homemade bread bowls

This past weekend, in between crocheting, watching 10 episodes of Private Practice, and having friends over to watch football, I managed to spend at least six hours in the kitchen.

So lucky you, I have lots of new things to share this week!

Starting with some amazing homemade bread bowls I made yesterday to accompany the Beer and Paprika Beef Stew I attempted {recipe to follow tomorrow!}.

But for now, the bread bowls...

bread bowl recipe adapted from here

Things you'll need:

1 cup milk {I used almond milk}

2 tbsp butter

1.5 cups warm water

2 packs dry active yeast {~5 tsp}

2 tbsp sugar

1 tbsp salt

6-7 cups bread flour {I ended up only needing about 5.5}

1 tbsp olive oil

Heat milk and butter in a small saucepan until butter is melted; set aside. {top right}

Mix 1/2 cup of warm water with the yeast until well blended; set aside. {bottom right}

In a large mixing bowl, mix remaining cup of warm water, sugar, and salt.

Add milk/butter mixture to the dry ingredients first, followed by yeast mixture. {left}

Stir in bread flour one cup at a time, using your own judgment on how much you need.

{Dough should be somewhat firm and not sticky.}

Throw some flour on your counter, and knead your dough until it forms into a nice little ball.

This took me about 2-3 minutes.

Obviously a tiny mess was made...but that's the price of delicious bread I suppose.

Put the olive oil in a bowl and toss your ball of dough around in it so that the whole ball is covered.

Then, cover bowl with a dishtowel and let it sit for about an hour.

After an hour, your dough should look like this and be about twice the size it was when you left it.

Punch down the dough and knead it for a couple more minutes, then form your bowls!

I rolled the dough out into a log, then cut it into four equal parts.

Place your balls of dough on their respective cookie sheets and cover with a dishtowel for 30 more minutes to let them rise again.

{You'll need to use two cookie sheets, as the bowls get larger when they cook.}

Make sure to grease your pans!

Bake on 375 for 30-45 minutes, keeping a close eye on them so as not to burn the bottoms.

My oven gets very hot, so mine were done after exactly 30 minutes.

Let your bowls cool completely, and then cut out the tops and serve with your favorite soup!

These were so easy to make that I'm not entirely sure why I've never thought to try it before now.

I think it's safe to say that there will definitely be a lot of bread bowls at our place this winter!

Later on this week, I have the recipe for the stew pictured above, some tailgate foods I made Saturday, and even a special cocktail!

Hope everyone is having a happy Monday.

Is it just me, or did the time change make Sunday feel like the longest day ever?

Somehow it still wasn't long enough though...