October is sunny and beautiful, but the days are drawing in. Cold dark winter looms. Turkey Stuffing Bread cushions the advance of time and serves as a true comfort food. Our Thanksgiving season starts when the first loaves of Turkey Stuffing Bread perfume the kitchen in October, and some years I bake it regularly until Christmas.
Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday and I like to make everything from scratch. I have been justifiably accused of carrying the made-from-scratch theme too far–my homemade crackers are no match for Ritz.
In my younger days, Pepperidge Farm® Herb Seasoned Stuffing was good enough for the turkey. It tasted all right and people seemed to like it. But about twenty years ago I found Brother Juniper’s Bread Book by Peter Reinhart, which includes a recipe for Wild Rice and Onion Bread. Peter Reinhart pointed out that the bread “makes a superb turkey dressing.”
After we made turkey stuffing with Wild Rice and Onion Bread for the first time, Pepperidge Farm and I parted company. You only need one loaf for the turkey stuffing, but it would be cruel to bake a single loaf and not have any deliciously aromatic bread for those who inhale its fragrance while it is baking. I recommend toasting slices of this bread and eating them with plenty of butter. Or you could melt some Cheddar cheese onto the bread. Yum.
I tried caramelizing the onions first, but the finished loaf did not seem much different from a loaf made with uncooked onion. It is worth seeking out Lundberg Wild Blend Rice which contains several kinds of rice as well as wild rice.
The Lundberg Wild Blend takes a good 45 minutes to cook on a stovetop. If you have a rice cooker, use the Brown Rice setting. It takes an hour or more. Or use an Instant Pot as we now do–see my directions here.
Makes two loaves.
4 ½ cups whole-wheat flour
2 ½ cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 small onion, diced (about ½ cup)
1/3 cup brown sugar
2 1/4 teaspoons (1 packet) instant or rapid-acting yeast
1 tablespoon salt
2 cups cooked wild rice blend (Lundberg “Wild Blend”)
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
1 1/2 cups water
Mixing and Kneading
In a bowl mix all of the dry ingredients including the yeast and cooked, cooled rice blend, then add the liquid ingredients, reserving a little water for later adjustments during kneading. Knead for 10 to 12 minutes.
Proofing
Return the dough to a clean bowl, cover with damp towel or plastic wrap. Put in a warm spot or leave it at room temperature. Depending on the temperature, allow between 45 minutes and 1 ½ hours for the dough to rise.
Forming Loaves
Because of the buttermilk and sugar, this bread is best when formed after one rise. Shape the dough into loaves. Cover and let the bread rise for between 45 minutes and 1 hour, or til the dough doubles in size.
Baking
Bake the loaves at 350°F. for about 55 minutes and thwack the loaves on the bottom for a hollow sound to tell if they are done.
Milk breads will brown much faster than breads made only with water and must be baked more slowly. Do not be fooled into thinking the loaf is finished just because the top is brown. Rely more on the thwack than the look. Bread needs to continue baking after the crust sets, so be sure it is really ready to come out. If the loaf is too doughy inside, it will not finish off while it is cooling down and the crust will begin to wrinkle like the furrows of a worried forehead. If you observe this, immediately put the loaf back into the hot oven for about 10 minutes.
Crumbing
After the stuffing loaf is thoroughly cool, maybe the next day, tear it into pieces and put it in a food processor fitted with the steel blade. Process for a few seconds until it turns into bread crumbs.
Put the bread crumbs in a plastic bag, seal, and keep in freezer until ready to add to the stuffing mixture for the turkey on Thanksgiving morning.
Bread machine quantities
3 cups whole-wheat flour
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 small onion, diced (about 1/4 cup)
3 tablespoons brown sugar
2 1/4 teaspoons (1 packet) instant or rapid-acting yeast
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 1/4 cups cooked wild rice blend (Lundberg “Wild Blend”)
1 cup buttermilk
2/3 cup water
Put all ingredients in the bread machine and use the Wheat setting. You could finish the bread by removing the dough after kneading and allowing it to rise in a bowl, then shaping it into loaves. It would make one regular-size loaf and one small loaf. Or just allow the bread machine to bake it.