Bread Bowls

Last week while the weather was cold I decided to make chili since it seemed like winter here. Can you believe it, chili in April! 

I found a great recipe on a childhood friends blog for homemade bread bowls and decided to try my hand at it. The bowls turned out great and tasted sooooo good. They were easy to make, and added that little extra something to our meal. 

I still would have rather been eating something cool and fresh from the garden.

I guess I will have to wait a little bit longer for out-door dinners under the big shade tree.

Italian Bread Bowls

(courtesy of mykitchencafe.blogspot.com, adapted from allrecipes.com)

1 1/2 tablespoons yeast

2 1/2 cups warm water

2 teaspoons salt

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

7 cups all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon cornmeal

1 egg white

1 tablespoon water

Directions: Combine warm water and yeast in mixer. Let sit for 5 - 10 minutes until dissolved. Next add salt, oil, and 4 cups of flour and beat until smooth with Kitchen Aid Mixer's paddle. Once smooth, change to Kitchen Aid Mixer's dough hook. Add remaining flour 1/2 cup at a time. You want the dough to end up being sticky to the touch, but not stick to you. So add enough flour until it get's to that point. I only used a total of 6 1/2 cups of flour. Remove dough from mixer and knead on a lightly floured surface until dough is smooth. Cover with a clean towel. Let the dough rise until doubled. This takes about 45 minutes. Then divide into 6 - 8 equal pieces. Form individual balls. Sprinkle with corn meal. Let rise for an additional 35 minutes. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a small bowl, beat together egg white and 1 tablespoon water; lightly brush the loaves with half of this egg wash. Bake in preheated oven for 15 minutes. Brush with remaining egg mixture, and bake 10 to 15 more minutes or until golden. Cool on wire racks.

Making a Roux has great reference pictures if you need further instruction