Bread and Soup Recipes

On Pinterest I just uploaded some pins of things I've made, and have received a request for the recipe I used when I made bread bowls and soup the other night. I'm not sure if it was for the bread bowls or the soup--so here are both!

First, the bowls are from a basic bread recipe that my mother uses *all* the time. Yield for this is four loaves; I quartered it for our bread bowls.

4 c warm water
3 T yeast
4 T sugar
2 T salt
1/4 c vegetable oil
10-12 c flour

Combine yeast, water, and sugar. Let sit until yeast proofs. Add salt and oil, and first 3-5 cups of flour. Slowly add the remaining flour about a cup at a time until the dough cleans the sides of the bowl, but is still a little sticky (I always have to touch to tell--if it looks shiny then it needs just a little more flour). Let the dough rest until it has doubled in size (usually an hour; I had other things to do, so I mixed the dough in the morning, covered it, and placed it in the fridge until the afternoon). On a lightly floured surface knead dough. Shape into loaves and place in prepared loaf pans (prepared meaning lightly oiled). Let the loaves rise (again, until doubled in size) then place into an oven preheated to 350 degrees F for 20 minutes.

For the bread bowls I obviously didn't use loaf pans, I just shaped them into round balls. Additionally, to make them more crusty I followed the steps located here. I don't own a baking stone, so I just used my tinfoil lined baking sheet and it worked just fine. I also glazed the dough with egg whites after I had made the slits/just before placing them in the oven.

The soup recipe is something I found here. But with a few modifications. I only add a splash of olive oil because I am not at all health-conscious and saute my onions in my bacon fat. However, it's not quite enough, hence the splash of olive oil. I've also found that the starch in the potatoes is MORE than enough to make the soup creamy, so I nix adding flour as well. One thing I absolutely stick to is adding the salt and pepper after removing the soup from the heat. It makes all the difference in the world.

Happy eating!