Bread Bowls

When I made our soup tonight I really wanted to serve it in bread bowls, but I was too lazy to drive all the way to the grocery store, so I pulled out this recipe I found a while ago that I have been wanting to try. This recipe is SOOOO easy!!! These were under the towel rising much faster than I would have been able to get to the store and Dee told me that she expects I will NEVER buy store bought bread bowls again because these were way more delicious. So we are adding them to the recipe book for good!

Ingredients:

2-1/4 cup warm water

5-1/2 tsp active dry yeast (or two packages)

2 Tbsp granulated sugar

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted

1 Tbsp salt (that is not a misprint)

6 to 6-1/2 cups bread flour (can substitute AP if you don't have bread)

Measure warm water in to the bottom of the mixing bowl. Sprinkle in the yeast then sprinkle the sugar over the top of the yeast. Let that sit for five minutes and the yeast will become all foamy. Add melted butter and salt then mix until combined. Place the mixing bowl on the stand mixer with the dough hook. Add two cups of flour, mix, two more, mix, two more mix. Add the remaining 1/2 if you need it. Let the mixer knead the dough for 5 minutes. Let rise for an hour.

Punch dough down and form into 6 equal sized balls, stretching the dough over the top and pushing it up in to itself till they look smooth like this...

Spray cookie sheet with cooking spray. Place the balls on the cookie sheet and spray them gently with cooking spray also, then cover with a light towel and let rise until doubled in size, 45 minutes to an hour. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 425 and bake for 20-25 minutes, or until golden brown. Brush the tops with melted butter as soon as they come out of the oven, then let them cook on a rack. When ready to use, cut off the tops, scoop out the insides and fill with whatever you want :)

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