Description
Homemade sourdough bread bowls are perfect for soup season with their crispy crust and soft middle. Bake up these crusty bread bowls and pair with a favorite creamy soup for the perfect cozy meal.
Ingredients
Levain (10-12 hours, overnight)
- 10 grams ripe/active starter about 2 teaspoons
- 110 grams all purpose or bread flour about 3/4 cup
- 110 grams water scant 1/2 cup
Bread Bowl Dough
- 225 grams ripe, active levain about 1 cup
- 400 grams water about 1 2/3 cup
- 600 grams bread flour about 4 1/4 cups, see recipe notes
- 12 grams salt 2 teaspoons
- ½ –1 cup ice cubes for baking the bread
Instructions
Mix Levain (1:10:10 ratio, 10-12 hours before peak)
- To a clear liquid measuring cup add 10 grams of ripe starter, 110 grams of water and 110 grams of flour. Mix together. Cover and let sit at warm room temperature (78ºF) for about 10-12 hours until the mixture is bubbly, active and doubled in size.
Sourdough Bread Bowl Dough
- Mix 225 grams of ripe levain, water, flour and salt in a bowl using a wooden spoon or dough whisk. The dough will look “shaggy” but will come together.
- Bulk Fermentation (4-5 hours): Cover the bowl and let it sit for an hour. After an hour, uncover the bowl and do a series of three “stretch and folds”. To do this, pick up the underside of the dough and fold it on top of itself, turning the bowl after each fold and picking up a different section of the dough to fold and turn.
- Cover the bowl again and let it rest for another hour. Notice how the dough is coming together. It doesn’t feel shaggy anymore and is becoming more stretchy and cohesive. After 1 hour, repeat a series of 3 stretch and folds. Cover the bowl again and let it rest for another hour. Repeat the final series of three stretch and folds.
- Cover the bowl of dough and let rest for an additional two hours at 78-80ºF. The dough will have risen about 30-40%, will have a few bubbles scattered around the top and will start to pull away from the edges and dome in toward the center of the bowl. If you don’t notice these signs, let the dough continue bulk fermenting until you do notice them.
- Cold Fermentation: Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a lid and put it in the refrigerator to rest overnight. The dough can stay in the refrigerator for 8 to 48 hours.
To bake the same day: Shape the bread bowls, cover and let rise for a couple hours before baking.
- Shape the Bread Bowls: Take the dough out of the refrigerator. Separate into 5-6 pieces, about 200-240 grams each. Use a bench scraper and wet hands if needed to shape each piece into a round ball. Tuck the dough under itself, turn, create tension and shape into a round ball.
- Prepare a piece of parchment paper the size of the baking stone. Place 5-6 balls of dough on one piece of parchment paper. Cover the dough and let rest and rise for 2-3 hours. Dough will puff up and almost double in size during this time.
- Prepare the Oven: Put a baking stone in the oven and pre-heat to 450ºF for about 30-45 minutes.
- Scoring: After the oven has pre-heated, score each ball of dough with a sharp knife or bread lame.
- Baking: Place a shallow pan filled with 1/2 – 1 cup of ice cubes on the bottom rack of the oven. Use a pizza peel or large cutting board to launch the dough balls into the oven, on top of the pizza stone. Bake for 15 minutes without opening the oven. After 15 minutes remove the pan from the oven. Bake for another 10-15 minutes until desired color.
Alternate Baking Method: Place dough balls on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Cover and let rise until almost doubled in size. Bake at 450ºF for 25-30 minutes.
- Let bread bowls cool completely before cutting open. Cut into the bread bowls at an angle and cut out the top. Use your fingers to pull out the inside of the bread, leaving the crust to serve as a bowl. Ladle soup into the bread bowl and enjoy!
Notes
Bread Flour: If you don’t have bread flour on hand, you can substitute all purpose flour and vital wheat gluten. Use 600 grams of all purpose flour and add a Tablespoon vital wheat gluten.
Instructions for Baking without Refrigerating the Dough: The bread bowls have a more complex flavor if you refrigerate the dough overnight. If you want to bake the bread immediately without refrigerating, dump the dough out on the counter after the bulk fermentation. Shape dough into 5-6 balls and let puff up and rise about 2-3 hours. Score and bake according to recipe instructions.
Baking Sourdough Bread Bowls: Over the years I’ve changed up and tried different methods for baking these bread bowls. If you don’t have a pizza stone, use a baking sheet instead. Place dough balls on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Cover and let rise until almost doubled in size. Bake according to recipe directions.
Mini Banneton Option: Shape the bread bowls right before placing in the fridge for a cold ferment. Lightly flour 5-6 mini bannetons, shape the dough into a circle and place into the basket, seam side up. Cover the dough and refrigerate. When ready to bake, turn the baskets over onto parchment paper. Score and bake in a preheated Dutch Oven at 450ºF for 15-20 minutes with the lid on and 10 minutes with the lid off.
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Fermentation Time: 1 day 12 hours
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 Sourdough Bread Bowl
- Calories: 395kcal
- Sugar: 0.3g
- Sodium: 783mg
- Fat: 2g
- Saturated Fat: 0.2g
- Unsaturated Fat: 1g
- Carbohydrates: 80g
- Fiber: 3g
- Protein: 13g