We might need a photo to see exactly what you are talking about? I get a slight dome shaped top crust on most of my loaf breads, but I don't quite understand what you are after.

Teresa

May, you mean something like a boule?

Al

Yeah Al, that would work. I want it to be shaped like this, only bread instead of cake.

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Bake in a stainless steel mixing bowl (spray lightly with non-stick spray), then shave off the "top" (which will become the bottom as you have shown. This will give you the "perfect" dome (even all around).

Just out of curiosity, what will you do with it?

Deanna

I agree, it could easily be baked in a stainless steel bowl and get that shape, or you could just bake a free formed round loaf, a boule, like Al showed. The dome would not be so high, but it's easy.

Just shape a round loaf with a relatively sturdy dough that doesn't "run" and bake it on a stone or baking sheet.

Annie

I know this won't be much help but I have this LC soup pot & I use it more for bread baking than for anything else. Excellent crust. I rub olive oil on the inside & sprinkle with cornmeal...add dough, let rise, & bake. Never sticks & perfect dome. No need to trim.

/tricia

Here is a link that might be useful: LC Soup Pot

May, you can use pretty much any artisan bread recipe to do a free form loaf. Basically you make the dough, rise, shape the dough into a ball and let it rise once more in the natural shape - a boule. Bake in oven at high temperatures. The crust of this type of bread is usually dark and crusty. Some people like to slash the crust prior to baking to ensure proper shape. But slashing is not necessary. You can also use a round brotform or banneton (see link) to help shaping your loaf. There are tons of recipes out there you can use but if you want one I can send you a link.

Al

Here is a link that might be useful: brotforms & bannetons

Bake it in a stainless steel bowl - that's perfect!!! Thank you so much, that's just what I'll do. I wish I had that soup pot Tricia.. LOL. If I could justify spending the money I'd buy it!

So... bread novice here... sturdy dough/artisan dough... Can I beg for a recipe, please? What do you recommend?

Ok, Deanna, you asked, so here's the story. It's a little bit crazy, well especially because *I* am the crazy looney here. I have an annual party, women only, and the theme changes every year. According to the theme, we do what I call "reports" but what are really skits or presentations - brief but presumably entertaining. In addition, everyone brings a dish which should match their report. There's some healthy competition for best report, best dish, etc, because I give out trophies. It's a lot of fun.

Anyway, this year's theme is.... brassieres. Yes, we all wear them, we all have feelings about them so, it's a good girly topic. My report is a sort of murder mystery story called "The Clue in the Crumbling Bra". So, I wanted my dish to represent a "crumbling bra". Thus the dome shaped bread. I will bake two of them, put them side by side and have some ribbon there for the straps. Standing over them will be a cut out of Nancy Drew:

That sounds like fun!! Please post pictures of your final, er, product!! :-)

Deanna

Great ideas so far. And the crumbling brassiere sounds like it's going to be a riot.

There's also another pan, the Wonder Mold cake pan, which would create a perky specimen.

Sol

You could also bake them in two of those chinois sieves lined with foil and get a Madonna-type cone bra.

Which reminds me of my favorite private-eye joke:

A dame walks into my office and points a pair of .38s at me. Then she pulls out a gun.

As you can see, it doesn't take much to make me laugh.

Your friends sound like a lot of fun! I definitely want to see a photo of the bread boobs.

I made this some time ago:

dcarch
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Sol, that shape is PERFECT!! I might go down to the Michaels and/or Hobby Lobby to see if they have it in stock. It really does look like a bra/boob shape!

dcarch, that's a beautiful loaf of bread. I think mine will need to be about half that size. What did you bake it in?

I promise to post pix of my bread, AND I imagine there will be several other bra-related foods so I'll post them all and y'all can vote on your fave, then I'll tell you which one won. There's a trophy for "best dish display". Everyone at the party votes so it's all on the up 'n' up.

