C'est La Cuisine Feature: Bread Bowl
Prep: 25 minutes depending Bake: 25-30 minutes
For C’est La Cuisine we were doing soup, and a fun way to serve with soup is in a bread bowl. I was scared of this but it ended up being super easy and came out perfect. I used instant yeast and this worked great. You can of course use active yeast and add prove time. The time above is for that version, it took a lot less without the extra proving.
Ingredients
1 1/2 cup warm water
3/4 tbls instant yeast
1 tbl + 1/4 tsp sugar
1/2 tbls salt
2 tbls melted butter
~4 cups flour
1/2 tbls milk
1 egg
Prep
Preheat oven to 400 F (200 C)
In a small bowl add the water, yeast and 1/4 tsp sugar
Mix this well until the sugar is dissolved
Cover and let stand at least 5 minutes
In a large bowl (mixer bowl with dough hook if you have it) add the salt, rest of the sugar, butter, yeast mix and to start about 2 cups flour and mix
Start adding more flour until the dough is really forming and pulling away from the bowl
Knead for at least 5 minutes. You want to touch it and see how sticky it is. It shouldn’t be extremely sticky and pull easily from your finger
Let sit to prove either about 10-15 minutes if using instant yeast, longer if using active
Ball it up tightly if you can
Take a 9 in round pan and spray it with non stick spray
Add the dough ball to it
Take a knife and cut an X at the top
Beat the egg in a small bowl and use a brush to wash the top of the dough
Let it sit at least 5-10 minutes more
Bake for 25-30 minutes until it’s puffed up and brown on top. You should be able to knock on it
Let it sit for 15 minutes to cool
Take a knife and slice a hole in the top and scoop out the insides
Afterthoughts
This was fantastic. I added a little garlic powder in mine to make a garlic bread but the whole bowl cooked perfectly and was amazing. It was strong and held my soup well. The bread was delicious. I added cheese to the scooped out bits and the rest was a great effect. The subtle garlic was great and all of it was warm and delectable. I highly recommend this. You can also break up the dough to make smaller bowls. This one is pretty big.
