Bread For Stuffing

[luceydiana]

Just wondering, with Thanksgiving coming soon, what kind of bread does everyone use to make stuffing??I'm looking forward to making a good meal with all of the tips and recipes from this site. I love my mom's stuffing recipe and want to use it with gluten free bread, but there are so many out there.

Thanks for any tips!!

[TriticusToxicum]

Good question. I tried making stuffing last year, but ended up making soggy, crumbly bread-mush

I made the bread at home, baked it so it was nice and hard, and then tried to make it from there as one normally. It smelled and tasted ok - that is if you could stand the texture! I was thinking maybe a pre-made bread would survive better. Ener-G comes to mind. That stuff is pretty much styrafoam, so it might hold up better?

I like potatoes better anyway...

[CarlaB]

I use that gross white rice bread that they sell at Kroger ... can't remember the name of it, but it's not refrigerated, comes in a clear bag with red writing on it (could it be EnerG?). I hate the bread normally, but it saves a lot of time for stuffing because it practically falls apart on its own so you don't have to spend so much time tearing it up!! Last Thanksgiving I made both this and regular bread (it was pre-diagnosis for me), and this one was more popular with everyone. Somehow the rice bread seems to do better in the turkey than wheat bread!

[Guest nini]

I've used Food For Life's rice bread mixed with Whole Foods Gluten Free Bakehouse corn bread

[jerseyangel]

Last year, I used Whole Foods Sandwich Bread. I cut it into cubes, spread it on a baking sheet, sprinkled heavily with poultry seasoning and baked it at 325 till the cubes were hard.

The stuffing came out really good! This year, I plan to make my own bread with potato starch (Roben Ryberg's recipe from "The Gluten Free Kitchen"), since the WF breads have milk, tapioca, and rice in them. Hope that comes out as good....

[GFBetsy]

I use the yeast bread recipe from www.eatingglutenfree.com. There's also a stuffing recipe on the site.

My suggestion to make the stuffing easier is to make a batch of bread and then spread it out (about 1/4 - 1/2 inch thick) in a 9 x 13 or 13 x 18 pan (depending on the size of the recipe - if it only makes one loaf, I'd use a 9 x 13). Bake it for less than 1/2 of the time you would bake a loaf. (Probably no more than 20 minutes.) Then (once it's out of the oven and cooled) use a pizza cutter to cut it into small cubes. (This makes it SO easy to make bread cubes!) Then loosen them from the bottom of the pan and then return the pan to the oven and bake them at 250 degrees for 20 or 30 more minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and let it sit on the counter until cool.

That's what I do, and it works very well.

I would also suggest that you try it a couple of times before Thanksgiving so you aren't worried about whether or not it will work.

Good Luck!

[TriticusToxicum]

I use the yeast bread recipe from www.eatingglutenfree.com. There's also a stuffing recipe on the site.

My suggestion to make the stuffing easier is to make a batch of bread and then spread it out (about 1/4 - 1/2 inch thick) in a 9 x 13 or 13 x 18 pan (depending on the size of the recipe - if it only makes one loaf, I'd use a 9 x 13). Bake it for less than 1/2 of the time you would bake a loaf. (Probably no more than 20 minutes.) Then (once it's out of the oven and cooled) use a pizza cutter to cut it into small cubes. (This makes it SO easy to make bread cubes!) Then loosen them from the bottom of the pan and then return the pan to the oven and bake them at 250 degrees for 20 or 30 more minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and let it sit on the counter until cool.

That's what I do, and it works very well.

I would also suggest that you try it a couple of times before Thanksgiving so you aren't worried about whether or not it will work.

Good Luck!

BRILLIANT!

[lonewolf]

I use Ener-G Brown Rice Loaf and homemade cornbread for my stuffing. I take the whole loaf of bread, cut it into cubes and bake it in the oven until it is really dry. I make a batch of homemade cornbread, cool it, cut it into cubes and dry it too.

