Bread bowls for comforting soups and stews

The weather isn’t quite as warm as we were hoping right now with lockdown easing, so with the jammies back here’s a recipe for edible soup bowls! We first experienced this on a very cold New Year break to Prague in 2010, which included a day trip to Kutna Hora, where we enjoyed steaming hot bowls of stew/soup inside an edible bread bowl. Since then we’ve seen this in a few other Eastern European countries and have occasionally seen it in the UK too. It’s not a common sight so if you’ve never tried it, or you have and would love to make it yourself then read on for a simple bread bow recipe.

This recipe works not only for bread bowls, but bread dinner rolls as well. Six ingredients (and an egg for a lush golden topping) make this a store cupboard pleaser.

Ingredients

2 sachets of Dry Yeast
540ml) warm water
2 teaspoons granulated sugar
2 teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons olive oil
780g bread flour
1 large egg beaten

Instructions

Pour the warm water over yeast in the bowl.
Whisk together and allow to sit for 5 minutes.
The mixture should be frothy and foamy after 5 minutes.
Mix together the sugar, salt, olive oil and 3/4 of the flour.
Once mixed add the rest of the flour.
Mix on a low speed, with a dough hook for about 5 minutes, or knead by hand.
The dough should be thick and pull away from the sides of the bowl as it mixes.
Turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and form into a ball.
Place into a large greased bowl.
Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place it somewhere warm until it has doubled in size.
It has been cold lately so I preheated an oven to 200°F (93°C) then turned the oven off and place the bowl inside the warm oven.
Once doubled in size, punch down the dough to release any air bubbles.
Remove dough from the bowl and turn it out onto a lightly floured surface.
Using a sharp knife or dough scraper, cut into 6 even pieces.
Form each into a large ball.
Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper.
Place 3 dough balls onto each.
Cover lightly and set aside to rest for 20 minutes as the oven preheats.
Preheat oven to 400°F (204°C).
Brush each dough ball with egg wash and, using a sharp knife, score an X into the tops of each.
Bake for 30 minutes or until golden brown.
Cool until ready to handle.

Bread Bowls

Bread bowls for soup

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Ingredients

2 sachets of Dry Yeast
540 ml) warm water
2 teaspoons granulated sugar
2 teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons olive oil
780 g bread flour
1 large egg beaten

Instructions

our the warm water over yeast in the bowl.
Whisk together and allow to sit for 5 minutes.
The mixture should be frothy and foamy after 5 minutes.
Mix together the sugar, salt, olive oil and 3/4 of the flour.
Once mixed add the rest of the flour.
Mix on a low speed, with a dough hook for about 5 minutes, or knead by hand.
The dough should be thick and pull away from the sides of the bowl as it mixes.
Turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and form into a ball.
Place into a large greased bowl.
Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place it somewhere warm until it has doubled in size.
It has been cold lately so I preheated an oven to 200°F (93°C) then turned the oven off and place the bowl inside the warm oven.
Once doubled in size, punch down the dough to release any air bubbles.
Remove dough from the bowl and turn it out onto a lightly floured surface.
Using a sharp knife or dough scraper, cut into 6 even pieces.
Form each into a large ball.
Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper.
Place 3 dough balls onto each.
Cover lightly and set aside to rest for 20 minutes as the oven preheats.
Preheat oven to 400°F (204°C).
Brush each dough ball with egg wash and, using a sharp knife, score an X into the tops of each.
Bake for 30 minutes or until golden brown.
Cool until ready to handle.