Preparation... And Bread Bowls...

So I start my new job on Monday, and it is going to be a full time position which will have me completely out of my comfort zone and away from my kitchen... This is good, yes, but I will have to work twice as hard to keep our house stocked with all of our favorites that usually take me hours to make. So I decided to get a leg up on some of my baking so that I can freeze portions for future use, and then I won't have quite as much work ahead of me when I come home tired from work!

Today I am going to make bread bowls that I can freeze and then thaw and fill with soup or even dip for a party. I originally had the thought that I would make these to serve with broccoli cheese soup, homemade of course, thanks to Anneka's recipe, but then I decided to just make a bunch to have on hand whenever necessary. If you plan on doing this as well, make sure to under bake them just a little bit, then freeze them on a cookie sheet, then put them all into a freezer bag together and toss in the freezer for when you need them. If you try and put them in the bag all at once before separately freezing, you will have a giant frozen mess, so don't do that. Since they will be under baked, you can pop the frozen bread bowls into a preheated oven to bake the rest of the way, which will help thaw them and finish baking them at the same time: it will be like they were baked fresh the whole time!

To come up with the recipe I read a few different "crusty" bread recipes. This is the one that I fashioned...

If you have a bread machine with a dough cycle, then this will be cake. If not, you will need to mix your yeast with the warm water first, then sift in the remaining ingredients and knead, then let rise.... For those with a bread machine, follow me:

Put the following in your bread machine bowl in this order:

2 cup warm water
5 1/2 c sifted bread flour
2 T sugar
2 teaspoon salt
1 T yeast


Set on the dough cycle and let it go until the cycle is over. Then lightly flour and let rest in a warm area for 10-15 minutes.

Now it is time to form your "bowls". Divide your dough into 6 equal sections.

You can form your bowls 1 of two ways...

1. You can shape your dough into a ball and let it rise for an hour, then cut a criss cross into the top.

2. You can grease glass custard or prep cups (I use my pampered chef prep cups), and form the dough around the upside down cup on a cookie sheet. If you choose to do it this way you will want to make sure that you don't accidentally fold the dough under the cup. Let rise 1 hour before baking.

Before baking, beat together an egg yolk and 1 tablespoon water, then brush onto the surface of each bread bowl. Bake in a 375 degree oven for about 20 minutes.

Be careful when lifting your bread bowls from the cups, if that is the method you choose, then let rise on wired racks. I know I don't have to say this... but the custard cups will be hot, so don't try and grab them and pull them off of the bowl... just please, don't ;) .

Remember, if you want to freeze your bowls, under bake the ones you want to freeze by about 6 minutes, or to the point where they are firm, but not fully cooked.

I hope you enjoy them!