This recipe is brought to you in partnership with Red Star Yeast. I originally published this recipe in 2018 and have since added some new photos, a video tutorial, and a few more success tips. Tie on your aprons, gather your determination, and heat up that creamy soup. Let’s dive right into homemade bread bowls!
Ingredients in Bread Bowls
If you’re a bread beginner, don’t be nervous about yeast. It’s just another ingredient added to the dough. We’re not doing anything special with it. We’re just mixing it with water. The magic happens during hands-off time.
Overview: How to Make Bread Bowls
Bread-making probably seems impossible, but think of it this way: it’s one of the most basic foods. Just simple ingredients mixed together, left alone to work some magic, shaped, and baked. That’s the process and it’s 100% something you can handle.
This is A Basic Bread Dough
The dough we’re using to make bread bowls is a very basic bread dough. Made with common ingredients that most bakers have on hand, it’s simple, wholesome, and incredibly versatile. In fact, you’ll find the same ingredients in my sandwich bread and homemade pizza dough recipes. Using the same basic ingredients in varying amounts—like flour, yeast, water, and salt—produces incredibly different results! Bread bowl dough is a lean dough, which means that it’s prepared without fat and produces crusty bread such as focaccia, homemade bagels, and artisan bread. On the other hand, rich doughs make soft breads such as Nutella babka, dinner rolls, and glazed doughnuts. When I’m making softer and fluffier bread, I typically use all-purpose flour, milk instead of water, and add additional fat like eggs and/or butter. More fat usually means the dough takes longer to rise. Today’s bread bowls are a particularly “lean” dough, so the rise time is quicker. There’s no need to activate the yeast for this dough (basic, remember?)—which is when you add a pinch of sugar to the warm liquid/yeast to ensure that the yeast is active or not. Modern yeast is most likely active and ready to go. Just check the expiration date on the package.
Use This Dough for Anything
After the dough rises, you’ll shape the dough into 6 balls and bake them. You’re not limited to bread bowls though! This dough can easily turn into a couple pans of traditional dinner rolls, crusty loaves of bread, or even a few pizza doughs. You can add seasonings like garlic powder (my suggestion!), Italian seasoning, onion power, rosemary, etc. So many ways we can enjoy fresh bread with this simple and versatile recipe. One batch of bread bowl dough makes:
24 dinner rolls 3 crusty loaves of bread 4 12-inch pizza crusts
See my recipe notes below the recipe for detailed instructions for making each variation, as well as my make ahead and freezing tips.
What to Serve in Bread Bowls
The options are endless when considering what to serve in homemade bread bowls. A few of my favorites are crab dip or Maryland crab soup, garlic and bacon spinach dip, minestrone soup, slow cooker chicken chili, and creamy chicken noodle soup (pictured inside today’s bowls). Here are all of my soup recipes for even more inspiration!
See Your Homemade Bread Bowls
Feel free to email or share your recipe photos with us on social media. 🙂 Begin with quality yeast. Pour warm water on top, give it a minute to combine and froth up, then add the rest of the dough ingredients. You know the dough is ready when it no longer sticks to the sides of the bowl. Let it rise in a warm environment until (roughly) doubled in size, about 90 minutes. I use my oven for this warm environment. See step 3 above. The dough will be filled with air. Punch the dough down to release those air bubbles. You’ll be left with a super soft dough. ↓ Divide the dough into 6 equal pieces, about the size of a softball, and round them into balls as best you can. Use 2 baking sheets. Place 3 balls on each. Cover lightly with a tea towel, plastic wrap, aluminum foil, etc. Let the dough rest for about 20 minutes. Brush with egg wash. The egg wash helps create a crisp golden brown crust. Score an X on the top of the unbaked rolls. This helps the rolls expand. Bake until golden brown. Carve out a deep hole in the bread. Doesn’t need to be perfect. Just use a knife. Add your soup and enjoy.
