The Year-Long Stuffing

A story on friendship and shared tradition, ending with a family stuffing recipe

Thank you for reading Acre. As an Art Director, gardener and cook, my content is a mix of seasonal recipes, kitchen notes, dinner party curations, and garden updates. I would love to have you join me on the Acre.

I pull the scale from the drawer, heft the largest bowls from the cabinet and set to measuring. Flour, water, salt and starter come together with each turn of the whisk. Sticky and craggy the dough clings together into a slowly defining mass. Dumped on a floured counter I knead, push and pull, stretch and fold until a smooth, elastic dough ball forms. Perfectly round and contained, nothing like the individual elements not long ago. The precious orb is placed in a proofing box to rise and fill its containment.

From there the soft dough is shaped into loaves, set again to rise and finally, finally, to bake. The cloche is lifted and a cloud of steam escapes, beneath the haze a risen loaf is there to greet me. A further bake results in a rich brown crust, pulled from the oven when just the right deep color. The bread crackles, a sound only fresh bread makes, its smell filling the house with a yeasty, comforting warmth. The bread has rested and it is time to enjoy.

Photographer Josh Grubbs, Stylist Toby Rae, and Food Stylist Lara Miklasevics

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Oh the joy of fresh bread, there is really nothing like it. I bake bread often, enjoying loaves for Saturday breakfasts or midweek soups. As the loaf dwindles down to the last two slices–two half moons no bigger than a lemon–I find myself tossing them a gallon bag in the freezer ‘for later.’ I have no real intent for them–maybe croutons, maybe breadcrumbs for meatballs. They often get tucked away in a corner of the freezer, forgotten.

One fall I was talking with my dear friend Leslie Thompson about our Thanksgiving plans. We shared the dishes we were planning on, and she shared her love of making stuffing from the bread she had kept all year. She found such joy in reviving the bread from her year–the scrap of a loaf her neighbor had baked her, the delicious brioche from a birthday dinner–all coming together in her Thanksgiving stuffing, a single dish to look back and be grateful for the year of plenty.

Leslie’s bread stash

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Leslie’s Thanksgiving stuffing completely reframed my way of thinking about leftover bread wedges. The remains became like bread Polaroids–each piece holding memories, images in my mind of the moment it was baked, gifted, enjoyed. The culmination of a single dish–the bread photo album if you will–a brimming pan of plenty, of abundance, of all the bread shared–the people, community, connections–to be grateful for.

Every year includes its ups and downs, its heartache, its laughter, its grief. To be able to see the good, the abundance in a bag of frozen bread scraps–it truly is seeing the good in the smallest of things.

The bread in this bag doesn’t have to be anything special. I have had a stray hotdog bun, the last of a sandwich loaf, the stale sesame studded hoagie stashed away. When combined with all the bread of the year, butter, herbs and aromatics, the simplest of bread, the mundane of our year is transformed into something so special.

(First image) Leslie in her kitchen on Thanksgiving (Second image) In my own kitchen on Thanksgiving

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Ever since this exchange, I mail Leslie a loaf of fresh baked sourdough for her birthday. I know the scraps will make it into her Thanksgiving stuffing, and it brings me so much joy that across the country. I get to be a part of the dishes she passes around the table.

A Classic Thanksgiving Stuffing

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Magazine unknown, a part of my mother-in-law Kris’s recipe collection.

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Now let’s talk about the stuffing recipe itself. Growing up, I didn’t eat stuffing. It wasn’t often served at my family gatherings, replaced instead with spaetzle (which is an excellent replacement I might add). I married by husband and his family’s Thanksgiving was the first time I remember a true and deeply delicious stuffing. My mother-in-law’s stuffing recipe is torn from a old sepia-toned magazine with a curious carrot soufflé recipe written beside it. It is preserved between the plastic sheets of a binder keeper, a treasured recipe and for good reason. It makes a richly flavored, mushroom studded, extra moist stuffing you cannot help but take seconds of. I have re-written this recipe out below with my own tweaks. I hope it brings you as much joy as it has brought me.

Old-Fashioned Bread Stuffing

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The recipe notes stuffing this into a 10-to-12 lb. turkey - I have never done this, and prefer to bake stuffing in a 9”x13” pan.

Ingredients

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1/2 stick of butter

1 large onion, chopped (about 2c.)

1 pound fresh mushrooms, diced

2 large celery stalks, diced (about 1 c.)

8 c. bread–I prefer a mix of sourdough, and classic french /demi loaf–torn or cut into bite sized pieces, gently packed

1 small bunch of parsley, chopped (about 1/4c.)

1/2 tsp. Diamond crystal salt

1/2 tsp. dried basil

1 tsp. poultry seasoning

1 tsp. garlic powder

1/4 tsp. fresh ground black pepper

1 to 2 c. warm turkey stock

1 egg

Directions

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1. Preheat oven to 375. Grease a 9”x13” pan well with butter.

2. In a large skillet, melt the butter over medium heat. Add onions, mushrooms and celery. Season with salt and pepper to taste and saute until just tender, about 4 to 5 minutes. Set aside.

3. Add torn or cubed bread to a large bowl. Add the vegetable mixture, parsley, salt, basil, poultry seasoning, garlic powder and black pepper. Toss to mix lightly.

4. Add 1c. of warm stock and fold this gently into the mixture. It is important for the stock to be warm as it will absorb into the bread better. You are looking for every piece of bread to be well saturated with stock. Continue adding stock until everything is evenly moist. Taste your stuffing and adjust the seasonings to your taste.

5. In a small measuring cup, beat the egg well. Pour this over your stuffing and fold in gently to combine.

6. Bake for 30-35 minutes until browned on top, and internal temperature reaches 165 degrees.

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