Avocado soup in a Bread bowl

"Necessity is the mother of all inventions", I don't who said it, but it is 100% true!!

I had a bagful of ripe avocados and wanted to use up all of them before they went bad. And, that's how the idea of making avocado soup, for a sunday morning brunch was born. Now, plain soup may not be very filling. Bread had to be the obvious choice, but I decided to fancy it up a bit in the name of bread bowl. Can this idea get any more cuter? I don't think so!

Verdict: This heart-warming creamy, healthy soup in a whole-wheat bread bowl is excellently comforting, tasty & very filling on a cold sunday morning!

Basic Info

Complexity - Medium
Prep time - 2 hrs (includes resting time)
Cook time - 1 hr
Serves - 5 bread bowls / 5 servings of soup

Ingredients
Bread bowl
Water - 2 cups
Whole wheat flour - 3 cups
All purpose flour - 1 cup
Vital wheat gluten flour - 1/3 cup
Olive oil - 2 tbsp
Honey - 3 tbsp
Salt - 1.5 tsp
Dry active yeast - 2 tsp

Avocado soup

Onion - 1 medium

Garlic - 2 cloves
Fresh ginger - 1 inch (grated)
Dried chili flakes - 1/2 tsp
Ripe avocados - 4 medium
Water - 1.5 cups
Salt & pepper - to taste

Olive oil - 1 tbsp + 3 tbsp
Mint leaves - 10-15 nos

Method

Bread bowl

Take 1.5 cups of water in a cup and heat it to approximately 110 degrees F. Water should be little more than warm to the touch (but not uncomfortably hot). Mix in 3 tbsp of honey. To this, add 1 envelope of dry active yeast, mix it well and let is sit in the room temperature for about 15 mins. After the yeast is all alive & bubbly, mix in olive oil.

In the meanwhile, mix all the dry ingredients (whole wheat flour, all-purpsose flour, vital wheat gluten, salt) in a big bowl. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and gently pour the yeast mixture into it.

Using a fork, slowly mix the dry & wet ingredients together working from the center. (Add more water if required from the reserved 1/2 cup of water). When the dough starts to come together,  take it out of the bowl and start to knead the dough on the work surface for about 8 mins. Do not over knead, but knead the dough to form a smooth ball.

Place the ball of dough in a bowl that has been coated lightly with olive oil. Turn the dough around in the bowl so that all the sides of the dough gets coated with oil. Cover the bowl with a plastic wrap and leave it in a warm place for the dough to rise. After an hour or so, a well fermented dough should be risen & doubled in size.

Punch the dough down and form five equal-sized balls. Now, take a dough ball, press it gently against the countertop and using the sides of both your palms, repeatedly tuck in the ball of dough under itself until it forms a firm & smooth ball. Place dough balls on a greased baking sheet. Space them out far apart to allow rising without the dough sticking together. Allow dough to rise in a warm place for 30-45 mins until doubled in size.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

Lightly brush the dough with olive oil. Place bread in pre-heated oven and bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden-brown on the outside. Remove from oven and allow to cool. Cut off the tops. Cut in a circle around the inside.

Scoop out the inside and fill it up with your favorite delicious soup!

Avocado soup

Chop 10-15 mint leaves finely and add it to 3 tbsp of slightly warmed olive oil. Let it sit for a while before using it for the soup.

Add olive oil to a pan on medium heat. Sauté onion, garlic, ginger and chili flakes until soft. Place in a blender together with the rest of the ingredients. Pulse it; add more salt, pepper and water if required.

Transfer the blended soup into a pan and bring it to a simmer on low-medium heat.

Pour the warm soup into a bread bowl, drizzle a tsp of mint - olive oil on top of it and enjoy!

Notes

- Sending this off to Made with Love Mondays!