French Bread Bowls

French Bread Bowls, Adapted from Bread Machine Magic

Wow, it feels so good to be back to posting! I've really missed y'all the last week and a half, I'm so sorry about the sudden lack of posting, but the last couple weeks have been utterly insane for me and my family! Between celebrating our Anniversary, and then my Sister In Law's Birthday and Thanksgiving all in a space of 3 days... Was a little bit exhausting! Don't get me wrong it was a lot of fun too, but this Momma was just plain worn out, then to top it off we had our wonderful family staying with us (Which was a blast!) and then my Hubby and Son both got sick. :-( I needed to take a break from here in order to survive. I missed y'all, and I'm hoping to really get back into the swing of things!

Now on to the recipe! I've long been playing around with making Bread Bowl as I just ADORE them! And then a few of you requested a recipe for them, and suddenly the wheels got turning in my head. I have to admit, my favorite bread bowls are made with sourdough not french bread. But when you have limited time and a craving, you just figure something out. haha! These were actually quite easy, and really fabulous!

With my boys sick I've been making soup like crazy, and finally we just needed to finish up the leftovers but I was getting really tired of soup. So I thought making some bread bowls would change it up just enough that I could stomach another bowl of soup. haha! And you know it actually worked?!? The bread itself was just perfect, crusty outside and soft and chewy inside. A great flavor... Ok I'm totally drooling now. I did make these using a bread machine for the dough, didn't have the energy for anything else... hehe! But you can totally make this without a bread machine!

Filled with Hamburger Barley Vegetable Soup

Ingredients: yields 4 bread bowls
1 1/4 Cups Water
2 teaspoons Salt
4 Cups Bread Flour
1 1/2 teaspoons Garlic Powder
2 1/2 teaspoons Active Dry Yeast
Cornmeal as needed

Directions:
Place all ingredients (minus the cornmeal) in your bread machine in the order listed, or according to your manufacturers directions. Select the Dough setting and press Start. Once the dough is done, turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead a few times. Then roll into an even log, and with a sharp knife cut 4 even sections. Form each one into a large ball, and using your knife cut an X across the top of each about 1/2 inch down. Then take a cookie sheet and cover with cornmeal, and place the bowls on the sheet. Dust the tops with a little flour, then cover with a towel and let rise in a warm place for 1 hour. *Tip: Turn your oven on to 200F degrees for 1-2 minutes then shut off and place the pan in the oven to rise. Don't forget to remove pan before preheating the oven!* Once risen to double the size, pre-heat the oven to 450F degrees. Bake about 15 minutes or until crust is golden and and crisp. To serve, cut a circle in the top and using your hand scoop out the inner bread (saving to use for dipping!) leaving about a 1/2-1 inch lining of bread to soak up the soup. Fill with your favorite soup and serve with the innerds alongside!

Review:
I have to say I was really happy with how these turned out! They were remarkably easy, and full of flavor. You could leave out the garlic if you wanted to, or add in some other spices to give it more flair. I hope you'll give these a try with your next pot of soup! 4.5 stars.

Happy Cooking!