All kinds of online tutorials or instructions on how to make dressing/stuffing from fresh bread. And also many recipes for what kinds and how much seasoning and other ingredients to include.

Type of bread really doesn't matter and you can alter the seasonings and other ingredients to your taste.

I cut it into small pieces - about a half inch or smaller with a good bread knife so it doesn't get crushed. Then I put it in the oven to dry and toast a bit. If it is already dry, it may not need that - you just want it to be dry enough to soak up liquid from the other dressing ingredients (and from the turkey if you cook it as stuffing inside the bird). I don't season the bread. The seasonings are added along with the other dressing ingredients. Traditional would be sage or poultry seasoning. I usually put in some pepper. Also some sautéed aromatics such as onion and garlic, maybe sauté some celery and carrot too.

I like to add some dried fruit (usually apricots) and some walnuts to the dressing.

Over the years, I have switched to making dressing from scratch to starting out with Mrs. Cubbison's bread dressing in a box and doctoring it up. I like lots of butter, onion, celery, and sage. But I also use poultry seasoning, salt, and chicken broth. Over the years, I have tried adding nuts or chestnuts or even wine. But these days I keep it simple.

Ok, so I posted this thred literally 4 times and everytime I referenced Mrs. C the filters pulled the post!! Why did SheilaJoyce get to post her name!!!

I've switched from homemade bread cubes to Arrowhead Mills organic stuffing mix - it's got great flavor and I don't ever have enough leftover bread hanging around like I used to, now that kids are long gone.

I do sometimes bake a batch of old fashioned cornbread and break it up to dry out in the oven and blend with the stuffing mix.

1 tip I can add is use LOTS of butter and more stock/broth than most recipes call for. Dry stuffing sucks. I add stock a bit at a time and give it time to soak in before adding more. I also lavishly butter the baking dish and dot with more butter. Thanksgiving is not the time for restraint.

And I like to add chestnuts or pecans too.

Interesting I never heard of Mrs. C. Here the only thing is store brand or Pepperidge farm. I like a mix of breads. I'm going to have to see if I can mail order Arrowhead Mills, I like a lot of their products. Like Carol, I don't have the excess bread around like I used to. Hubs and I eat it, but not fast so we don't keep a lot on hand. I save stale pieces, it but don't end up with a lot.

I think it is funny that the trend seems to be to use the pre-made ones. I thought I was cheating!

Wow. Nuts trying to get a basic simple classic stuffing/dressing doodling. (🙄googling).

I have homemade breads and bits I freeze and save just for thanksgiving. DH made two sourdough boules yesterday...I have a couple brioche buns and will make cornbread next weekend. I use all three but not at all necessary.

It is just the two of us so I'll be scaling way back in quantity. A little leftover is fine since this is just made once/twice a year.

I so agree with more butter/stock. My mothers was always bone dry. Needed lots of gravy.

Finally found the most basic. From FoodNetwork.

1. Melt 1 stick butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add 2 cups each diced onions and celery and 1 tablespoon each minced sage and thyme; add salt and pepper and cook 5 minutes. Add 3 cups turkey or chicken broth and bring to a simmer. Beat 2 eggs with 1/4 cup chopped parsley in a large bowl; add 16 cups cubed stale white bread, then pour in the vegetable-broth mixture and toss. Transfer to a buttered baking dish and dot with butter. Cover and bake 30 minutes at 375 degrees F; uncover and bake until golden, 30 more minutes. (Or stuff in your turkey and bake.) Link, HERE

3. Easy to cut it down by 1/2 or more.

I dry my slices, then cut into cubes because this was the way my mother did -- I usually use white bread and make it the day before. I don't stuff the turkey with it, but just before I put it in the oven, I take some of the "juice" from the turkey and pour over the pan of dressing before I bake. I don't salute my vegetable but put them in raw (onions and celery -- leaves and all) and I use fresh sage. People seem to like my dressing.

Very simple. Make dressing very same as my great grandmother. Starts with a “pone “ of cornbread. Ingredients about the same as sleevendog above. Difference of no egg, add two stale biscuit and small amount of milk. Throughout the generations only one person brought all the dressing. So after mother passed it become my turn, we love this simple and very moist dressing. I prefer no gravy on my serving. More I think about it, will make a pone of cornbread for dressing with dinner tomorrow night.

