Artisan Bread Bowls #BreadBakers

These artisan bread bowls are crusty outside and tender inside, the perfect accompaniment/vessel for your favorite thick soups. (I served mine with New England style clam chowder.) And bonus: Serving soup in a bread bowl means no bowl to wash up either! 

I am the odd person out in my house. My husband and both daughters are massive bread fans but unless it’s hot out of the oven or, in the case of my favorite fromage jambon-beurre sandwich, filled with slices of jambon de Paris and Comté cheese first spread thickly with French butter, I can take it or leave it. 

Fortunately for my family, despite not eating it much, I love baking bread. I enjoy the process, slowing down and allowing the yeast or sourdough starter to do its work transforming flour and water. Like magic. And I especially love the wonderful aroma that wafts through the house when the bread is in the oven. It brings the family right downstairs and into the kitchen like a magnet. 

When I told my younger daughter that I was hosting this month’s Bread Bakers event and that I had chosen “bread that goes with soup” as our theme, she immediately said, “Make bread bowls!” So I did. 

Artisan Bread Bowls

Start the bread bowls a day before you are wanting to serve them to allow for an overnight stay in the refrigerator. The long, cold rise allows more flavor to develop. This recipe is adapted from one on the King Arthur Flour website.

Ingredients

1 1/4 cups or 295ml lukewarm water

1 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast

3 cups or 375g flour

1 1/2 teaspoons fine sea salt

1/3 cup or 40g whole wheat flour

1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil

1/4 cup or 28g coconut milk powder (or sub powdered cow's milk)

Rice flour for sprinkling before scoring - you can sub regular flour but it will brown more than rice flour so the definition on the bread bowls won't be as obvious. 

Method

Add the warm water and 1/2 cup or 63g of the flour to your mixing bowl. Stir well and then sprinkle on the yeast. Cover and set aside for about 5-7 minutes. The yeast should activate and begin to bubble and foam.

Add in the rest of the ingredients, including the remaining 2 1/2 cups or 313g flour. 

Mix and knead them all together until you've created a smooth dough.

Cover the bowl and put it in a warm place. Leave the dough to rise for about 45 minutes. 

Prepare a baking pan by lightly greasing it or lining it with parchment or a silicone liner.

Punch it down and divide the dough into 4 pieces. My big ball of dough weighed 752g so I divided by four and each ball weighted 188g. I'm a little anal like that but if you are not, just eyeball it. 

Tuck under and roll each piece into a nice tight ball.

Place the balls on your prepared baking pan. Sprinkle with a little flour.

Cover the bread bowls with greased cling film.

Refrigerate for 4 hours or up to 24 hours. Mine were in the refrigerator for about 20 hours. The longer the slow rise time, the more flavor is created. 

When you are ready to bake, remove the bread bowls from the refrigerator. Uncover, and let them sit for about 30 minutes while you preheat the oven to 425°F or 218°C. 

Place one oven shelf in the middle of the oven and one under it at the bottom. While the oven preheats, put an ovenproof cast iron or metal pan on the bottom shelf. 

Just before baking, sprinkle the tops with rice flour and use a sharp blade to slash the top surface of the bowls in a circle to allow them to expand. 

Put the kettle on and boil enough water to fill the empty heated pan up halfway. 

When the oven reaches temperature, put the baking pan with the bread bowls in on the middle shelf and then quickly add boiling water to the hot pan on the bottom shelf. Close the oven door as quickly as you can to keep the steam in.

Bake for 23 to 28 minutes, until the bowls are deep brown, and sound hollow when thumped on the bottom.

Remove from the oven, and cool on a rack.

Once they are completely cooled, use a serrated knife to cut the top off at an angle then cut around the inside and use your clean hands to remove the bread inside. 

I hate to waste good bread so I pulled the innards apart into small pieces and toasted them in a hot oven (375°F or 190°C) for about 12 minutes, to use as croutons for our soup. (This is two innards. I saved the other two bread bowls for another day and repeated the process.) 

Or you could make fresh breadcrumbs. Or stuffing. Just don't waste good bread, okay? 

Enjoy! 

