Tessa’s Recipe Rundown
Taste: A perfect accompaniment to any soup! So much better than crackers.
Texture: Crusty on the outside, soft and fluffy inside. When you add a creamy soup inside, it’s the ultimate cozy comfort meal.
Ease: Surprisingly easy.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe: Restaurant-quality food at home, for the best soup experience of your life!
This post may contain affiliate links. Read our disclosure policy.
There’s nothing quite as comforting as a bowl of piping hot soup, especially when it’s inside a Homemade Bread Bowl!
Your family will think your dinner was catered by some fancy café. They don’t have to know these are actually quite simple to make!
There’s nothing more comforting than filling one of these freshly-made Bread Bowls with a serving of my favorite Pot Pie Soup. So cozy and wonderful!
Free Baking Science Mini-Course!
From cookies that spread to undercooked brownies, this FREE 5-day Baking Science course helps you conquer common baking challenges and make bakery-worthy treats every time.
What will you fill your Bread Bowl with?
Sprinkle of Science
How to Make Bread Bowls
What is a Bread Bowl?
You may have seen Bread Bowls at your local Panera Bread or Dominos. They are basically a large bread roll, hollowed out and filled with soup – and then you get to eat the bowl! Simply cut out the center of your Bread Bowl, fill with a delicious creamy soup, and enjoy. Tear off pieces of the bread bowl as you finish your soup, and finish by enjoying the whole bowl itself.
Are Homemade Bread Bowls Hard to Make?
This recipe is actually super easy to make. I know yeast can seem intimidating if you’re not experienced with it, but this recipe is straightforward, and I’ll walk you through every step. I think this is a terrific beginner bread recipe – and the best part is, if they’re not super pretty to look at, it doesn’t matter since you’ll be carving out the middle to fill with soup anyway 😉
The Flour
We’re using a mix of bread flour and all-purpose flour here. Bread flour contains a higher percentage of protein than all-purpose flour, so we’ll gain the structure that our bread bowls need by using this – plus it makes the bread nice and chewy. All-purpose flour will keep the interior of the bread soft, which is what we’re looking for here!
Be sure to measure your flour correctly, to avoid dry, bland bread.
The Yeast
Both instant yeast and active dry yeast will work just fine here – just note that active dry yeast will take a little longer to rise. Read about the differences between Active Dry Yeast vs. Instant Yeast here.
Cornmeal
Yellow cornmeal can be used as a base for your bread bowls to rise and bake on, and it will give a wonderful, rustic texture and flavor to your Bread Bowls. It’s a totally optional addition, and if you prefer to skip it, simply line the baking sheets with parchment paper instead.
How to Knead Dough
If you have a larger capacity stand mixer, such as a 6qt size, that’ll be ideal for this recipe. Make sure your mixer is fitted with the dough hook. It’s quite a lot of sturdy dough so older mixers on their last legs will likely struggle to knead.
If you need to knead by hand, check out the FAQs below.
What to do with That Middle Piece of Bread After Cutting it Out
Serve that piece of bread with the Bread Bowl and dunk into the soup, or repurpose that chunk of bread into croutons for future salads.
How to Store & Freeze Bread Bowls
These Bread Bowls will keep for 3 days in an airtight container, stored at room temperature. Don’t refrigerate as it will dry them out faster. Refresh in a 400°F oven for 5-10 minutes, or until warm, before filling with soup and serving.
We haven’t tried freezing this dough, but you can definitely freeze the fully baked Bread Bowls. Once cooled, place in an airtight container for up to 3 months. To thaw, leave at room temperature for a few hours or overnight, and reheat in a 400°F oven for 5-10 minutes, or until warm, before filling and serving.
Best Soup and Dip Recipes to Fill Your Bread Bowls:
More Homemade Bread Recipes:
Homemade Bread Bowls Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup (152 grams) cornmeal, optional, for baking sheets
- 4 1/2 teaspoons (2 packets or 14 grams) instant yeast
- 2 1/2 cups (590 ml) warm water* (110°F)
- 2 tablespoons (25 grams) olive oil
- 1 tablespoon (13 grams) granulated sugar
- 4 cups (508 grams) bread flour
- 3 cups (381 grams) all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 2 teaspoons fine sea salt
- 1 egg, for egg wash
- 1 tablespoon water, for egg wash
- 1 cup (236 ml) hot water, for oven
Instructions
- Line two rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper. Or, for added texture (and to prevent sticking), take 1 cup of cornmeal and divide between the two baking sheets in place of parchment. Set aside.
