Have you ever been cruising the frozen section of your local grocery store and noticed all the frozen bread in bags and been like, "I will get a frozen loaf. Just the right mix of manual labor and lazziness. I don't have to actually do the work part of making bread, but I still get the satifaction of a fresh baked loaf of anti-atkins goodness." Yeah, what kinda of lazy bastards use this kinda stuff...Well, we do. Anyways, you need 1 loaf for every 4-6 bowls you want to make. Normally they come in bags of about 6 loaves, so I hope you like the bowls since you will have enough to make the a lot more.

• frozen bread loaf thing
• about a tablespoon of vegetable oil...or more if you are making lots of bowls
• butter
• a number of oven safe custard bowls equal to the number of bread bowls you are making
• a brush
• a cookie sheet
• and whatever spices/spiffy stuff you want for you bowls

Alright, so anywhere from 12-24 hours prior to the making of said bowls, you will need to grab one of these frozen wonders, put it in a container big enough for it to expand a little, and toss it in the fridge to thaw.

Lightly grease up the outside of custard bowls. Divide the dough into 4 pieces, flatten each, and spread over the outside of the custard bowls. Try to cover as much of the bowls as possible without overlapping it. Also, take care not to stretch the dough too thin. If it is too thin, it will crack really easily once it is done...ie lots of messes. Take the bowls, put them on the cookie sheet, and break out the oil.

Now, if you were thinking of adding spices to the bowl, now is the time to do it. I am a big fan of chili powder when making chili, using chicken bouillon for chicken noodle soup, basil and garlic for stew, you know, whatever. Anyways, take your spice, add it to the vegetable oil, and spread a thin layer of oil over the dough. This does two things: adds flavor, and helps the outside of the bowl become hard. I have yet to try making a bowl without the oil, but I have been led to believe that the bowl will leak without it. You can also add things like cheese at this step (and if you are having Sarah over, I suggest you do). If you do, don't add much, and keep it as thin as possible. Let this sit in a warm place for 20-30 minutes. Check every 5-10 minutes to make sure that the dough is not pulling off the bowls too much. Preheat oven to 350 and bake bowls 15-20 minutes, or until golden brown. Turn oven off, pull bowls out and let them cool until you can handle them enough to seperate the bread bowls from the custard bowls. After that, I just toss the bread bowls, sans custard bowls, back in the oven for a few minutes while it is cooling.

It still amazes me how impressed people get from these with as little effort goes into them. Oh well, enjoy.