Want To Go All Out With Your Holiday Stuffing? Use Potato Bread

When people make classic homemade stuffing, a few standard ingredients are often used in the dish. Typically, diced vegetables and dried cubes of bread are soaked in broth and baked. Some people may like to add sausage for extra protein or buy a bag of store-bought croutons for faster and easier prep.

However, if you prefer to dice up bread for homemade stuffing, the type of bread you use can have an impact on the finished product. The taste of sourdough bread may overpower the flavor of the other ingredients. A thicker, crusty baguette may have difficulty absorbing the flavors of seasoning or broth. Enter potato bread, which we think may be the perfect choice for your next batch of stuffing.

While you may be able to get your fill of potatoes from the side of mashed potatoes often present at Thanksgiving, potato bread can make stuffing extra creamy, fluffy, and filling. The bread adds a boost of potato flavor, which meshes well with the other vegetables in the mixture. All you need to do is swap it for the standard bread in the dish — it's that easy. 

If you want to try potato bread in your next batch of stuffing, it's as easy as buying a loaf of potato sandwich bread from the grocery store and then slicing the pieces into smaller squares. However, if you prefer to bake your own, you'll want to bake potato buns or a loaf beforehand.

After dicing up your potato bread, allow it to dry out for a few days before using it to make your stuffing. If you're preparing everything the day of your big meal, your bread cubes can be spread out on a baking tray and cooked in the oven first. Allow the oven's heat to dry the bread until it's crispy but not burnt. This usually takes around 40 minutes at 275 degrees Fahrenheit.

Once the small pieces of bread are dry enough, add them alongside your desired vegetables and broth to create the stuffing. Because the bread is dry, it will absorb the flavors of the other ingredients while the dish is baking in the oven. Even though the cubes are dry first, the inherently soft texture of potato bread adds an extra creamy texture to every bite. However, if you're craving even more potato flavor, try mixing in some extras.

Onions and celery may be the most popular veggies added to stuffing, but cubed potatoes are another vegetable that complements this dish. Since potato bread already lends a mild potato flavor to homemade stuffing, chopping up some fresh potatoes will double down on this savory note and add texture. Dice them up and add them to the dish, then cook the stuffing and serve.

To take the dish one step further, you could combine two sides and add buttery mashed potatoes directly into the stuffing. Prepare your recipe as usual (with or without potato bread), adding the croutons or dried bread cubes, broth, and diced vegetables together. However, before baking, pour the mixture into a pot of mashed potatoes, then fold all the ingredients together.

Thanksgiving stuffing is a classic for a reason — but there's no reason why you can't elevate it with a few simple touches that make all the difference. Potato bread might be the secret ingredient you've been looking for; don't be shy to experiment with other vegetables and seasonings to take it to the next level.