Thanksgiving brings with it countless arguments and opinions about one of the best methods to organize every dish. Turkey: to roast, deep-fry, or smoke? Green bean casserole: beautiful or abomination? Pie: pumpkin or pecan? However one factor that’s completely not up for debate is whether or not to dry out your bread earlier than turning it into stuffing. You need to. It’s nonnegotiable, except you need your stuffing to be a homogenous mush, I suppose, however at that time, you may as properly throw some poultry seasoning right into a bowl of Cream of Wheat and name it a day.
Drying bread for stuffing is a should, and, opposite to common perception, leaving it to air-dry at room temperature isn’t truly a good way to go. As defined in this article from Cook dinner’s Illustrated, bread that’s merely stale nonetheless has pockets of moisture in it, which prevents the bread from totally absorbing new, flavorful liquid. So the easiest way to dry out your bread for stuffing is within the oven—however in case you have a gadget-heavy kitchen, you may need just a few different choices too.
Dry, my pretties, dry (within the oven)!
The oven is essentially the most dependable, tried-and-true strategy to put together any bread for stuffing. Begin by slicing the bread of your alternative into half-inch cubes. Unfold the cubed bread on high of two cooling racks set in two half-sheet pans. Warmth your oven to the lowest setting (usually 150°–200°F) and bake for 45 minutes to an hour, or till utterly dry. In case your oven solely goes all the way down to, say, 250°, begin by baking for half-hour, then verify the dryness of a dice or two. It’s okay if the bread will get barely toasted—that caramelization is simply going so as to add a bit extra toasty taste to your stuffing.
This methodology is straightforward peasy, nevertheless it does imply you lose your oven for as much as an hour, which could not be handy in case you’re making your stuffing proper earlier than turkey time. Right here’s some excellent news: You may completely dry your bread for stuffing within the oven just a few days forward—simply retailer the cubed bread in an hermetic container at room temperature till prepared to make use of.
Quick on time? Put your devices to work.
Now, if it’s Thanksgiving Day, and the oven is in use, however you occur to have both an air fryer (or different countertop convection oven) or food dehydrator, you’re in luck. All of those are positive choices for drying your bread for stuffing, although you’ll have to do it in batches relying on the scale of your air fryer. If utilizing a meals dehydrator, unfold the cubed bread evenly over as most of the racks as wanted, set to 150° and let dry for an hour.
As a result of air fryers use convection heating, you will get away with utilizing the next warmth setting for significantly much less time than the oven and meals dehydrator strategies. So, even when you must do that in two or three batches, it’ll nonetheless be quicker than the oven methodology, nevertheless it is a little more hands-on. Fill your air-fryer basket to the max fill line (if your whole bread suits, nice!), set the machine to 300°, and air-fry for 5 minutes. Pull out the basket, toss the cubed bread to redistribute (and verify dryness), after which air-fry for a further three to 5 minutes or till utterly dry.
Any of those strategies will maintain your stuffing from turning into a mushy mess, whether or not you choose to make use of your oven, or one of many above devices. Select whichever works in your agenda, kitchen measurement, and emotional bandwidth. In fact, there may be completely zero disgrace in serving Stove Top—it’s nostalgic, tasty (you heard me), and far nicer than sloppy, moist stuffing. Please, Aunt Joan. I’m begging you—something’s higher than your stuffing.
