Originally Posted by
farmquilter
You are using fresh bread and not dried to a bone cubes. I can not recall how my mother did the bread but might have been homemade white.
Every recipe out there says to use stale/dried bread, have always wondered why we could not use fresh.
I used a recipe similar to the above but put in a lot more spices, how many eggs do you use in yours.
I always used what we called "day old" bread. My mother did also. Her dressing was always so good. The reason to not use fresh bread is because the bread becomes like glue. The old bread gets moist, but holds its texture and shape to a degree as it reabsorbs the juice/broth. Bread needs to be dry, but you should still be able to put a thumbprint in the piece. If you use something like stovetop it is bone dry and needs more broth. I don't think bone dry (like stovetop) makes a good dressing -- with or without their spices. My mothers dressing was always simple but still crusty. We cooked the celery and onion till it was soft but still crunchy in butter and a bit of oil. Had the bread torn into pieces mixed with about two tablespoons of sage and 1 tablespoon of salt in a large bowl, poured the celery mixture over it and started adding the turkey broth till moist but still not wet. Mix it all ( I use my hands or you can use a large spoon ). Taste for more salt and sage ( I like quite a bit of sage ) and add more broth till it is slightly wet. Baked for 30 to 40 minutes @ 350 degrees. Started checking it for crusty-ness on top at 30 minutes. It is what I grew up with and what I still like best. It is what my mother grew up with and she was born in 1912. She never used eggs altho I have seen many recipes call for them.