We started hosting big Thanksgivings in the early 90's. We had a big loft in the city and had the room. I was making two stuffing/dressings back then. Classic and vegetarian. The only FoodandWine magazines I saved when we moved were the few holiday issues....dog eared and post-it notes and even a shopping list tucked in the pages. Still take them out every year.

Not a problem to make two. We just prepped and split the prep ahead veg in zip-locks. Then came the gluten free folk. Still no problem but the traditionalist loved the wild rice vegetarians/gluten-free. So we made three, 😂 but not a problem. (the largest table setting was 25)

Then we started combing the the classic with the vegetarian....but no family or guests this year so the combo so many love will be for us. (just way smaller)...and only the one, not two/three.

I have a holiday photo file. This was last years favorite. Mine on the bottom...

With the classic/basic, any family favorites can be add-ins. Pecans, apple diced, ...we add a diced seared merguez sausage link.

Thanks all. We shall see if I make the effort to make from scratch.

When I was younger I liked very basic stuffing but over time, I have developed my personal favorite whichis both meatier and more veggie loaded.

Of course I do the onions and celery but also add some diced leeks and some sliced fresh mushrooms. I season with sage and poultry seasoning. I also include spicy italian sausage. Frankly, it is almost a meal in itself.

I plant to do this again, either with my own special mix of dried bread or with storebought mix.

Mmm - almost forgot about adding chopped apples. I like to add some chopped cranberries too.

For my family I use Pepperidge farm. One red bag and one blue bag, 3 pounds of sausage, celery and onions and chicken stock. (This makes a lot as we are a lot)

For my mom I scoop some of this to the side and add lightly sautéed granny Smith apples and dried cranberries.

For SO I make chicken dressing with cornbread and white bread and crackers,celery,onion,shredded chicken, chicken stock,eggs and seasonings.

I make mine with cornbread or grits in addition to bread cubes, and I use Cajun seasoning plus sage. I always add celery, onion, and a Habanero chili but never carrots and never anything sweet, and I also never add nuts. People can add cranberry sauce to it if they want it sweet - I do not. I do occasionally add Italian turkey sausage to it. I also always use homemade chicken stock plus a couple of eggs.

I always like to make enough to have leftovers.

I usually start with Pepperidge Farms mix and add whatever bread I have on hand, lots of onion sauteed in lots of butter and celery and lots of fresh parsley, sage and thyme....i skip the rosemary unless I am using it to stuff a crown roast of pork. And I want chicken broth and an egg or 2....no apples nor dried fruit nor nuts. ( another thing I don't like about some family members thanksgiving recipes)
And I want the dressing that won't be in the bird more moist than what I put into the bird.

I like fresh herbs best but don't always have them.
The week before a holiday our supermarket bakery often sells bags of dry bread cubes.....but I am suspicious because I think the bread does matter....it needs to be a firm bread that doesn't go to mush when moistened.

I don't recall ever making it from scratch - almost aways Pepperidge Farm or a local Artisan bakery. But the last time I bought the artisan stuff it had turned rancid (not sure what ingredient caused that). For many years, I've been a guest for holidays and never been responsible for stuffing, so I eat whatever they prepare, but I prefer the crumb kind over cubes and would love it if there was nothing sweet like apples or cranberries in it. I'll be cooking for myself this year so probably will pick up a bag of Pepperidge Farm.

I use this every year, from Marilyn on the CF from 2007 - feeds a lot!!

Bread and Sausage Stuffing (Marilyn)

2 pounds white bread
2# pork sausage
6 stalks celery; chopped
2 onions; chopped
1 cup butter
2 teaspoons dried sage
1 teaspoon dried thyme
salt and pepper to taste
2 cloves garlic; minced
1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
4 eggs
6 cups chicken stock

Cut bread into cubes and lay out to dry. In a large skillet, cook sausage
until well browned; place in a large mixing bowl along with drippings. Cook
onions and celery in butter until tender but not brown. Add all ingredients
to the large bowl along with the sausage. Stir together well and pour into a
greased 9X13X2-inch baking dish and bake at 350° for 30 to 45 minutes until
puffed and golden but not too dry.

