Skip buying store-bought bread and make this Pumpkin Bread Bowl recipe from frozen dough! It’s the perfect way to enjoy a delicious and easy homemade bread bowl with soup or chili.
Fall is my favorite season of the year! Bring on the pumpkin spice, apple crisp, and lots of yummy soups.
In honor of fall, let’s make pumpkin-shaped bread bowls for all the yummy soups you’ll want to serve as the weather cools. I’ll show you how to make bowls from frozen dough loaves. It’s as easy as thawing, shaping, and baking! Get the recipe below and serve up your soup, stew, or dip in style!
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Why We Love This Recipe
As soon the calendar turns to September, it’s soup season! What better way to enjoy those cool evenings than with homemade new england clam chowder or 5 Ingredient stove top chili in a homemade bread bowl?
Making these from frozen bread dough loaves is so easy. They’re the perfect way to enjoy this without all the work of making the dough.
Just thaw, shape, bake… and serve! No yeast, bread flour, olive oil, or warm water is needed, just 2 simple ingredients.
Making these bread bowls is not as hard as you thought. In fact, it is really easy to make them using frozen dough. You will never want to use store-bought bread bowls again! You don’t even need a Dutch oven or mixer for this recipe.
Making this recipe is very simple. You and your kids can help prepare it. They will love seeing how their mini bowls turn out. Plus, it might motivate them to clean their bowls at dinner!
If you love frozen dough recipes, then try our bread braid recipe, dinner rolls, Easy hot Italian sliders recipe, pesto cheese bread twist, and ham and cheese monkey bread.
Ingredient Notes and Substitutions
- Frozen bread dough- skip the work of making homemade dough. Keep a packaged of frozen dough in your freezer and you’ll always be able to make these bowls.
- Egg- the egg wash gives the bowls a lovely, golden brown color.
- Cooking spray- you can substitute for olive oil.
🎯 TFN Pro Tip
For a stress-free holiday, keep plenty of frozen dough on hand! Just thaw, bake, and serve. And, if you keep them in your freezer, they’re ready when you need them.
How to make Bread Bowls from Frozen Dough
To make a this, you’ll need a bag of frozen dough, like Ready-Dough. Each bag contains three pre-made frozen loaves, each enough to make two large, three medium, or four mini bread bowls.
How to Defrost Frozen Dough
You can easily defrost frozen dough in the refrigerator for 8 – 10 hours. Place the frozen loaves on an oil-sprayed sheet pan (or use parchment paper).
If you want to do it faster, you can also thaw the frozen loaves at room temperature on an oil-sprayed sheet pan (or parchment paper) for 2-3 hours.
🎯 TFN Pro Tip
Cover with plastic wrap sprayed with cooking oil on the side facing the dough. Don’t skip this last step; otherwise, you’ll wind up with a sticky mess.
How to shape the pumpkins
- For large bowls, divide each loaf of dough in half. For mini bread bowls, divide into 4.
- Shape the small piece of dough into a ball. Stretch and smooth the top, then tuck it under. Do this two to four times to create the shape of a pumpkin. Firmly pinch the underside of the dough to seal.
- Cut three strings of cotton string or twine to about 18″ long. Lay them out on the baking sheet in a wheel spoke pattern.
- Place the dough balls close together on the twine. Do this for each dough ball without them overlapping each other.
- As you can see in the photo, I just moved them to the sides. After the dough rises, you’ll pull the strings up over it before baking.
- Cover the dough balls with plastic wrap sprayed with cooking oil on the side that faces the dough. Let rise until double in size in a warm, draft-free location for 2-3 hours.
- Preheat the oven to 350º.
- After the dough doubles in size. Lift the twine up, spreading it evenly to imitate pumpkin sections. Tie the twine together about 3” above the top of the dough and carefully trim the excess string. Brush on the egg wash.
- Bake the Bread Bowls for 25 minutes or until golden brown.
- Then serve. Let the pumpkin cool. Take off the pieces of twine. To make it look more like a pumpkin, use parsley stalks or leafy celery tops as the pumpkin stems.
Want it with sourdough? Try our sourdough bread bowls and just follow our instructions for shaping it into a pumpkin.
Serving Suggestions
You’ll find plenty of uses for these homemade pumpkin-shaped bread bowls. They can hold a tasty warm corn dip recipe, Knorr spinach dip, or our family-famous cajun crab dip recipe.
Kids love these chewy, pumpkin bread bowls–they are creative and tasty! Plus, they are so easy to make that kids can be involved from the shaping to filling them up with your favorite meal.
Recipe FAQs
You can store the bread bowls at room temperature in a covered container or bag for up to 3 days. Or freeze them for up to 2 months. Let thaw on the counter before serving.
If you want to reheat it, preheat your oven to 350º F. Place them on a baking sheet for about 10 minutes.
Here’s how to cut it easily and safely. You’ll need a serrated knife with a sharp point.
1. Hold the tip facing down at a 45º angle and cut a circle around the widest part of the bread bowl.
2. Lift the top off of the bread bowl.
3. Push the bread down with your fingers so it is flat to make more room in the bowl.
More Fall Recipes To Love…
If you tried this pumpkin shaped bread bowl recipe or any other recipe on my website, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how it went in the 📝 comments below. Thanks for visiting!
Pumpkin Shaped Bread Bowl
Equipment
- Baking Sheet
- Twine string
- Scissors
- pastry brush
Ingredients
- 2 loaves Bridgford Ready-Dough
- 1 Egg
- Cooking spray
Instructions
- Thaw bread following directions on bag, or see section "How to Defrost Frozen Dough" above.
- For larger bread bowls, divide each loaf of dough in half. For medium sized bread bowls, divide into thirds. Smooth the small piece of dough into a ball, stretching the top and tucking the dough under. Do this two to three times, then firmly pinch the underside of the bread dough.
- Cut 3 strings of cotton string or twine (the kind you use to tie up roasts) to about 18” long. Lay them on the baking sheet in a wheel spoke pattern.
- Place the smooth pumpkin bread dough balls right in the center of the twine. Do this for each of the bread dough balls, without the strings overlapping subsequent balls.
- Cover the dough balls with plastic wrap sprayed with cooking oil on the side that faces the dough. Let rise until double in a warm, draft free location for 2-3 hours.
- Preheat oven to 350ºF. Lift the twine up, spreading it evenly to imitate pumpkin sections. Tie the twine together about 3” above the top of the dough. Let the tied string rest on the top of the dough ball. Carefully trim excess string.
- Using a fork and small bowl, mix the egg until completely blended together. Brush the egg all over the top and sides of the dough.Bake for 25 minutes, until the pumpkin bread bowl is golden brown.
- Let cool for at least an hour and gently remove the twine. To complete the look of a pumpkin, poke a hole in the top of the pumpkin and insert parsley stalks or leafy celery tops as pumpkin stalks.
- To cut bread bowls, use a serrated knife with a sharp point. Hold the tip facing down at a 45º angle and cut a circle around the widest part of the bread bowl. Using your fingers, lift the top off. To make room inside the bowl, run your fingers inside flattening excess bread.
Notes
Nutrition
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Saif says
Pumpkin soup is absolutely delicious. I love that the pumpkin soup is in the bread.