of homemade bread! This recipe makes 8 bread bowls and takes about 2 hours and 30 minutes, although most of that is rising time. There are only 4 people in my family, so I like to make the full recipe and then freeze half of the dough before the second rise. That way we can have fresh bread bowls for leftovers, or even save them for later. You can also freeze the baked bread bowls if you find that you have leftovers. If you’re looking for that all-around homemade Panera experience, serve these homemade bread bowls with my Better-Than-Panera Broccoli Cheese Soup. They are made for each other! My Smoked Salmon Chowder would be another excellent choice. But it’s just as fun serving your favorite dips out of bread bowls. It makes an interesting appetizer that looks fantastic on any dinner table or party spread! Serving meals with bread is a given at our house! Our Soft Homemade Potato Rolls are great for holidays or just to have on hand, and our Roasted Garlic & Rosemary No-Knead Artisan Bread is so simple to make with little effort. It pairs perfectly with pasta or salads!
Homemade Bread Bowl Ingredients
Warm water: Warm water, at around 110 to 115°F, is needed to activate the yeast. Yeast: I used active dry yeast which is super easy to find at the grocery store. This is what raises the bread so we can make it into a bowl! Sugar: Yeast is alive, and living things need to be fed, so we feed the yeast with its favorite treat: sugar! This activates the yeast and makes it nice and bubbly, along with the warm water. Salt: Add just a little salt to balance the flavor, otherwise it will taste pretty bland. Olive oil: Olive oil is a key binding ingredient. It also gives a little flavor. Flour: Bread flour is perfect for these homemade bread bowls! You’ll need plenty to make the dough, plus some extra to sprinkle on the counter and stop the dough from sticking to it while shaping the bread bowls. You can sub all-purpose flour if bread flour isn’t available, but the texture won’t be as chewy and good. Egg and milk: These two pantry staples ingredients are combined to make an eggwash. This gives the final baked bread bowls a beautiful glow.
How to Make Homemade Bread Bowls
Storage and Freezing Instructions
Like regular bread, you can store homemade bread bowls in a bread bin or ziplock bag on the counter for up to a week. This is a great recipe to make ahead and freeze! You can either freeze the dough after shaping them into individual balls, and then thaw and rise before baking, or you can freeze the bread bowls after they’ve baked.
What can I fill these with?
My favorite fillings for homemade bread bowls are soups and dips! While the bread bowls are sturdy enough to hold thinner soups, they soak up more of the broth, so creamier soups tend to do best in bread bowls. Soups:
Better-Than-Panera Broccoli Cheese Soup Wisconsin Cauliflower Soup Homemade Tomato Basil Soup Creamy Leftover Turkey Wild Rice Soup Creamy Irish Leek and Potato Soup Easy Minestrone Soup New England Fish Chowder
Dips:
Healthier Hot Spinach and Artichoke Dip Recipe Jalapeño Popper Dip with Bacon Philly Cheesesteak Dip
Can I use all-purpose flour instead of bread flour?
Yes you can, however, bread flour is formulated to have more protein which encourages the gluten structure in bread, making the homemade bread bowls rise more efficiently and have a different, chewier texture. By substituting all-purpose flour, the dough also may not have as much height.
More Bread Recipes Like This
Multigrain Bread Grilled Garlic Bread Homemade Potato Bread Recipe Best Challah Bread Recipe Easy Rosemary Focaccia Bread Easy Homemade Rye Bread
Sweet Molasses Brown Bread
Homemade French Bread
Roasted Garlic & Rosemary No-Knead Artisan Bread
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