---------------

Pepperidge Farm dressing is very good, but I doctor it too. Can't find it in our stores here in recent years, so it's Mrs. Cubbison's for us. The Pepperidge Farm white bread is very similar to my mother's bread she baked for us. She would save the stale slices, dry them out in the oven and use them as the bread in her dressing. I have dried out a loaf of Pepperidge Farm white bread to do the same. But I can get just as good results starting with a dry bread mix for dressing that I doctor up with lots of butter, celery, onion, sage and add poultry seasoning and Swanson canned undiluted chicken broth.

Marilyn's dressing is all I have ever made since I first read it. Its the best! It tastes the most like my mothers - who had no recipe she just threw it together.

For what it’s worth, one of our favorites is Sunset Magazine’s old recipe for sourdough artichoke stuffing. Sourdough, mushrooms, artichoke hearts...adds a second choice to the more traditional.

I like to use the dried bread that our local stores sell. A time saver! I also love these bags for the stuffing inside the bird. It all comes out, nothing left in the cavity. However, I recommended them to a friend and her stuffing apparently stuck. I wonder if I use more butter in my stuffing.

The ones I use are Harding

The reason I like to stuff the turkey is so the turkey juices flavor the stuffing. Are the bags you use cloth?

Yes, like cheesecloth only sewn into a bag. Its stretchy though so you can put a lot in it.. I also prefer the flavour of the stuffing in the bird.

My favorite is cornbread dressing, but bread dressing can be good, too.

I have one rule when choosing bread to become dressing. That rule is that it can't be at all sweet in any way. That is, if the old fashioned sage and onion dressing is the objective.

Sure, you could shake it up and make a dressing that incorporates some sweet things like fruit and nuts and sweet spices and a bread with a bit of sweetness to it if you so desired.

But, for the savory version that seems to be the most popular, you need a totally non sweet bread with a good strong texture and you need to let it become "day old" before you cut it up.

Even with my cornbread dressing, I add a bit of bread to the mix. But I don't use any sweet in the cornbread and I will use a home made bread, too. If I had to buy bread for dressing, I would do with something like a loaf of sourdough or a baguette. No way is the average sliced sandwich bread good for dressing. Most of it is too moist, too finely crumbed, too sweet, and has a structure that will just collapse into a wet mush, or worse.

If you are making sage dressing, be aware that dried sage does not retain it's essence very long.

I have found that even after a year and being kept in the freezer that it takes a lot more of the dried sage the following year to get the same degree of flavor that it gave the year before.

I have bought it both from an inexpensive venue and paid a premium for it and have not found there to be much difference in how it keeps.

So after all of this, the Mrs. C version that I wanted to begin with popped up at my store!! So much as I would be willing to try making from scratch, I think I will go boxed. I feel better now having read how many of you fabulous cooks use the boxed one.

Thank you all for the input. I have really enjoyed hearing about everyone's various recipes and methods.

Oh good. Tradition is all about comfort. So needed this holiday. Glad you found what you are familiar with. My only advice is if you see it buy it. Shortages are on the rise again.

We were content if the holidays did not provide what we have had in the past...rack of lamb in the freezer, but just ordered a small heritage turkey. (e-mails that they are ready for pre-order)

I have the entire meal as traditional as we have done for years. Cranberries in the freezer from the last delivery. All side veg I can order with the turkey delivery.

Have to disagree about sage. One of the top ten spices that retains its vitality for a long time. Fresh frozen, dried, even ground. I grow my own and freeze whole bunches, and dehydrate. Picked late summer fresh on a dry day and freeze by food saver...lasts a few years. I would never purchase from a co-op big vat of any spice. A good spice house will process as soon as possible and seal the container.

Oh I definitely bought more than I needed!

And the good news is that I just freed up precious freezer space (tossing the bread I was saving)!

I also agree that I have found dried sage to hold well. But I do prefer fresh and wish I hadn't had to pull out my plants this past weekend!

speaking of shortages, if you picked up a new hobby during the shutdown, restock your supplies now ...