Freshly Milled Bread Bowls
Impress your friends and family when you serve soup or chili in these homemade freshly milled bread bowls!
Equipment
- Stand mixer fitted with the dough hook attachment Not required but recommended
- Large bowl
- Baking sheet
Ingredients
- 480 grams freshly milled flour I used hard white wheat. See notes for other options.
- 360 grams warm water
- 1 tbs active dry yeast
- 1 tbs sugar
- 2 tbs butter melted
- 2 tsp salt
Instructions
- Pour the warm water into the bowl of your stand mixer.
- Add sugar and stir to dissolve.
- Sprinkle the active dry yeast over the water/sugar mixture and allow it to activate. This takes roughly five minutes. If there's no activity after ten minutes, your yeast may be no good.
- Once yeast is foamy and active, add the melted butter and salt.
- Add the freshly milled flour.
- Mix on low or medium low speed just long enough to combine. You may have to stop to scrape down the sides. I continue mixing until I no longer see any dry spots of flour.
- Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and allow the flour to sit and absorb the liquid for 15-30 minutes.
- After the rest period, knead the dough in the mixer for 3-5 minutes. When the dough pulls away from the bowl and sticks to the dough hook, you can stop kneading. If it never does this, you need to add more flour.
- Sprinkle a clean surface with flour (all purpose is fine) and hand knead the dough for a minute or two while incorporating enough flour to make the dough manageable. Be careful not to add too much flour. Add just enough to keep the dough from sticking to your hands when being handled.
- Place dough ball in a greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap, place somewhere warm and allow it to rise until it has nearly doubled in size. This should take 30-45 minutes depending on the temperature of your kitchen.
- After the first rise, lightly flour a clean work surface and work dough into a ball.
- Cut the dough ball in half equally if making two, or in thirds equally if making three bread bowls. Using a kitchen scale will allow you to have perfectly equal bread bowls.
- Shape each bread bowl by pushing the dough away with one hand, and pulling the dough ball towards you with both hands while gently tucking under. This push and pull shaping method builds tension and allows for a smooth, beautifully shaped ball of dough.
- Place your dough balls on a prepared baking sheet lined with parchment.
- Using a sharp knife or bread lame, cut an X into the top of each bread bowl.
- Cover them with the plastic wrap and place somewhere warm for the second rise.
- DO NOT ALLOW THESE TO OVER PROOF. You only want to let them proof until they're slightly puffy. This will take roughly 20-30 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 400°.
- Create an egg wash by whisking one egg and a splash of milk together. Brush this mixture onto the bread bowls right before they go in the oven. This is optional but gives you a shiny, golden brown finished product.
- Bake for 16-23 minutes depending on the size of your bread bowls. I baked two of them for 17 minutes and they turned out nice but my oven runs hot.
Notes
When deciding which flour type to use, remember that this is a bread recipe and we are looking for a rise. Choose a flour type that has a decent protein content like hard red wheat, hard white wheat or einkorn. You can always mix flour types as well.