Want to get a bit extra with your Halloween bread bowl dip? Try this spider bread bowl! It's easier to make than you might think, & stunning!
Originally published July 22, 2022, updated on 10/26/2023.
It may be July, but it’s never too early to dream of the holidays... and prepare new recipes!
Right?
Rather than using a premade pizza dough, this spooky snack uses a delicious homemade yeast bread recipe, with black color both in the dough itself, and the dark crunchy topping of black sesame seeds.
Not only is it a fun bread to make, it’s a very easy recipe - yes, there are a lot of instructions, but it comes together super quickly once you know what you need to do.
Anyone can make this Halloween bread - and the whole family will love it!
The flavor of the bread is GARLIC throughout - both the crust and the soft inner core of the bread. The spider legs are essentially garlic sesame breadsticks - how perfect is that?
Add some googly eyes - I used olive slices, but Candy Eyeballs are another option - and you have a really fun way to serve whatever dip you like!
Note: The dip-filled photos in this post were made with my Jalapeno Popper Dip, but you can use any hot or cold dip that you like.
Happy Halloween!
Ingredients
The Spider Bread Bowl
The spider dough recipe takes some fairly basic ingredients, which you should be able to find in any grocery store, for the most part:
All Purpose Flour
Active Dry Yeast
Granulated Sugar
Garlic Powder
Salt
Black Gel Food Coloring
Large egg
Black Sesame Seeds
Green olives with pimento, or 2 Candy Eyeballs
A few notes
You can use bread flour instead of all-purpose flour, if you have it.
You’ll want some black food coloring, and this is an instance where what you use REALLY makes a difference - Black Gel Food Coloring works the best to make a really black dough.
Specifically, I recommend Americolor (what I used when I was in the USA), or ChefMaster (Which is the option more readily available here!).
The black is just FAR more intense with a gel color, and is so much better to work with than liquid or paste options.
I do NOT recommend this, as activated charcoal is known to dull or negate the effectivity of medications taken - there’s a reason it’s generally used to treat drug overdoses and some forms of poisoning!
Halloween parties should be fun, and - especially with everything going on right now - it’s best not to risk screwing with anyone’s medication uptake, IMHO.
Dip
You can fill your spider bread bowl with any dip you like, hot or cold.
Here are a few recommendations, along with notes about what dietary restrictions they (the dip alone) work for:
Hot Dips
Artichoke Spinach Dip (Gluten free, keto)
Cheeseburger Dip (Gluten free, low-ish carb)
Jalapeno Artichoke Dip (Gluten free, low carb)
Jalapeno Popper Dip (Gluten-free, keto)
Queso, from Scratch (Gluten free)
Cold Dips
Cactus Dip (Gluten free, low carb)
Dill Pickle Cream Cheese Dip (Gluten free, low carb)
Easy Dill Dip (Gluten-free, keto)
Ginger Wasabi Dip (Gluten-free, keto)
How to Make a Spider Bread Bowl
Full recipe is in the recipe card at the end of this post, this is the pictorial walk through
Make the Bread Dough
Measure warm water into a glass measuring cup or bowl. Stir in yeast and sugar, allow to stand for 10 minutes – it should get very bubbly.
Pour yeast mixture into the large bowl of dry ingredients, along with a copious amount of black food colouring, stir well to combine.
If you only use a little bit of food colouring, you’ll get a grey spider!
Alternatively, use a stand mixer with a dough hook for about 7 minutes, or until dough is smooth and elastic.
Cover with plastic wrap (or a damp tea towel), and allow to rise in a warm place for one hour, or until doubled in size.
Assembly & Baking:
Line 1 large baking sheet - and 2 smaller baking sheets - with parchment paper, scatter sesame seeds over each.
Once dough has doubled, punch it down, and divide it out into 2 equal sized dough pieces.
On the large prepared cookie sheet, form one round into the body of the spider. I like to do a round / dome / boule shape, but you can elongate it if you want to go for accuracy.
