Italian Bread Bowls

First off- this will be my last post for a week or so.  We will be adding one more little princess to our family this coming monday.  As soon as I am up and around, I've got some fun pumpkin recipes for you to try. We had a pumpkin party last week and found some super yummy recipes to use pumpkin.  Things you would never think of!!! So I'll be posting those in a week or so. Everyone have a great Haloween weekend and be safe out there! 

I've been searching for a great bread bowl recipe lately.  I found one! I'm so glad it turned out.  It seemed that everytime I made them, they would rise out instead of up.  I found out that the key to that is adding more flour.  I add flour according to touch and look.  There are so many things to factor in when making bread, like humidityetc that would effect how much flour you should put in.  So every time I made my bread bowls, I would make them like I would a regular roll, just bigger.  The problem is, they needed to be more dense so that they would rise into a nice round loaf. 

I liked the information given in this recipe, because it helped explain a few things that I didn't catch onto before.  Good thing I found this one, because I was asked to make about 100 of these for a family reunion coming up in a couple of months. 

Italian Bread Bowls

Makes 6-8 bread bowls

1 1/2 tablespoons active dry yeast (use 1 tablespoon instant yeast)
2 1/2 cups warm water
2 teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
7 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon cornmeal
In a large bowl (or bowl of an electric mixer), dissolve yeast in warm water. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes. (You can omit this step if using instant yeast.)

Add salt, oil and 4 cups flour to the yeast mixture; beat well. Stir in the remaining flour, 1/2 cup at a time, beating well with an electric mixer at medium speed after each addition until a soft but not sticky dough is formed (you may not need to use all 7 cups). This bread bowl dough needs to be a bit firmer than a roll/bread dough so that the bread bowls rise up instead of out.

When the dough has pulled together, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, about 6 minutes (or let knead in an electric mixer). Lightly oil a large bowl, place the dough in the bowl and turn to coat with oil. Cover with a damp cloth and let rise in a warm place until doubled in volume, about 40 minutes. Punch dough down, and divide into 6-8 equal portions. Shape each portion into a round ball. Place loaves on lightly greased baking sheets sprinkled with cornmeal (or use silpat liners or parchment paper). If desired, slash the top surface of the bread bowl several times with a sharp knife or razor. Cover and let rise in a warm place, free from drafts, until doubled in bulk, about 35 minutes.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Bake in preheated oven for 15-18 minutes until golden brown and baked through.

Recipe taken from Mels Kitchen Cafe