Baking Challenge: Sally's Bread Bowls

If you'd read any of my whopping 6 blog posts to date, you'd know these things about me: I dislike holidays (because I find them outrageous) and balancing out the like/dislike scale is my extreme like of painting furniture. So, as I'd stated in the New Years Eve(ish) post, this one, I made no resolutions for the coming year (aside from blogging goals and a plan to create my own custom paint colors for furniture rehabs), but I vowed to participate in a Baking Challenge: led by Sally of Sally's Baking Addiction where each month I would make and bake a new treat by her recipe and then share the results on social media. This months Baking Challenge: Sally's Bread Bowls.

First Baking Challenge: Bread Bowls

I was really gung-ho when the first challenge of the year was posted. I rushed to the store, grabbed the ingredients, and wrapped the kids in their aprons for a good old fashioned bake off. Unfortunately, I was in a time crunch. Baking bread+time crunch=disaster of flop. I'd had a window of time that would have allowed me to complete my first bread bowls, but no time to spare. I was due to meet someone at a certain time and by my calculations I could get it done, with only seconds to spare. However, as fate would have it, time schedules changed mid-dough-rising and in my haste I removed the dough from the oven early and punched it's lights out. Bad move. It fought back. If bread dough could act like a pouty preschooler, this one crossed its arms and refused to turn into a bowl. Luckily, it still tasted delicious, but instead of being a beautiful golden brown bowl of gloriousness, it was more of a flat roll.

Baking Challenge Fail!

So, I admit, I failed the very first Baking Challenge: Sally's Bread Bowls. And I wasn't real with you. I didn't post the pancake like bowls on Instagram and tell you how much of a failure I really was. I didn't run to the store and pick up a factory made bowl and call it my own. It crossed my mind. Instead, I vowed to try it again later that month, when time was on my side. This wasn't easy with two kids birthday's to celebrate within a week of each other. So, January 29th, with (another time crunch, eh?) only days to spare. I floured up my counter-top and showed this Baking Challenge who's the boss.

Baking Challenge: Fun for the whole family

I had more success this time with both the baking aspect and the cooperativeness of my two littles. They were completely delighted watching the bread dough take form, seeing how much it had risen in the oven, and the little goblins ate almost an entire bowl each (thank goodness for their young metabolism huh?). I put our, fingers crossed, work of art in the oven and waited on pins and needles for 30 mins while they baked. When they were finished I literally shrieked with excitement. Jake made some comment about me being like 50 Cent, "I'm so proud of me." Something about 50 going broke, but forgetting about the Bitcoin he'd been paid in and now has millions again. We have a lot in common Fitty and I. Hate it or love it. These bowls were beautiful!!! I didn't think it would work, but I was so proud of me.

Of course you can't have bread bowls without soup, so I made Sally's Baking Addiction Creamy Chicken Noodle. Because she said so. It was a perfect combo. If, and it's a strong if, I had to list one con on this list it would be this: I had to refill my bowl several times. Don't get me wrong, I wanted to, but the bread bowls (maybe it was just me) were a little small. So one scoop of a ladle filled the bread bowl to the brim. To get full I had to go back for seconds and then a little more. But, even with seconds and thirds I still had four bread bowls left over (the grown ups had a bowl and the kids ate the cut out portions for their "bowl") and I freezer bagged the rest of the soup into two of the gallon sized freezer bags for two more nights of dinner or a couple of easy reheated lunches. Win!

Have you continued on with your New Years Resolutions? Have room for one more? Join the Sally's Baking Challenge!