Home-made Bread Bowls

In the Pumpkin Soup recipe I showed off some home-made bread bowls. These are relatively easy to make, I think, and I will share the recipe that I used with you today.

The recipe I used for this was a simple bun recipe and I just tweaked it a bit to suit my needs. It comes from the German cook book “Die Besten Backrezepte von A-Z” and is a Herb Buns recipe.

Ingredients:

– 500g flour (whole wheat if you like)
– 7g quick-rise dry yeast
– 1 tsp. salt
– 250ml luke warm water
– 1 egg

– fresh chives
– 1 tbsp. parsley
– 1 tbsp. dill

Tip 1: The original recipe uses regular all-purpose flour. If you wish to use whole wheat flour you need to increase the yeast, about double it. Whole wheat flour is heavier and needs more help to rise.

Combine flour with yeast and salt, then add the luke warm water and egg. Combine well to a smooth dough. If it is too sticky, add more water, if it is too dry, add more water. The dough should have a tiny bit of sticky feeling too it.

Cover the dough with plastic wrap and place the bowl in a warm spot until the dough has doubled. Usually the top of the stove works when turning on the oven to pre-heat.

Rinse the fresh chives and dry a little, then finely chop them.

Tip 2: I had no fresh herbs, thus I used dried ones which worked as well.

After the dough as doubled, removed it onto a work surface which has been dusted with flour. Knead the dough again and incorporate the herbs well. Form a roll and cut up into 4 pieces.

Tip 3: The bigger the pieces the bigger your bread bowls will be. You can also make one large “loaf” to be a bread bowl if you like.

Form round buns and place on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Cover them with a tea towel and let them rise again in a warm spot for 10 min. Then brush each with some milk and bake at 200°C for about 20 min or until they have a light brown crust.

Remove from the oven and let them cool on a wire rack. Then cut open the top and start removing the inner part. This you can use to make your own bread crumbs. Make sure you are not hitting the wall, you don’t want a leaking bowl.

Fill with your favourite soup and serve.

Happy baking!