Cheesy Sourdough Bread Bowls
These small and unique sourdough bread bowls are filled with cheese and make the perfect vessel for soups like tomato bisque or broccoli and cheddar! My sourdough bread bowls are fully fermented, flavorful and a must have for all seasons!
❤️ Why You’ll Love Cheesy Sourdough Bread Bowls
We like mini versions of our favorite foods, right? Well.. add some cheese to it and you have a masterpiece! These cheesy sourdough bread bowls are so versatile and perfect for the soup months. These will pair beautifully with any soup but it definitely makes a fun play on a grilled cheese tomato soup for dinner!
🍲 Ingredients
Sourdough Starter – Bubbly, active, and previously fed.
Water – Filtered water always for sourdough recipes.
Flour – I like a combination of all-purpose flour and whole wheat flour! I always recommend unbleached flour, especially for sourdough recipes.
Salt – Use whatever salt you have on hand.
Cheese – Shredded mozzarella and cheddar cheese. But don’t use the pre shredded cheese because it won’t melt as good in the bread while baking.
👩🍳 How to Make Cheesy Sourdough Bread Bowls
- In the morning, feed your sourdough starter
- In the afternoon, when your starter has peaked, assemble your dough.
- Dough Assembly
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together your sourdough starter and water until the starter has dissolved and turns into a milky liquid.
- Add the flour and salt and mix together until a shaggy dough forms. Cover and let rest for 45 minutes.
- After resting, add your cheese directly into the bowl. Wet your fingers and pull one side of dough up and towards the middle, folding over the inclusions. Rotate the bowl and repeat until a semi – smooth ball has formed.
- Cover and let rest for 30 minutes – 1 hour. Perform 2 – 4 more stretch and folds every 30 minutes to 1 hour apart until all the cheese is dispersed evenly throughout and the dough looks strong and smooth.
- Cover with a damp tea towel or bowl cover and let rest on the counter overnight. About 8-10 hours.
- The next morning
- In the morning, your dough should have doubled in size. Turn over onto a lightly floured work space. Separate the dough into 6 equal pieces (280 – 300 grams each).
- Shape each piece like you would a regular round artisan loaf, only this one is smaller.
- Place seam-side up into a proofing basket and place all 6 baskets onto a baking sheet for easier transferring. Cover with plastic wrap and place the whole tray of dough into your fridge for 2 hours or up to 3 days.
- Baking
- When you’re ready to bake, preheat the oven to 450 degrees.
- Turn lo the loaves over onto a large piece of parchment paper, score the dough as you would a normal size loaf and place them onto a baking sheet.
- Place an oven-safe shallow dish (I use my cast iron skillet) on the bottom rack of the oven. Pour boiling water in the dish and close the oven immediately to trap in the steam.
- Bake for 18 minutes with steam, then remove the dish with water and bake for an additional 18-20 minutes until golden and crispy.
- Let cool slightly before filling with your favorite soup!
🪄 Tips and Tricks
- Tip: to make into a bread bowl, with a sharp serrated knife cut the top of the bread off in a circle. Then with your hands, take the inside of the bread out as deep and wide as you prefer.
- If you top any soup off in the bowl with cheese, you can toast the entire bowl for another 10 minutes at 400 degrees
- Make sure the mini loaves aren’t touching in the oven, so they have room to expand properly.
- You can also stuff with cheesy dips or scrambled eggs for brunch!
🗒 Variations
There’s a ton of different soups you can add into the bread bowls! But here are a few variations of bread that you might like also: Starting with the perfect paring – tomato soup.
- Dutch Oven Tomato Soup – Acts Of Sourdough
- Sourdough Tomato Loaf – Acts Of Sourdough
- Sourdough Bread Bowls – Acts Of Sourdough
- Mini Jalapeno Cheddar Loaves – Acts Of Sourdough
- Triple Chocolate Mini Loaves – Acts Of Sourdough
🗒 Substitutions
If you don’t have access to the mini banneton baskets, you can easily turn 6 mini loaves into 2 regular sized loaves.
For more flavor – add jalapenos to the dough! But make sure to pat them dry so you don’t add extra moisture.
🗒 Best served with
- Tomato Soup!
- As a mini grilled cheese.
- On a homemade charcuterie board.
- deli meat for open faced sandwiches.
👝 How to Store Leftovers
Once cooled, store the loaves in an airtight container for a day or two, and freeze any leftovers in a plastic bag for longer storage.
🤔 Common Questions
Make two regular sized loaves of bread instead and turn them into grilled cheeses!
Cheesy Sourdough Bread Bowls
Equipment
- Mini bannetons
- Cheese grater
Ingredients
- 100 grams bubbly, active sourdough starter
- 700 grams filtered water
- 750 grams all purpose flour
- 250 grams whole wheat flour
- 18 grams salt
- 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
- ½ cup shredded mozzarella cheese
Instructions
- In the morning, feed your sourdough starter
- In the afternoon, when your starter has peaked, assemble your dough.
Dough Assembly
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together your sourdough starter and water until the starter has dissolved and turns into a milky liquid.
- Add the flour and salt and mix together until a shaggy dough forms. Cover and let rest for 45 minutes.
- After resting, add your cheese directly into the bowl. Wet your fingers and pull one side of dough up and towards the middle, folding over the inclusions. Rotate the bowl and repeat until a semi – smooth ball has formed.
- Cover and let rest for 30 minutes – 1 hour. Perform 2 – 4 more stretch and folds every 30 minutes to 1 hour apart until all the cheese is dispersed evenly throughout and the dough looks strong and smooth.
- Cover with a damp tea towel or bowl cover and let rest on the counter overnight. About 8-10 hours.
The next morning
- In the morning, your dough should have doubled in size. Turn over onto a lightly floured work space. Separate the dough into 6 equal pieces (280 – 300 grams each).
- Shape each piece like you would a regular round artisan loaf, only this one is smaller.
- Place seam-side up into a proofing basket and place all 6 baskets onto a baking sheet for easier transferring. Cover with plastic wrap and place the whole tray of dough into your fridge for 2 hours or up to 3 days.
Baking
- When you're ready to bake, preheat the oven to 450 degrees.
- Turn lo the loaves over onto a large piece of parchment paper, score the dough as you would a normal size loaf and place them onto a baking sheet.
- Place an oven-safe shallow dish (I use my cast iron skillet) on the bottom rack of the oven. Pour boiling water in the dish and close the oven immediately to trap in the steam.
- Bake for 18 minutes with steam, then remove the dish with water and bake for an additional 18-20 minutes until golden and crispy.
- Let cool slightly before filling with your favorite soup!
Notes
-
Tip: to make into a bread bowl, with a sharp serrated knife cut the top of the bread off in a circle. Then with your hands, take the inside of the bread out as deep and wide as you prefer.
-
If you top any soup off in the bowl with cheese, you can toast the entire bowl for another 10 minutes at 400 degrees
- Make sure the mini loaves aren’t touching in the oven, so they have room to expand properly.
- You can also stuff with cheesy dips or scrambled eggs for brunch!
