
Mini lobster bread bowls
I’ve often enjoyed butter bread from the Caribbean, drenched with the most buttery taste, and the flavors are wrapped not only in the folds of this specialty bread but also in the dough and crust. This weekend I created butter buns—with a more balance butter approach, and I topped them with a very buttery succulent lobster filling.
As you can tell, the theme here is butter! It’s not something I do every day but often enjoy using this star ingredient with my lobster recipes. Butter is perfect for lobster as it doesn’t overpower the meat, while it allows the natural flavors to dominate and keeps it moist. That is why when paired with my butter buns, its a marriage made in food heavy.
My lobster bread bowls usually get the lobster bisque treatment, but since my kids are not a huge fan of “the bisque”, I opted for the lobster bread bowls with herbed butter and a hint of ginger. The idea of bread bowls usually get the kids excited. Combining some of their favorites—lobster and bread bowls, just made their culinary experience even more exciting.
Of course, growing up on a tropical island has heightened my appreciation for lobster. It was plentiful, inexpensive, and accessible. In my current hometown, to get live lobsters, I often have to visit a specialty market and hope that the quality is excellent. Living in the San Francisco Bay area has made it easier to get access to a steady supply of live lobsters.
A few weeks ago, I posted this delicious lobster tail recipe. Today, I’ll share with you how to create these delightful lobster bread bowls in this post.
Here’s recipe for the mini butter buns:
Mini butter buns
Ingredients
- 4 lbs bread flour unbleached all-purpose flour
- 6 cups milk (skim, 1%, 2%, or whole)
- 3 tbsp sugar
- 1½ tbsp instant yeast
- 2½ teaspoons table salt
- 10 tbsp unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 2 egg Beat egg whites to add to bread crust
Instructions
- Combine the flour, the sugar, yeast, and salt in a mixing bowl or large bowl
- Add warm milk and start kneading dough
- Once the dough is smooth and elastic, add the butter and continue kneading
- Allow the dough to rise in a covered bowl until it’s doubled in bulk, about 90 minutes.
- Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface, divide dough and round all of the pieces into smooth balls.
- Lightly grease pans
- Place dough on pan
- Cover the pans, and let the loaves rise until they're puffy and soft
- Using a brush, add egg whites to loaves
- Towards the end of the rising time, preheat the oven to 375°F
- Uncover the loaves, and bake them for 28 to 32 minutes, until their crust is golden brown
- Remove from oven and enjoy
How to make a bread bowl
Some people prefer to cut off the top of the bread straight across. I like my bread tops to have a protruding base. So I prefer to cut into the bread at an angle. Using a very sharp knife, I cut into the top of the bread going in a circular direction until I get to the point where I started. I then remove some of the dough inside the bowls.

Lobster with herb butter
Ingredients
- 3 live lobsters
- 1 stick butter
- 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
- 2 teaspoons chopped fresh Italian parsley
- 2 teaspoons chopped fresh chives
- Lemon wedges
- 1 teaspoon fresh ginger
- 1 tbsp paprika
- salt to taste
- 1 teaspoon pepper
Instructions
- Cook lobsters in a large pot of boiling salted water until shells are pink
- Remove lobsters from pot and chill
- Once lobsters have cooled, remove the meat from the lobster
- Chop the meat in large chunks
- Meanwhile, melt butter in small frying, add all ingredients
- Stir and remove meat from pan
- Add meat to bread bowls and enjoy