As I mentioned above, it’s my Bread Bakers group post day, as it always is on the second Tuesday of each month since August 2014! I’m hosting and our theme is “Bread to go with Soup.” Check out the many great recipe links below. 

• Artisan Bread Bowls from Food Lust People Love
• Brazilian Cheese Bread from Passion Kneaded
• How to Make a Crusty French Baguette from The Wimpy Vegetarian
• No Knead Bread from Making Miracles
• Pao de Milho from A Messy Kitchen
• Skillet Corn Bread from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Soft Bread Rolls for Soup from Sneha's Recipe
• Sourdough Breadsticks from Zesty South Indian Kitchen
• Whole Wheat Rolls for Soups and Sandwiches from Karen's Kitchen Stories

#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. Follow our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated each month on this home page. We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient.

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Leftover Pizza Pizza Salad

Leftover Pizza Pizza Salad is a lovely meal, with croutons from leftovers and other fresh ingredients with pizza flair, like pepperoni, tomatoes, olives, anchovies and mozzarella.

We have a family tradition that Friday night is pizza night or at least it almost always was when our girls were young and still living at home. These days we do pizza night way less often but it’s still a mostly Friday night treat when we do. 

We always order extra because leftover pizza makes the best breakfast. It also makes fabulous croutons for snacking on or sprinkling on salad, especially  Domino’s thin and crispy extravaganza, which is what I used for this salad. 

Leftover Pizza Pizza Salad

Use the ingredients list as a jumping off point for your leftover pizza salad. Hate anchovies, leave them out. Don’t like olives, try artichoke hearts instead. Whatever your favorite pizza toppings are, they will probably go great in a salad!

Ingredients

1-2 slices leftover pizza

1 romaine heart, chopped 

2 large tomatoes, cut in wedges

12 slices pepperoni

1 small shallot, finely sliced into rings

10 black olives, pitted and chopped

3-4 anchovies in oil, drained, cut into pieces

1/4 cup or 60ml Caesar dressing – from this recipe https://www.foodlustpeoplelove.com/2013/03/caesar-dressing-with-anchovies-or-capers.html or store-bought

Method

Preheat your oven to 375°F or 190°C and prepare baking pan by lining it with baking parchment or a silicone liner. 

Use a sharp knife to cut the leftover pizza into small pieces. 

Bake them on the prepared pan in your preheated oven for about 8-10 minutes or until they are browned and crunchy. 

Slice the pepperoni into strips. Pit and chop the black olives. 

Peel and slice the shallot into thin rings. 

Chop the lettuce and cut the tomatoes into wedges. Arrange them both on a large serving platter. 

Scatter the pepperoni strips, black olives, shallot rings and cheese over them. 

Blot the anchovies on a paper towel to remove the excess oil and cut them into pieces. Dot the pieces around the salad. 

Serve the pizza salad with the leftover pizza croutons and the Caesar dressing. 

Enjoy! 

It’s Sunday FunDay and today we are sharing recipes for pizza or a twist on pizza ingredients. Many thanks to our host, Amy of Amy’s Cooking Adventures. Check out the links below. 

• Cheeseburger Pizza from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Keto Cottage Cheese Pizza from Sneha's Recipe
• Leftover Pizza Pizza Salad from Food Lust People Love
• Pizza Dip from Sid's Sea Palm Cooking
• Potato and Rosemary Pizza from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Puff Pastry Pizza Pockets from Mayuri's Jikoni
• Roasted Garlic Alfredo Pizza from Amy's Cooking Adventures
• The Elusive, Enjoyable Gluten-Free Pizza from Culinary Cam
• Turkish Pide from Sizzling Tastebuds

 

We are a group of food bloggers who believe that Sunday should be a family fun day, so every Sunday we share recipes that will help you to enjoy your day. If you're a blogger interested in joining us, just visit our Facebook group and request to join.

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Ají de Cerdo - Peruvian Pork Stew

Ají de Cerdo aka Peruvian Pork Stew is a twist on the classic chicken dish made with yellow chili peppers called ají amarillo in Spanish. It’s spicy, rich, irresistible sauce makes it a favorite in our house. 

