Spooktacular Halloween Spider Bread Bowl Dip Recipes

Steps:

• 1. FOR SPIDER: Spray frozen loaf of bread dough with butter-flavored cooking spray, wrap tightly in plastic wrap and thaw in fridge overnight. The next day, unwrap bread and place onto a cutting surface. With a long, very sharp knife, slice bread in half crossways. Slice off about 1/4 of one end for the head. Pinch cut side back together and form into a small ball. Place onto sprayed baking sheet seam side-down. Use the rest of that half and shape into the body the same way making it 4" in diameter and a little flat, like a disk. Place next to head, touching, also seam side-down. Spray with cooking spray. Slice second half of loaf lengthwise into 8 equal pieces. Roll and stretch into 12-14" in long ropes. Place onto second sprayed baking sheet into hairpin shapes for legs. Spray with cooking spray. Lightly cover each baking sheet with plastic wrap and place into oven to rise with the light on for warmth. Let rise for 30 minutes, remove both trays, heat oven to 350 degrees, remove plastic wrap from the baking sheet with the legs only. Sprinkle them evenly with the first amount of the seasonings and bake them for 15-18 minutes until browned on the bottoms and light golden brown on top. Remove pieces to a wire rack to cool. Leave oven door open to cool. If cool enough, place body and head back into oven to continue to rise or in another draft-free warm place. Let body and head rise for an additional 1 1/2 - 2 hours or until doubled in bulk. (Store breadstick legs, when fully cool, in an airtight container.) When fully risen, sprinkle evenly the second amount of seasonings onto head and body, and re-preheat oven to 350 degrees. Pop into oven and bake for 22-25 minutes until deep golden brown. With spatula, remove to wire rack to cool. To assemble, with small sharp serrated steak knife, cut 4 little "x"'s on each side of body in a sawing motion up and down and stick one side of each leg down into body. Cut a 4" circle out of top of body and remove chunk of bread.
• 2. Hollow out a little more picking out pieces carefully. Dice bread into cubes for dipping and place into a festive bowl. Make dip and fill body cavity full. (Replenishing as needed.) Decorate with olive eyes if desired.
• 3. FOR DIP: Place all ingredients into large microwave-safe bowl and heat, stirring every 1-2 minutes, until cheese has melted. About 5 minutes total. Spoon and pour into spider. Garnish with more sliced green onion if desired. Rewarm and refill as needed. (Makes enough dip to refill 1 -2 times depending on size of cut-out.)

Steps:

• Mixing and Bulk Fermentation
• Mix all the ingredients together in a large bowl, minus the egg wash, mozzarella, marinara, and spider eyes. If possible, put the activated charcoal in your bowl first and gently cover it with the other ingredients. The charcoal powder poofs and gets airborne very easily. The dough should feel fairly dry, like pizza dough.
• Cover and let the dough rest for about 30 minutes. Then perform a round of stretching and folding on the dough. You probably won't need any more gluten development but if your dough doesn't feel strong and elastic already, you can do another round of stretching and folding after a 20-30 minute rest.
• Let the dough rise until it has expanded by about 75%. This took 8 hours from when I mixed the dough (cool kitchen). At this point you can refrigerate the dough overnight or begin shaping now.
• Shaping and Final Proof (See the Photo Gallery below)
• Place a sheet of parchment paper on a half baking sheet or an even larger baking sheet.
• Scrape the fermented dough out of your bowl onto a lightly oiled work surface.
• Press down on the dough to evenly de-gas it. Cut it in half, then cut one of the halves in half (two quarters). Finally, cut one of the quarters into four pieces (eighths). For less spider head and more spider leg length, cut the second half differently: 1/3 for the head and 2/3 for the four leg tubes.
• Roll the half into a tight ball for the body. Place it on the parchment paper.
• Put cheese in the center of the quarter and wrap it into a ball for the head. Place this 1-2 inches in front of the body, leaving space for the legs.
• Press the four small dough pieces flat and line them with cheese. Wrap the dough around the cheese, sealing it on all sides, and then roll the tube longer under your palms. Lay the four tubes across the space between the body and head so that each tube is two legs.
• Lay a damp cloth or oiled plastic wrap over the dough for the final proof. My dough proofed for about 1.5 hours as it was slightly chilled from being refrigerated overnight.
• Baking and Decorating
• Preheat your oven to 350°F.
• Brush the surface of your spider with a beaten egg and then load it into the oven.
• Bake the spider for about 35 minutes or until the center of the body segment is over 190°F. The legs will crisp up but shouldn't burn.
• Let the bread cool for about 30 minutes and then cut out the well in the spider's body for your dip. You can do this by placing the top of the dip cup you've chosen on the spider and tracing with your knife around it. (The spider "guts" are a tasty snack heated up with some extra cheese and marinara.)
• Warm up your marinara, place it in the cup, and fit the cup into the spider's body.
• Serve and enjoy!

Steps:

• 1. *The night before, wrap frozen loaves tightly in plastic wrap and thaw in fridge overnight. Next day: Form one loaf into a round ball. Place on a large cookie sheet that has been sprayed with non-stick cooking spray. With other loaf, cut off end and form a small round ball (about one eighth of loaf) and place above body making the head. Horizontally, slice remaining dough into 8 strips and roll into ropes for legs. Place under head and upper body. Place raisins on head for eyes, making into a spider! *You can also add these after baking if preferred, or use red decorating gel, red peppercorns or even sliced olives for eyes, also adding on after baking. Sometimes the raisins fall off during baking, or end up in an odd place! Brush with melted butter and cover with plastic wrap coated with non-stick spray. Allow to double in size. (About 2=3 hours.)Remove wrap, brush with eggwash (1 egg beaten with 1 Tbl. water), and bake in 350º oven for 25-30 minutes. Or til golden brown. Allow to cool on rack. Slice off top of body in a circle, and hollow out making a "bowl" for the dip. Line with lettuce (if desired)and spoon in your favorite dip such as salsa, melted cheese/nacho cheese dip, spinach or onion dip,etc., whatever you want. Surround with chips, crackers, mini pumpkins and gourds, plastic spiders, halloween cookies, just have fun! *If you want the spider's legs to point/bend up in the middle, just place a small ball of foil under center of each leg during rising and baking! :)