Baked Brie in a Bread Bowl with Garlic

All I want is baked brie in sourdough

Baked brie is my favorite. Melted cheese with beautiful, flavorful toppings… What’s not to love?

And while I can’t get enough of Baked Brie with Apricot Preserves and Prosciutto and Baked Brie with Fig Jam, it’s really hard to compete with this Baked Brie in a Bread Bowl with Garlic.

A hollowed-out sourdough boule and the leftover bread pieces are seasoned with oil and garlic, then stuffed with brie cheese. Both bake in the oven until the bread is toasted and the cheese is melted. It’s cheesy, garlicky, and just plain amazing.

Other popular baked brie-in-bread bowl recipes place the whole wheel of brie into the loaf. In this recipe, the cheese is chopped into pieces before it’s melted. This results in maximum cheesiness and less hassle trying to fit the cheese perfectly into the bread bowl.

Our family has been making this recipe for years during the holiday season! I hope you love it just as much as we do.

Ingredients needed

I don’t think you’ve ever seen a list of ingredients that’s as delish as this:

Small sourdough boule

This brie appetizer reigns supreme when it’s made with sourdough bread. This fermented, subtly sour-flavored bread is one-of-a-kind and practically a work of art. Either pick up a loaf from your local bakery or learn how to make it yourself.

Sourdough is often shaped as a boule, making your search for the best bread bowl a breeze. I recommend using a 1 to 1 ½ pound bread bowl with a 6-inch diameter.

Olive oil

You need a small amount of oil to coat the inside of the hollow bread bowl and to coat the torn bread pieces. This way, the bread becomes crispy and golden brown in the oven.

Salt

To season the toasted bread pieces.

Garlic

Grab a few garlic cloves and rub them all over the inside of the bread bowl. It’s the best way to not only flavor the bread, but infuse the brie with a bit of that irresistible garlic flavor. 

The recipe calls for 4 cloves of garlic, which results in a great savory flavor. If you’re a die-hard garlic lover, go ahead and use as much as you want!

Double cream brie

There’s no need for a wheel of brie in this recipe. The cheese is chopped into bite-size pieces and thrown in the bread bowl for easy melting.

Typically, the rind surrounding the brie would need to stay intact in order to keep the melted cheese in place. The bread bowl takes the place of the rind in this recipe, meaning you can remove it if you aren’t a fan.

Both double cream and triple cream brie are great choices. Camembert works well too! It’s also a French cow’s milk cheese with deep, earthy, and funky flavors.

How to make baked brie in a bread bowl

Follow these step-by-step instructions to easily and quickly put this holiday appetizer together:

Add toppings and flavor-boosters

The melted brie and bread are perfectly flavored on their own but you can take it up a notch with extra toppings, like:

• Thyme
• Roasted garlic
• Cranberry sauce
• Fig jam
• Crushed nuts
• Rosemary

Helpful tips

Keep these recipe tips and tricks in mind before putting the appetizer together:

Room temperature brie

The brie has to be room temperature before it’s placed in the bread bowl. Too cold and it won’t melt properly. 

Are you in a hurry? Warm the brie in 15-second intervals in the microwave until it isn’t cold anymore.

Prevent the bread from burning

There’s a chance that the torn pieces of bread could brown quicker than the bread bowl. If that happens, you can remove them from the sheet pan early.

If the bread bowl is browning before the cheese is melted, simply cover it with a sheet of parchment paper.

Serving suggestions

Serving a crowd?

Surround the baked brie in a sourdough bread bowl with more than just the toasted bread pieces. Thick herb crackers, sliced apples and pears, and cut vegetables all pair well with brie.

Recipe