Potato Soup in Bread Bowls

I miss having friends. Todd and I like Mankato, and we are probably getting together with some new friends on Thursday to play Catan. But we miss our college friends and I miss my group of 5 from Red Wing. They have been my best friends for my entire life. But, I have always had a great relationship with Erin Ulrich. We met when my family started at First Covenant and we have been friends since. She's 3 months older, has the same name, and brothers similar ages to mine. I love the Ulrich family and they have loved on me since I was little.

So you can imagine my excitement when Erin said she could drive the 2 hours down to Mankato to hang out with me Friday night while Todd was gone. And, you can imagine my growing excitement as I planned our night of girly food. I finally landed on baked potato soup in bread bowls. I used the baked potato soup recipe I wrote about back in November. It's a tested and wonderful recipe. We didn't use the green onions because of Erin's aversion. But feel free to use them if you love them. I found the bread bowls on Eatin' on the Cheap (thanks for the link Corrie) and they were oh so good. They reminded both Erin and me of "chili in a bread bowl" day for all my RWHS graduate readers out there.

Baguette Bread Bowls
a Good Housekeeping recipe

2 cups of warm water ( 105 - 115 degrees)
1 package of active dry yeast ( or 2 1/2 teaspoons if you have the stuff in the jar like me)
1 T sugar
1 T salt
5 cups Bread flour
1 large egg white for brushing

In a large mixing bowl, combine water and yeast and let stand for 5 minutes or until foamy.
Meanwhile, stir together salt and 3 cups of flour in a seperate bowl.
Add flour into mixing bowl and mix until nice and smooth ( I am using a stand mixer with a dough hook attachment. If you don't have a mixer, use a wooden spoon)
Gradually add in an additional 1 1/2 cups of flour to make a soft dough.
If you have a stand mixer: Continue to knead with the dough hook for 6-8 minutes until dough is smooth and elastic. Adding in remaining 1/2 cup flour to prevent sticking.
If you are kneading by hand: Knead on a floured surface for 8 minutes or until smooth and elastic, adding the remaining 1/2 cup flour in as needed to prevent sticking.
Shape dough into a ball and roll around in a greased bowl in order to cover all sides with grease. Cover with a damp towel and let rise in the bowl until doubled in volume.
Grease a cookie sheet. Punch down the dough and divide into four equal pieces.
Shape each piece into a ball and place on cookie sheet. Cover and let rise until doubled.
Preheat oven to 400. Lightly score the top of each loaf with an "X" to help with expansion.
Beat the egg white well and brush the top of each loaf with the egg white ( alternatively you can use butter.).
Bake until well browned, about 35 minutes.



To hollow it out, cut a hole in the top and scoop it out with your fingers. Leave it on the plate because it's great to dip in the soup.




It was a great dinner. I made the bread bowls the night before and wrapped them in plastic and left them in the cupboard. The other two Todd and I will use sometime this week with a Chicken and Wild Rice recipe I got from Lisa at work.

Thanks Erin for coming down! We ended up staying up all night just chatting and she then had to drive all the way back to Bethel for a class on Saturday morning from 8:00am-2:30pm. Well done Erin, being a responsible grown up and still going to class. I am really proud of her. She is pursuing a teaching certificate (or degree or something. I'm sort of confused), but she will then teach high school biology. I think she will like it and do a great job. Here is a horrible picture of us at a Wild hockey game earlier this year. Love you Erin!