Homemade Bread - Failed Bread Bowls Turned Into Rolls

Since this blog is all about trying something new, I wanted to try to make bread bowls to go with our soup. However, for some reason, unknown to me, after forming the balls for the bowls, they rose a little, increasing in size, but then they flattened out and turned into big rolls.  They were still good to eat with soup, so I'm still going to share the recipe I used.  Maybe you can get it to work for you as bread bowls, or you can have some nice rolls too.

First I mixed the sugar, yeast, and water and let it sit for 5 minutes.  Then I added the milk, oil, salt, and eggs.  After mixing that in, I added 3 1/2 cups of flour and stirred it to form the dough.  Then dumped the bread from the bowl to a lightly floured surface on the counter.  I kneaded the dough for about 8 minutes until smooth and elastic, adding more flour 1 tablespoon at a time to prevent it from sticking.

The I placed the dough in a large bowl coated with oil, turning it over once to coat the dough with the oil.  Then I covered it and let it rise in a warm area of the kitchen for 1 hour and it had doubled in size.  After that, I punched it down.

Then I divided the dough into 4 pieces and formed them into balls and placed them on a baking sheet.

Then I left them to rise again for another 45 minutes.  After 20 minutes they had increased in size some, and were still balls.  However, like I mentioned earlier, by the time I came back after the full 45 minutes, they had flattened out.

I didn't want to waste the dough though, and went ahead and finished the baking process.  So, I made an egg wash by mixing an egg and water together and brushed it on top of the rolls.  

Then I baked them for 20-25 minutes at 400 degrees until they were golden brown and cooked through.  Then I sliced the rolls so we could easily eat them with our soup.

Homemade Bread

Ingredients:

1/2 cup warm water (not hot water)

2 Tbsp. sugar

2 1/4 tsp. active dry yeast

1/2 cup milk

1/4 cup oil

3/4 tsp. salt

3 eggs (2 for dough and 1 for egg wash)

4 cups flour (3 1/2 cups and then 1/2 cup more)

2 tsp. water

Steps:

1.  Mix warm water, sugar, and yeast in a large bowl.  Let it sit for 5 minutes.

2.  Stir in milk, oil, salt, and 2 eggs.  Then add 3 1/2 cups flour and stir to form a dough.

3.  Remove dough from bowl onto lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic (about 8 minutes), adding enough of the remaining 1/2 cup flour, 1 tablespoon at a time, to the dough to prevent it from sticking to your hands.

4. Place dough in a large bowl coated with oil and  turn to coat the dough with oil.  Then cover the bowl and let dough rise in a warm place for 1 hour or until doubled in size.

5.  Punch dough down and divide into 4 pieces.  Form each piece into a ball and place on a greased baking sheet and let it rise for another 45 minutes until the balls have doubled in size.

6.  Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

7.  Whisk together the egg and water and brush on top of the rolls.

8.  Bake rolls for 20-25 minutes until golden brown and cooked through.