When I was growing up, my father worked/lived for many years in northern Peru so when school let out for the summer, I’d pack up and head south. While the little town didn’t have a lot to recommend it, it was an ideal place to be a free-ranging child with nothing but time on her hands! They were wonderful summers.

Daddy employed a cook named Cata who came in every morning to prepare our main meal which was served at midday. She was an older local woman who had years of experience cooking for her own family and made her living cooking for others.

One of her specialties was ají de gallina, a traditional Peruvian chicken stew served with white rice and garnished with hard-boiled eggs and black olives. It was always a good day when that was for lunch! A bad day included sweet stewed beets.

I hadn’t thought about Cata or her ají de gallina for years, when a great neighbor gave me a couple of chili pepper plants, one growing the bright yellow peppers I’d need to make it! We had been eating a lot of chicken at the time so I decided to make a variation on the classic recipe using pork instead. It was an excellent decision!

Ají de Cerdo – Peruvian Pork Stew

If you don’t have white sandwich bread, unsalted crackers or fresh breadcrumbs can be substituted. This dish calls for a specific yellow South American chili pepper. If you live in a big city then you may be able to find these in your supermarket or, failing that, you can find yellow ají paste in a jar online. Search for Inca’s Food which is a reliable brand.

Ingredients

4 slices white bread, about 3 1/2 oz or 100g

1 can (1 1/2 cups or 355ml) evaporated milk or light cream

2.2 lbs or 1 kg pork shoulder, cubed

2 tablespoons white vinegar

Fine sea salt

Freshly ground black pepper

Olive oil

4 cups or 960ml pork or chicken stock, or more as needed

4-5 yellow ají (yellow chili peppers – see note above ingredient list)

1 large onion, finely chopped

6 cloves garlic, chopped

1 oz or 28g cotija or Parmesan cheese, grated

1/4 cup or 30g pecans

To serve:

Boiled potatoes

Cooked rice

Garnish:

Hard-boiled eggs

Black olives

Method

Soak the bread in the evaporated milk or cream till it softens and gets mushy.

Season the pork shoulder chunks with the white vinegar and a good sprinkle of sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Mix well. Set aside for 30 minutes to marinate.

In a large pan, heat a splash of olive oil and fry the pork in batches until the pieces are nicely brown, removing each batch to a big plate when it’s done. 

If you can’t eat too spicy, remove the seeds from the chili peppers and mince. If you love spice like we do, leave them in.

In the now empty pork pan, add another drizzle of olive oil and fry the onion, garlic and chili peppers until soft. 

Scrape them into your blender jug or a measuring vessel for a hand blender.

Add the pork back into your once again empty pan and add in the stock. Bring to a boil then simmer, covered, about 1 hour or until the pork is tender. 

Add your bread mix to the onions, garlic and peppers in the blender, along with the cheese and pecans.

Blend until smooth. 

When the pork pieces are tender, add the smooth blender ingredients to the pork pan, adding more stock as needed to make a thick sauce. 

Simmer for 30 minutes, checking and stirring occasionally and adding more stock as needed.

Serve with the rice and potatoes. Decorate with a hardboiled egg half or quarter and a couple of black olives for each plate.

Enjoy! 

This is our third year to work our way through the alphabet sharing recipes with ingredients or title featuring the letter of the post so welcome to the 1st edition of Alphabet Challenge 2026, brought to you by the letter A. Many thanks to Wendy from A Day in the Life on the Farm for organizing and creating the challenge. Check out all the A recipes below:

• Ají de Cerdo - Peruvian Pork Stew from Food Lust People Love
• Aloo Bhaji & Poori from Mayuri’s Jikoni
• Amygdalopita from A Messy Kitchen
• Anday Aur Subzi Pulao from Sneha’s Recipe
• Apple Crumb Pie from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Apple Pork Chops from Blogghetti
• Arancini from Jolene’s Recipe Journal
• Argentine-Style Burgers with Chimichurri Sauce from Karen’s Kitchen Stories
• Artichoke Spinach Rolls from Magical Ingredients
• Atchara: A Pickle from My People…and My Grandmother from Culinary Cam
• Homemade Apple & Whiskey Barbecue Sauce from Faith, Hope, Love, & Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice
• Magic Pan Orange and Almond Salad from Palatable Pastime

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