Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Stuffing Bread

I've thought about making a stuffing-flavored bread for years, but it wasn't until recently that I actually got around to doing it. My goal for this bread was for it to have three different uses.

First, it could be the base for a stuffing. Second, because it tastes like Thanksgiving, it would make a great sandwich bread for the day-after turkey sandwiches. And last, the bread would make great croutons for salads.

Of course, if you like to make your stuffing from croutons (I usually start with bread that's a day or two old), you can make this bread well in advance and make croutons right away. If they're completely dry they'll last for a long time.

When I make stuffing, I tend to go a little overboard with sage, but I took a lighter hand with this bread. The poultry seasoning definitely flavored the bread, but it didn't overwhelm it. If you like a stronger flavored stuffing than this bread provides, add your own seasonings to taste when you're making the stuffing.

For this loaf, I used a chive-infused olive oil for a little more of a flavor boost, but it's not necessary. Regular olive oil would be fine.

Although I just said I like my stuffing with more herbs, I made a test batch of very basic stuffing using this bread and it came out quite flavorful. Taste it and see what you think. When I use this for Thanksgiving, I'll have celery and maybe some giblets, and I'll be moistening it with flavorful stock, so it probably won't require any more herbs.

Stuffing Bread

1 cup warm water
2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
1 tablespoon honey
3 cups bread flour
1 egg
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon poultry seasoning
1 tablespoon chive-infused olive oil (optional)


Mix the water, yeast and honey in the bowl of your food processor, and set aside until foamy, about 10 minutes.

Add the bread flour and egg, and knead until the dough is smooth and elastic. Add the salt, poultry seasoning and olive oil, and continue kneading until the dough is smooth, silky, and elastic.

Form the dough into a ball, drizzle with olive oil, and put it back into the bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and set aside to rise until doubled, about an hour.

Sprinkle some cornmeal in the bottom of a 9x5 loaf pan, and preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Flour your work surface lightly and turn the dough out. Form it into a log about 8 inches long and place it into the prepared pan, seam-side down. Cover the pan with plastic wrap and set aside until doubled, about 30 minutes.

Slash the loaf as desired, and bake at 350 degrees for about 40 minutes, until browned. Let the loaf cool in the pan for about 5 minutes, then remove it from the pan and let it cool completely on a rack.

This was published at Serious Eats and has been submitted to Yeastspotting.
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1 comment:

hobby baker Kelly said...

Yum! I just made stuffing bread this week too and it makes the most fabulous croutons. We used it last year for stuffing. The recipe I use calls for some diced onion as well. It smells just divine while kneading doesn't it?

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