- In the bowl of an electric stand mixer, stir together the yeast, water, olive oil, and sugar. Let the mixture bloom for 10 minutes.
- In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together both flours, garlic powder, and salt. Attach the dough hook to your mixer and gradually add the dry ingredients to the yeast mixture on low speed. The dough will come together and start to look a bit shaggy. Turn speed to medium-low and knead until the dough is smooth and elastic but still sticky, about 5 minutes. You can also slightly moisten your hands with oil and knead by hand for about 10 minutes. Transfer the dough to a large, lightly oiled bowl, turning to coat. Cover with a damp cloth or plastic wrap, and let rise in a warm place until doubled in size, about 30 minutes to 1 hour.
- Gently deflate the dough and turn it onto a lightly floured surface. Using a floured bench scraper, divide the dough into 6 equal pieces, each weighing around 250 grams. Stretch each portion into a tight ball, pinching the bottom with your fingers and rolling around on the counter to seal and shape. If the ball is shaped too loosely it may deflate while baking, so be sure to make a nice tight shape.
- Place 3 balls onto each prepared baking sheet. Slash the top with a sharp knife to score in an X shape. Cover and let rise again until doubled in size, about 30 minutes.
- Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 400°F and place an empty broiler tray on the top shelf.
- In a small bowl, beat the egg with 1 tablespoon of water. Brush evenly over the shaped bread bowls.
- Place baking sheet on the center rack. If both baking sheets fit into your oven, place them both on the center rack; otherwise, bake one at a time.
- In a swift movement, pour 1 cup of hot water into the broiler tray and quickly close the oven door. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, rotating the pan(s) halfway through the baking time. Bake until the tops are golden and when carefully tapped underneath, the bread bowls sound hollow. If baking another pan, refill the broiler tray with more water before baking. Note: Your kitchen may appear a bit smokey due to the steam produced in the oven.
- Let the bread bowls cool completely on the pan. Cut a large round from the top of each loaf and scoop out the center. Fill with hot creamy soup and serve immediately.
Recipe Notes
This recipe was originally published in 2014 and updated in 2022 with new photos and recipe improvements. Photos by Joanie Simon.
Hello, I have plenty packets active yeast & 1 instant yeast. Can I use these one of each together? If so is there a step I need to before I do? Or directions for 2 packets of active yeast. Thank you
Hi Lynn! Both instant yeast and active dry yeast work for this recipe. If you use two packets of active dry yeast, just note that the dough will take a little longer to rise. No other adjustments needed 🙂
Could I cut the recipe in half and and make these bread bowls smaller? For times when you want small servings.
We haven’t tried that, but I don’t see why not! You’ll just need to keep an eye on the bake time, as it will need to be reduced. Let us know how it goes!
This was my first time making bread bowls. Living in high altitude I’m used to adding extra flour, and I think I added a touch too much as they were a little bland, but that was my fault. Lesson learned. We made homemade creamy tortellini soup to pair with them and the bowls stood up perfectly to the thick soup. I can’t wait to try again!
This was my first attempt at bread making (at 72!) and these came out perfect! I don’t have a stand mixer so I mixed and kneaded by hand and followed the recipe exactly and they came out perfect! I served Potato Cheese Bacon soup and my husband just went nuts over the bread (me too). I sliced one of the loves for bread with butter to serve with the bowl. Sorry, not watching calories tonight!!! Late at night we found ourselves opening the ziplock bag that held some of the bread that was cut out of the bowls and just sniffing!!! What a glorious smell! Thank you for this perfect recipe and all of your instructions and video. Winner, winner, homemade bread for dinner!!!
Yay!! So thrilled to hear this was such a success for you, Kathi! 🙂