Of course, I don't measure anything, but I put all the dry bread cubes in a big bowl, stir in a large chopped onion, raisins, a large chopped apple, salt, pepper, poultry seasoning, some olive oil and chicken broth until it is barely moist. Then I stuff it into the turkey. Last year I served this to everyone - no gluten allowed at my table - and everyone loved the stuffing.

I also made a batch of Gluten Free Pantry French Bread mix into "rolls" in muffin tins and served those hot. My brother in law kept asking me, "What are these made of? They're so good!"

[jerseyangel]

I also made a batch of Gluten Free Pantry French Bread mix into "rolls" in muffin tins and served those hot. My brother in law kept asking me, "What are these made of? They're so good!"

Those sound good! Thanks

[CarlaB]

I see many dry out their bread in the oven ... I tear it up and leave it in a big salad bowl on the counter all week to get stale. I guess either way gets the same result ...

[skoki-mom]

I use Kinnikinnick Italian White bread. It turns out very well.

[teebs in WV]

Last year, I made my own bread crumbs by drying out slices of 3 different kinds of gluten-free breads in the oven (I had 3 kinds because when first diagnosed I went crazy when I went to the health food store and bought one of everything). After they were dry, I cut them into small cubes. My mom tried to help me because I have always loved her stuffing (we really do dressing - we don't stuff). It turned out terribly! It was a soggy, greasy, mess. The bread did not absorb much of the liquid.

For those of you who have had success before, did you ever have this problem? My mom has always just used broth from the turkey, and sometimes supplemented with chicken broth if there wasn't enough form the turkey.

LuceyDiana - Thanks for asking this question! I am such a last-minute person I would have been in the middle of cooking Thanksgiving dinner and been in the same boat as last year!

[eKatherine]

I never realized until arriving at this board that there was anything like a gluten-free bread. So I have been cooking up sweet rice, and adding broth, drippings, sauteed onions and celery, and herbs and spices so it tastes just like stuffing. Nobody ever complained.

[teebs in WV]

eKatherine - I never even thought of using rice instead of bread! It sounds really, really good. Fortunately for me, rice was one of my fave foods pre-gluten-free.

I would still like to learn how to make it from bread crumbs. My mom's dressing was one of my fave foods at Thanksgiving dinner (second only to noodles)

Any advice will be appreciated.

Thanks,

Tracy

[Carriefaith]

I use Kinnikinnick Italian White Tapioca Bread.

[teebs in WV]

My last attempt, I used tapioca, white rice, and brown rice breads, and as I said before, it was soggy and greasy....the bread did not absorb the liquid. So, I wonder if it was my technique?

I would really appreciate it if someone would post a recipe that has been successful - but without cornbread - I never really liked cornbread stuffing.

Thanks,

Tracy

[Jestgar]

I just read through these and I was thinking I would try making a cornbread for stuffing with the poultry seasonings mixed in. Maybe use chicken stock for the liquid. You could try this with white bread as well, then you'd be less concerned about adding a lot of liquid for flavoring. You could add a bit in the morning and let the bread soak it up for a few hours.

Hmm, maybe I'll try this and bake it as a strata.

[GFBetsy]

Last year, I made my own bread crumbs by drying out slices of 3 different kinds of gluten-free breads in the oven (I had 3 kinds because when first diagnosed I went crazy when I went to the health food store and bought one of everything). After they were dry, I cut them into small cubes. My mom tried to help me because I have always loved her stuffing (we really do dressing - we don't stuff). It turned out terribly! It was a soggy, greasy, mess. The bread did not absorb much of the liquid.

For those of you who have had success before, did you ever have this problem? My mom has always just used broth from the turkey, and sometimes supplemented with chicken broth if there wasn't enough form the turkey.

LuceyDiana - Thanks for asking this question! I am such a last-minute person I would have been in the middle of cooking Thanksgiving dinner and been in the same boat as last year!

I've never had this problem . . .it might be that the bread I use is more absorptive than the bread you were using. My last post in this area will tell you where to find the recipe. Give it a try!

[eKatherine]

I suggest that you only add as much liquid as it takes to make the bread moist.