Our homemade bread bowl recipe is the perfect “soup bowl” for creamy soups, chili, or even dip! Made with staple ingredients in your pantry.
Bread bowls are the perfect vessel for a delicious and comforting bowl of soup. You get to enjoy bread along with your soup.
Once you’ve finished your soup you’re left with bread that has the flavorful soup soaked up into it. It’s almost like a chicken pot pie, just as good, if not better.
Our favorite soups for bread bowls would be our Vegan White Bean Soup, Vegan Cream of Mushroom Soup, Vegan Cream of Mushroom Soup, and of course, a broccoli and cheese soup or potato soup.
Bread Bowl Ingredients:
- Bread Flour – You can also use all-purpose flour, but we prefer bread flour when making bread bowls.
- Instant Yeast – We shorten the length of time by using instant yeast.
- Kosher Salt – We always use Kosher salt, but if you don’t have it you can use regular table salt, but use 1/2 tablespoon.
- Sugar – Just a little bit, you’ll barely notice it. The bread does need a bit to balance the flavor, just like the salt.
- Warm water – Aim for 105-110 degrees F. Too hot can kill the yeast, and too cold won’t activate it.
- Olive Oil – When using oil, keep in mind the oil will give a bit of flavor to the bread. Use quality.
How to make bread bowls
In a stand mixer, combine the dry ingredients and mix to get any lumps out.
In a bowl, combine the water and oil and then pour into the mixer.
Once the dough comes together after kneading in the mixer you can place the dough into an oiled bowl and let it rise until double, about 1 1/2 hours.
Next, you’ll punch the dough down.
Doing this removes the excess air and then you can knead the dough onto a floured surface. Divide the dough into six equal portions using a scale to get evenly sized dough balls. Form them into round balls.
Once you sort the dough balls you can place them onto two baking sheets with a damp, clean dish cloth or plastic wrap. Let them rise a second time for 45 minutes to an hour.
Around 30 minutes into the rising time, preheat your oven to 400 degrees F. Whisk the egg with water to create an egg wash, then brush over the rolls. Use a sharp knife or kitchen shears to create an X on the top of the rolls.
Bake the rolls for 25-30 minutes. You can bake on a pizza stone or baking steel for a crispier crust. Let the bread rest for 15-20 minutes before cutting and serving with soup.
To remove the inside, just cut a circle out on the top with enough space on the edges to hold in the soup. Then, remove some of the interior bread to serve soup inside the bowl. Be careful not to remove too much that it spills out.
Recipe Tips and Alterations:
- Bread bowls are great for soup or creamy dips.
- You can use all-purpose flour if you don’t have bread flour.
- Don’t want shiny bread bowls? Skip the egg wash. This would also make them vegan. You can even do a brush of butter once they’re finished instead. (dairy free butter works well too!)
- You can bake bread bowls on a regular baking but you’ll get better browning and a crispier crust with a pizza stone or baking steel.
Left baked on a baking sheet, right on a baking sheet on baking steel.
Storage and reheating tips:
- How to store: You can store bread bowls in a bread bag on the counter for 2-3 days.
- How to freeze bread bowls: We use a reusable silicone bag or a freeze bag to freeze leftover bread bowls for up to 6 months.
- How to reheat: To warm up the bread bowls, we pop them in the oven at 400 degrees F for about 10 minutes.
Frequently Asked Questions
I prefer to use bread flour as it results in chewier bread. Bread flour has more protein than all-purpose, giving our bread bowls better structure.
You can still use all-purpose flour or even a mix of the two.
Yes, if you will be using them in 2-3 days you can make and keep them fresh by placing the bread bowls into a bread bag on the counter. Otherwise, you can freeze them for up to 6 months.
Soup recipes for bread bowls
Bread Bowls
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Print Pin SaveIngredients
Bread Bowls
- 7 cups bread flour more as needed for kneading
- 1 tablespoon instant yeast
- 1 tablespoon Kosher salt
- 2 teaspoons granulated sugar
- 2 1/2 cups warm water
- 1/8 cup olive oil
Egg Wash
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon water
Instructions
- In a stand mixer bowl, combine the dry ingredients then add the water and olive oil. Mix with a dough hook until the dough comes together. Once combined, continue to knead in the mixer for 2-3 minutes or knead by hand for 5-6 minutes.
- Place the dough into a large oiled bowl and cover. Let the dough rise until doubled, about 1 1/2 hours.
- Punch the dough down to remove any air. Knead the dough onto a floured surface to remove any remaining air, divide the dough into six evenly sized pieces (we recommend a scale for this), and then form each piece into round dough balls.
- Place the dough balls onto two large baking sheets, then cover the rolls with a damp cloth or plastic wrap and let them rise for another 45 minutes to an hour. About 30 minutes into the rising time, preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
- Whisk the egg and water together to make an egg wash.
- Use a sharp knife to score an X into the top of each bun. You can also use scissors to snip an X. Brush the rolls with egg wash and bake for 25-30 minutes.
- Let the bread rest for 15-20 minutes before cutting.
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Nutrition
The nutritional information is automatically calculated and can vary based ingredients and products used. If the nutrition numbers are important for you we recommend calculating them yourself.
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