Place the head next to the body - touching it, but just barely, or even leaving a small gap between them. You want to leave some room for expansion.
Once time is up, preheat oven to 350 F, remove plastic wrap from the body/head loaf.
In a mug or small bowl, whisk egg together with 1 tablespoon of water, gently brush this egg wash over the tops and sides of the head and body.
Generously scatter black sesame seeds over the whole loaf.
Bake body on the center rack of your oven for 35-40 minutes.
Roll each dough piece into a ~ 12” long rope.
Place dough ropes onto the 2 smaller baking sheets, forming each of the small snakes into angular spider legs, as shown.
Once the body is done, brush the legs with egg wash, sprinkle with sesame seeds.
Bake legs for 15-18 minutes.
Serving
Use a sharp knife to cut the top off the back of the spider body - I like to put this piece of bread aside, for decoration later.
Carefully scoop out some of the bread, leaving ¾" - 1" thick shell all the way around. Chop up removed leftover bread for use as dippers.
If you like, use some of the cut off crust to cut an hourglass shape to make it a “black widow” style bread bowl
If using for cold dip
Place body on a serving dish. Use a sharp paring knife to cut 4 little X slashes on each side of the body, evenly spaced out.
Carefully push one end of a “leg” bread stick into each X cut.
Add dip to the cavity, garnish as desired and serve with desired dippers - leftover bread, corn chips, crackers, vegetables, etc.
If using for Hot Dip
Brush inside of the hollowed-out bowl with olive oil. Bake at 350 for another 10 minutes or so, just to dry it out a bit.
Place body on a serving dish. Use a sharp paring knife to cut 4 little X slashes on each side of the body, evenly spaced out.
Carefully push one end of a “leg” bread stick into each X cut.
Immediately before serving, add hot dip to the cavity, garnish as desired and serve.
Tips for Success
How much dip your bread bowl will hold will depend on how you form and carve it.
I recommend aiming to have at least 3-4 cups of dip on hand - you can always add more to refill if needed.
Only add your edible eyes before baking if you’re using something like sliced olives or jalapeno slices.
Candy Eyes will dissolve or melt, between the moisture in the dough, and the heat from the oven.
Using the “for hot dip” instructions above - even for cold dip - goes a long way to preventing the bread from getting soggy when dip is added.
To further prevent sogginess, you can either
- Carve the bread to be able to fit a bowl inside it, serving the dip from an actual bowl. This works for hot or cold dips.
Or
- Line the carved cavity of your bread bowl with large lettuce leaves, before adding the dip. I don’t recommend this for hot dips, though - they’ll wilt the lettuce.
The egg wash is important for flavour, finish, AND adhering the sesame seeds - don’t skip it!
If you need to avoid eggs, you can substitute some melted butter - melted garlic butter, if you’d like!
More Halloween Ideas
If you're still considering ideas for Halloween recipes and other ideas, be sure try another fun recipe:
3D Halloween Bat Cupcakes
Bacon Wrapped Mummy Meatloaf
Black Velvet Cupcakes
Bloody Eyeball Cupcakes
Bloody Eyeball Halloween Punch
Breakfast Mummy Pastries
Easy Halloween Bat Cupcakes
Easy Spider Web Cookies
Elegant Halloween Charcuterie Board
Fudgy Halloween Brownies
Glazed Halloween Popcorn
Gluten Free Mummy Dogs
Gluten-Free Mummy Jalapeno Poppers
Halloween Pavlova
Halloween Shooters
Halloween Spider Web Cupcakes
How to Carve a Pumpkin Like a Pro
Lychee "Bloody Eyeball" Pancakes
Mummy Dogs
Mummy Jalapeno Poppers
Nightmare Before Christmas Cookies
Share the Love!
Before you chow down, be sure to take some pics of your handiwork! If you Instagram it, be sure to tag me - @CelebrationGenerationCA - or post it to My Facebook Page - so I can cheer you on!
Also, be sure to subscribe to my free monthly email newsletter, so you never miss out on any of my nonsense. Well, the published nonsense, anyway!
