Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. This means that I will receive a small commission from any purchase made from this post at no additional cost to you.
Hi everyone! Halloween is right around the corner and this year I decided to make an appetizer for your Halloween party. A bread bowl with spinach dip. Spinach and artichoke dip to be exact.
Now, my intention with this bread bowl with spinach dip was to make the bread bowl look like a witches cauldron and the dip be like the brew that’s bubbling over.
Bread Bowl With Spinach Dip – How To Get The
This bread bowl was actually done a couple times. You can refer to my cake fails post to learn more about that. The first time I made this bread bowl, I used food coloring gel. This made it a light gray at best. The second time, I used a product called activated charcoal. This helped me to achieve a darker color without effecting taste.
How To Form The Bread Bowl For The Spinach Dip
To make this cauldron, I cut 1/6 (eyeballed) of the dough off and reserved that for the handles. I use a bread dough container to let my dough rise so I just put this portion in there so it wouldn’t dry out.
I then rolled the larger portion into a ball.
One of the reasons that I used bread flour for this bread bowl with spinach dip is so that the bowl itself would not collapse under it’s own weight. I wanted it to stay in a firm ball like this:
Once I had a ball, it was time to make the decorations. To do this, I abandoned the floor pegs that I was trying to give it in the first one because they made the bread bowl look like a little creepy animal and not a cauldron. So I just did the handles.
To do this, I just cut 1/4 of the portion off. And then cut each portion in half. With each of the larger portions, roll it into a snake and then form this snake into a ring. Make sure there is a wide and defined opening/hole because this will rise one more time and you don’t want the handle to just turn into a blob. once you have both rings, stick them to either side of the ball. If you are having trouble use some water to adhere it.
With each of the smaller portions, roll those into a snake and wrap them overtop of the top of the ring.
Now, leave this to rise again until doubled in size.
And that’s it. That’s how I made a very delicious and whimsical appetizer for your halloween party. This recipe was a ton of fun to make. Especially for the kids. Leave me a comment for any questions that you might have or any suggestions for anything you want to see next. Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, pinterest, twitter and snapchat to see what I’m up to next. Remember, don’t be afraid to “bake” a mess. And I’ll see you next time.
Witch's Cauldron Bread Bowl and Spinach and Artichoke Dip
A large black bread bowl that is shaped like a witch's cauldren, filled with garlicy spinach and artichoke dip.
Ingredients
Cauldron Bread Bowl
- 2 Cups of Bread Flour ( 1 1/2 Cups Extra)
- 2 1/2 Tsp's
- 1/2 Tbsp's of Salt
- 1 Cup of Water (100-110•F)
- 2 1/4 Tsp's of Active Dry Yeast
- 3 Tbsp's of Activated Charcoal
- 1 Tbsp's of Olive Oil
Spinach and Artichoke Dip
- 10 oz of Frozen and Thawed or Fresh Spinach (rung out)
- 10 oz Can of Artichoke Hearts
- 1/3 of a White Onion
- 2 Cloves of Garlic
- 2 TBSP's of Unsalted Butter
- 2 TBSP of All Purpose Flour
- 2 Cups Of Whole Milk
- 1 Cup of Mozzarella
- 1/2 of a Cup of Grated Parmesan
- 1 (8 oz) Block of Cream Cheese
- 1/4 of a Cup of Sour Cream
Instructions
Cauldren Bread Bowl
- Add yeast and 1 teaspoon of sugar to your warm water. Leave for 5-10 minutes to activate.
- Add in all your other ingredients: flour activated charcoal, the rest of the sugar, salt and olive oil.
- With the dough hook attachment, mix on low speed until you get a smooth ball. About 5 minutes.
- Oil up the bottem of a bowl or proofing container. Add your dough ball and leave to rise until doubled in size. About 1 hour.
- Punch down your dough and reserve 1/4 of the dough for the handles.
- Form the larger portion into a tight ball. You want to make sure it is tight because inevitably this ball will sag because of gravity pulling it down and the ball being tight will prevebt that as much as possible.
- With the smaller portion you want to devide it in half and then take that half and take a 1/4 portion out of each.
- With the larger portions, make a long snake and then form that into a circle. Attach that to the sides of your bigger ball. If It won't stick, use a bit of water.
- With smaller portions form them into snakes and lay that of the top of each of the circles.
- Let this rise for about another hour or until doubled in size.
- Bake for 25 - 30 minutes or until you tap it and it sounds hollow.
Spinach Artichoke Dip
- Preheat a skillet with high sides with the butter over medium low heat.
- Add the diced onion and garlic. Cook until translucent. About 2 minutes.
- Add the flour and cook for about 20 seconds until you see no raw flour.
- Whisk in the milk and cook until the sauce can coat the back of a spoon.
- Add in the sour cream and cream cheese. Let t/hat melt.
- Whisk in both kinds of cheese and cook until melted.
- Fold in the artichoke and the spinach.
- Turn off.
Putting It All Together
- Cut a large hole in the top of the bread bowl from about 1/2 of an inch from each handle.
- Pull out the bread form the inside of the bowl. Leaving a 1 inch boarder along each wall.
- Add in your dip.
- Cover the top with mozzerella hheese and cover with tin foil.
- Bake at 350• for 20 ninutes.
- Take the tin foil off. Continue baking for 5 minutes or until the cheese melts.
- Enjoy
If you have any questions or comments please don’t hesitate to leave a comment down below, message me on instagram, facebook or leave me an email.