How to Dry Bread in the Oven for Stuffing

Stuffing for turkey or other poultry requires stale bread; the bread needs to be dry and slightly crumbly rather than moist and soft, as it is when it's fresh. The easiest way to obtain the right texture would be to simply leave the bread out overnight, but you can also dry the bread out in a low-temperature oven.

Things You'll Need

• Bread
• Oven
• Knife
• Baking sheet

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 250 degrees.

2. Cut the bread into 1/2-inch to 1-inch cubes.

3. Spread the bread cubes on the baking sheet in a single layer. If you have more cubes than can fit on one sheet, you'll need to do a second batch.

4. Bake the cubes in the oven until they are dry but have not browned, probably for about 20 minutes.

5. Remove the sheet from the oven and allow the cubes to cool before adding them to the stuffing.

Tips & Warnings

• You can use almost any kind of bread for stuffing. White, rye or wheat loaves work fine and are easy to cut into cubes.

• Don't raise the temperature of the oven to dry the cubes faster; you'll end up with toast.

References

• Two-way Chanterelle and Pear Bread Stuffing