Biltong soup served in a Sourdough Bread Bowl

Soup and bread -with a little sherry or port on the side!- is probably the most comforting meal you can have on a cold winters day.

This recipe combines the two in a way that not only tastes amazing, but offers you as a host the chance to look very impressive while serving a basic and easy dish.

You can serve any of your favourite soup recipes in this basic bread bowl, but we want to share this truly South African soup with you.

To make the bread bowls, you use a basic sourdough bread dough. If using our recipe that uses 500gr flour, you van divide the dough into 2 or 3 parts, form round dough balls and bake. They can be baked in an oven heated to between 230 and 250 C and placed directly on a baking sheet. Heat the baking sheet with the oven. bake for around 15 to 20 minutes or until the bread is evenly brown and sounds hollow when tapped on the bottom.

If you prefer not to use sourdough, then make sure the bread you are baking is dense enough to not absorb too much of the soup too soon. Rye bread will work well.

To prepare your bowls, cut the top off the bowl to form a "lid". using a sharp knife and spoon if necessary, hollow out your bread loaf. Try and remove as much as possible to make the bowl nice and big. As and extra touch, you can cut the insides you remove into cubes or fingers and fry them in a little butter to form croutons or toast fingers to enjoy with your soup. Or just slice it up and serve as is.

Soup

INGREDIENTS

125g butter

250ml flour

10ml black pepper

½ tsp nutmeg

½ tsp ground coriander

500ml milk

1.5 liters beef stock

200ml cheddar cheese (grated)

250g biltong, finely grated or biltong powder

Melt the butter in a saucepan and then add the flour. Stir over a low heat for one minute (ensure it does not burn).

Add the black pepper, nutmeg and ground coriander. Stirring continuously, gradually add the milk and the stock.

Stir over low heat until thickened. Remove from the heat and add the cheese and 200g of the biltong.

Heat without allowing the soup to boil, and add cream to taste, just before serving. garnish with the rest of the bacon

For a special occasion you can crumble blue cheese over the top.

Spoon into your bread bowls and serve