Combine the water, yeast, and the 1/4 tsp of the sugar in a medium-sized bowl. Stir just until the yeast is dissolved. Cover with a towel and let stand until the mixture is foamy, about 5 minutes.

In a large bowl, add the salt, remaining sugar, butter, yeast mixture, and 1 3/4 cups of flour, and mix. Slowly keep adding more flour (about 1/2 cup at a time) until the dough starts to pull away from the sides of the bowl (save remaining flour at this point).

Knead the dough (with your stand mixer, or using your hands) for about 5 minutes. Stop and touch the dough with a clean, dry finger. The dough shouldn’t be “sticky,” but may barely stick to your finger. Add a little more flour, as needed, until you reach that consistency. Knead for 2-3 more minutes.

Lightly spray another large bowl with nonstick spray and transfer the dough to that bowl. Flip the dough over once so that both sides are coated with spray. Cover the bowl with a dish towel and let it rise until doubled in size, about 30-45 minutes.

Divide the dough into 4 equal pieces. Pick up one section of the dough and pat it down with your hands to remove any air. Use your hands to gently fold the dough into a tight ball. Place the dough ball on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Make a very small star-shaped slit on the top of the dough rounds with a serrated knife.

Beat the egg white with 1 tablespoon of milk to make an egg wash. Lightly brush the tops of each dough ball with a very thin layer of egg wash. Only half of the egg wash will likely be used, but you can opt to use a little more to help extra seasonings stick to the dough ball in the next step.

Lightly sprinkle oregano, basil, garlic powder, and onion powder onto the top and sides of the dough ball, using your hand if neccessary to help even it out.

Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees.

Cover the rolls lightly with a piece of plastic wrap and once again allow them to rise until doubled in size, about 30-40 more minutes.

Bake at 400 degrees for about 25-30 minutes. Allow to cool for at least 15 minutes before cutting for bread bowls.

While bread is cooking, place a 6-qt pot on the stove over medium-high heat and combine the olive oil, chopped carrot, chopped onion, and minced garlic (the original recipe calls for two cloves, but I love garlic and often opt for a whole bulb!)

Stir in flour until vegetables are coated, then add tomatoes.

Add broth and 1/2 tsp of oregano and stir, breaking up the tomatoes.

Bring mixture to a boil, and then reduce heat to a simmer, cooking for 8-10 minutes.

Working in small batches if necessary, puree soup mixture in a blender or food processor, then transfer back to pot.

Stir in cream and salt, then add cheddar cheese, one handful at a time. Allow cheese to melt and lighten the color of the tomato soup each time before adding more cheese, until the soup has reached desired color. This should also thicken up the soup considerably. Turn the heat off.

If the soup hasn’t yet reached chowder consistency, you may fill a small cup with a few spoonfuls of the soup and allow it to cool. Add one tbsp of corn startch to the cup to significantly thicken it. Pour the cup’s contents back into the full mixture and stir. Repeat this process until soup has reached desired chowder consistency. (Make sure you do not directly add corn startch to the full mixture, as not only will this prevent clumping, but you can avoid accidentally adding too much!)

Season to taste with salt, ground black pepper, and oregano.

Cut pepproni slices into quarters and add as many as you would like into the chowder, saving a few whole slices to be used as garnish at the end.

Once bread bowls are done and cooled off, cut off the tops from the top down, making sure the hole is smaller than the base of the bread bowl so that soup can’t fall out. Remove any excess bread on the inside.

Pour chowder into the bread bowl using a ladle or large spoon until chowder is just overflowing.

Garnish chowder with as many pepperoni slices as you would like.