Turkey wild rice soup in bread bowls

Sometimes, things are just supposed to happen: within a few days, I finished the Mellow Baker challenge, which means I can bake any bread I want (yay!), KAF wrote a post about bread bowls, and Nancy, Rebecca, and I, visiting over Twitter Saturday night, decided Sunday should be soup day. Yep, this meal was meant to be.

I actually made a really similar meal last year for Christmas Eve (here's the post). These bread bowls came together more quickly, a really easy recipe. And I much preferred this wild rice soup recipe (plus it made a whole lot more).

Bread bowls
adapted from King Arthur Flour

50 g unsalted butter, melted
283 g lukewarm water
100 g bread flour
100 g white whole wheat flour
50 g semolina flour
200 g all-purpose flour
10 g (1 1/4 tsp) salt
15 g (1 tbsp) sugar
35 g (1/2 c) dry potato flakes
14 g nonfat dry milk
9 g (2 1/2 tsp) instant yeast

1. Combine all ingredients in a large mixing bowl. (I used my stand mixer.) Knead or mix with the dough hook for 3 or 4 minutes until a smooth dough forms.
2. Place the dough in a large bowl lightly coated with cooking spray and allow to rise until doubled (about 60-90 minutes).
3. Divide the dough into six pieces (mine were 144 g each) and round each piece into a large ball. Place the balls on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Cover with plastic wrap.
4. If baking right away, allow to rise until puffy, 60-90 minutes. I mixed the dough early in the morning, so put the covered baking sheet into the fridge for the day. I pulled the tray out about an hour before baking the rolls.
5. Bake the rolls for 25 minutes at 350º. Cool on the pan.
6. Cut a cone shape out of the top of each bread bowl, fill with soup, and serve!

KAF instructs you to pull out all of the bread from the bowl; I just use my fingers to press it in. The bowl isn't quite as big that way, but you get lovely chunks of bread in each spoonful of soup. These bowls are fairly small; each only held 1/2 cup of soup. I'd be wary of making the bowls bigger, though; that's an awful lot of bread. The 1/2 cup was perfect for the kiddos. Hubby and I just refilled our bowls once.

Creamy wild rice-turkey-ham soup
adapted from Cooking Light
makes 8 servings (about 1 to 1 1/2 cups each)

1 tbsp butter 
1 1/2 c chopped carrot (3 large carrots)
2 1/2 c chopped onion (1 giant onion)
1/4 tsp dried rosemary
1/4 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
2 tsp minced garlic
32 oz fat-free chicken broth
2 c chopped turkey (I used Christmas dinner leftovers that I'd frozen)
1 c chopped turkey ham
1 c uncooked wild rice
3 tbsp butter
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
2 3/4 c 2% milk
2 tbsp dry sherry
1/2 tsp salt

1. Melt 1 tbsp butter in a large Dutch oven over medium heat. Add carrot, onion, ham, spices, pepper, and garlic, and sauté until softened, about 8 minutes.
2. Stir in wild rice and turkey. Add broth and bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer for one hour, or until rice is tender.
3. About 10 minutes before the timer beeps, make a roux. (Cooking Light didn't include this step, but it was suggested by one of the commenters. Ours definitely didn't taste floury, so maybe it was worth dirtying the extra pan.) Melt 2 tbsp butter in a saucepan. Whisk in the flour and stir until flour turns a nice light brown, about 5 or 6 minutes. Whisk in the milk a bit at a time until smooth.
4. Add the roux, sherry, and salt, and cook (uncovered) for about 8 more minutes or until thickened.