Finally, if you love this recipe, please consider leaving a star rating and/or a comment below, and maybe even sharing this post on social media!
Spooky Black Spider Halloween Bread Bowl
Equipment
- 2 Baking Sheets
Ingredients
Dough:
- 1.5 cups warm - not hot - water
- 4 teaspoon Active Dry Yeast
- 2 Tablespoon Granulated Sugar
- 3 ½ cups All Purpose Flour
- 2-3 teaspoon Garlic powder
- 2 teaspoon Salt
- Black gel food colouring
Assembly:
- 1 Large egg
- 1 tablespoon Water
- Black sesame seeds
- Green olives with pimento or 2 confectionary eyeballs.
Instructions
- Measure warm water into a glass measuring cup or bowl. Stir in yeast and sugar, allow to stand for 10 minutes – it should get very bubbly.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, garlic powder, and salt. Pour in yeast mixture and a copious amount of black food colouring, stir well to combine.
- Dump dough out onto a floured surface, knead until soft and elastic, 5-10 minutes. Alternatively, use a stand mixer with a dough hook for about 7 minutes, or until dough is smooth and elastic.
- Once dough is fully kneaded, place in a greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and allow to rise for one hour, or until doubled in size.
Assembly & Baking:
- Line 1 large baking sheet - and 2 smaller baking sheets - with parchment paper, scatter sesame seeds over each.
- Once dough has doubled, punch it down, and divide it out into 2 equal sized pieces.
- On the large prepared baking sheet, form one round into the body of the spider. I like to do a round / dome / boule shape, but you can elongate it if you want to go for accuracy.
- Take about ⅕ of the remaining half of the dough, and form another ball shape for the head. Wrap the ⅘ remaining dough in plastic, set aside.
- Place the head next to the body - touching it, but just barely. You want to leave some room for expansion.
- Cover loosely with plastic wrap and allow to rise for another 45 minutes or so.
- Once time is up, preheat oven to 350 F, remove plastic wrap from the body/head loaf.
- Whisk egg together with 1 tablespoon of water, gently brush over the tops and sides of the head and body.
- Generously scatter black sesame seeds over the whole loaf.
- You can attach olive slices for eyes at this point, or you can add them after it’s baked. If adding them now, I like to secure them with toothpicks - you can remove them after they bake.
- Bake body for 35-40 minutes.
- As soon as the body is in the oven, divide remaining dough into 8 equal sized pieces.
- Roll each dough piece into a ~ 12” long rope.
- Place dough ropes onto the 2 smaller baking sheets, forming each into an angular “leg”, as shown.
- Cover with plastic wrap and allow to rise for another 30 minutes, as the body bakes.
- Once the body is done, brush the legs with egg wash, sprinkle with sesame seeds.
- Bake legs for 15-18 minutes.
- Allow all pieces to cool before assembling. If you’re making this ahead of time, store all pieces in an airtight container until ready to use.
Serving:
- Use a sharp knife to cut the top off the main body round.
- Carefully scoop out some of the bread, leaving ¾" - 1" thick shell all the way around. Chop up removed bread for use as dippers.
If using for cold dip:
- Place body on a serving dish. Use a sharp paring knife to cut 4 little X slashes on each side of the body, evenly spaced out.
- Carefully push one end of a “leg” bread stick into each X cut.
- If you haven’t already attached the eyes, do so now.
- Add dip to the cavity, garnish as desired and serve with desired dippers - leftover bread, corn chips, crackers, vegetables, etc.
If using for hot dip:
- Brush inside of the hollowed-out bowl with olive oil. Bake at 350 for another 10 minutes or so, just to dry it out a bit.
- Place body on a serving dish. Use a sharp paring knife to cut 4 little X slashes on each side of the body, evenly spaced out.
- Carefully push one end of a “leg” bread stick into each X cut.
- If you haven’t already attached the eyes, do so now.
- Immediately before serving, add hot dip to the cavity, garnish as desired and serve.
Nutrition
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