The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

baking bread to make stuffing

nebetmiw's picture
nebetmiw

baking bread to make stuffing

I was wondering what receipe everyone used to make their own bread for stuffing?  I am using a basic white and this is the first time I am trying making my own stuffing instead of store bought.  Most times we just buy the bread and dry it out and cut it up.  This time I am going to bake it myself since I have all that I need too. 

So I am wondering what is your favorite bread receipe for making stuffing?

Judon's picture
Judon

Last week I baked an extra loaf of our daily bread, Pain au Levain from JH's Bread.  I had a time crunch this week and lost the window of opportunity for using the liquid levain and soaker for the Five Grain levain from the same book. I baked the loaves anyway - the taste was very good but bread was rather flat. It's on the counter drying now.

The combination wasn't planned but we think they'll work just fine.

Judy

subfuscpersona's picture
subfuscpersona

A basic white bread or a light whole grain bread (up to 20% whole grains) would be best. You can use either commercial yeast or a sourdough starter, however, if you chose a sourdough starter, you will not want to produce a noticeably sour taste in the loaves.

I chose a recipe that is baked in loaf tins (not a freeform loaf baked on a stone). You will want a soft crust for the stuffing. (Freeform loaves baked on a stone with high heat give a great crust but you don't want this for stuffing.)

Ideally, the loaves baked to be used in stuffing should be done several days prior to the time you want to make your stuffing. Bread for stuffing is transformed by the wonderful ingredients one adds to it, therefore the bread itself should be fairly dry to absorb the flavors of the other ingredients used.

If I'm making homemade bread to be used for stuffing, I usually make it several days (up to a week) in advance. When the loaves are cooled, I cube the loaves (sometimes removing any hard outer crust) and let it dry out in a paper bag left at room temperature on the counter.