Maureen, it doesn't take much to make me laugh either, I LOLed at that joke. I love punny stuff like that. I don't have any chinois sieves unfortunately. I do have a reasonably sized metal mixing bowl which I plan to use unless I go with the wilton barbie skirt mold which Sol linked to. You know, I'm only going to bake this once so I'll have to decide what on earth to do with that mold after the party!

Y'all are helping me so much - thanks!! Now, I just need a recipe for bread that will be sure to work in that small type mold.

The Wilton mold is also called a "Dolly Varden" mold if you're looking them up.

Oh wow... LOLOL that sounds like fun. I hope your bread will turn out perfect for that purpose. Can't wait to see your pictures.

Al

You don't happen to have the 4 cup Pampered Chef batter bowl do you? That would work too!

Deanna

A metal funnel as a mold will give you an anatomically correct Madonna-ish shaped outcome.

If that's what you going to do, have a few of her songs playing in the background ----"Like A Virgin----"

dcarch

Forgot to answer your question:

I have a perfect metal half-sphere which I used as a mold for that bread.

I got that mold to bake a perfectly spherical globe-shaped bread for a Save-The-Earth theme party. I baked two loafs and "cemented" the two halves together.

dcarch

OK, it looks like I can probably get that doll mold at hobby lobby for 17.99. I'm going to go have a look at it in the next few days. HobLob is always having sales and discounts on stuff so I might wait it out and see if it goes on sale soon. I have a few weeks, the party's not till June 12.

Still not sure about the recipe to use. I'm SO inexperienced and have only made a couple of different bread recipes so far. I have no idea what would work well in a mold like that or in a metal bowl if I decide to go that route and save the $$.

May, if you bake in a mold or a metal bowl, the loaf/recipe won't matter, the bowl will hold the shape of the dough. It's only if you are baking a free formed loaf that you need a dough that will retain the shape it is formed into.

I do have that Wilton mold, I made the Princess' birthday cake with that last year, but I never imagined it would ever be linked to Madonna, only Cinderella or Barbie, also fashion icons in their own right. (grin)

Annie

Ah! Ok, thanks for that advice Annie. I'm set then.
Boy, if you lived near me I'd drive over and borrow it. LOL
And yeah, it's kinda funny to go from a sweet doll mold for little girls to Madonna's chest!!

For anyone who is still interested, I went over to Michael's at lunch time today to check out the Wonder Mold Pan that Sol had suggested. It seemed a tad large and I was agonizing over it when I spotted the MINI wonder mold pan for 11.99. It has four boob shaped molds in one pan, and they are just about THE perfect size. Maybe a C cup? LOL I grabbed it.

That will allow me to make TWO bras which I can either set side by side on the table, or hold one in reserve for when the first one gets eaten.

As always, this forum is invaluable as a cooking resource!!! Thanks again for all your input. Pix will follow, mid June.

May

Here is a link that might be useful: mini wonder mold pan

You seem to have the best parties! I love the energy you put into them, and am looking forward to pictures of the finished product. (Those particular Nancy Drew books bring back memories for me, and I can't wait to see what you come up with.) In particular, I'm interested what the ''clue'' is in the crumbling bra!

You're bringing back memories. ... Several years ago (long before digital cameras, so no pictures for here), I made a "bikini" cake for a friend's son who was turning 21. I baked a 9x13, added two cakes from the Mini Wonder Mold Pan in the appropriate spots, cut away some cake for sloping shoulders and added a lot of curly frosting decorations to complete both parts of the bikini. Once the guys had the nerve to cut into it, they enjoyed the cake. Your "presentation" sounds like a good time for all!

LOL, yes, my parties are pretty intense! This particular event I've been doing annually since 1988 with a couple of years off so this is my 20th one.

It gets a little bit hard to come up with a theme every year because the theme has to lend itself well as a topic for the "reports" and food to go with them. I usually have something like 20 attending so it's important that the theme leave lots of room for creativity so that the reports are all different.

I've decided to make a jalepeño cheese cornbread in that mold. I can make it the morning of the party, it won't take much time or effort (which is good because I have a thousand other things to do that day) and it is definitely crumbly. I'm going to do a practice run this weekend.