The Edible Bread Bowl

to serve yout dinnerguests a delicate soup in a bowl of homemade bread will surely give you a lot of credits as a host - and also theres no need of doing the dishes afterwards (my favorite part)

Or think of an outside winterparty with hot soup - no need for nasty paperplates or even worse plastics...

just enjoy the breadcrust by the fireplace later...

It's quite easy to make - even for a beginner - and the result talks for itself!

For the bowls you can use pretty much any recipe for bread. I prefer a dough of whole grain rye sourdough and wheat bread flour, it provides the most taste and best crust.

If you're a total beginner and unfamiliar to breadbaking the easiest solution for you will be a bread mix for farmers bread or similar -trust me, you will succeed even though you used a shortcut!

For 5-6 bread bowls you'll need:

1,5kg of ready mixed and kneaded dough.

some flour to work the dough

Oven proof moulds of desired shape and size - I use hardened glassbowls with the size of 450ml but of course you can use bowls, big cups or tin forms as long as it can stand the heat in the oven it'll work fine.

a sharp knive and a spoon

oil for the moulds ( it will be easier to unmould after baking)

The first steps:

oil the moulds slightly - that's optional but makes life easier

Divide the dough in 5 to 6 pieces

roll the pieces to even balls and roll them in flour until they're fully covered and won't stick anymore.

Put one so prepared doughball in each of your forms

cover the forms with a sheet of plastic cling and leave them in a warm spot until the balls almost doubled their size

( if you use a dough with yeast that will take about 1 hour, with sourdough about 2-3 hours)

I suggest that while you're waiting for the dough to rise, you can prepare the soup for filling

The dough is now a much bigger ball and fills the form almost entirely.

BEFORE you make a cut:

Preheat the oven to 250C

and boil a small cup of water (250ml)

WAIT until the oven is almost ready

then cut with the sharp knive around the upper part of the doughball ( see pictures if unclear)

cut only 1-1,5 cm deep (1/2 inch).

this cut helps the doughball to form a lid where you want it, instead of cracking randomly.

after cutting, put the forms directly in the middle of the oven

and pour the entire cup of boiling water on the metalbottom of the oven (NOT ON THE BOWLS!)

Close the ovendoor directly!

The steam of the boiling water will help the dough to rise smoothly without cracking to much.

Bake for 10 minutes at 250C then open carefully the door for a few seconds to get rid of the steam inside.

lower the temperature to 220C and bake for another 5 minutes before the next step.

the first 15 minutes in the oven are done and the bowls already got some nice colour.

take the bowls out of the oven and unmould them carefully - means without burning yourself or destroying the breadbowl ;)

Spray or sprinkle some water on their surface and put them back into the oven and bake upside down for another 20 minutes - the bowls are done if they sound "hollow" when you're knocking on the bottom and when the colour looks great.

Let the bowls get cool

now cut the lid on the obvious line

and hollow out the inside bread with a spoon - don't throwthe insides away, that will make delicious "bread soup", bread crumbs or croutons.

be careful while hollowing out the bowls not to make any holes in the outer crust.

leave around 5 to 7 mm to be sure.

Your breadbowls are ready to fill now, but it's also possible to freeze them for the right occasion.

Fill the bowls with soup or a delicious stew and serve your guests - they will be delighted!

Use the bowls lid to dip it into the soup.

don't forget to provide with butter - as soon as the soup is finished, I assure you, everyone want's to eat the soupbowl as well!

THANKS for your attention!