herb baked stuffing

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Remember yesterday, when I mentioned bottling up the scent of Thanksgiving coming from my kitchen, into a candle?

After spending half the day on this stuffing recipe, my hands smell like Thanksgiving, my face smells like Thanksgiving, the dogs smell like Thanksgiving.

I think I’ll pass on the candle.

Tomorrow I’m planning to make cranberry sauce, because I if I cook one more Thanksgiving-smelling recipe in a row, next Thursday is going to lose it’s luster.

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Stuffing is my favorite dish on Thanksgiving.

Even the kind out of the bag is delicious, and I can never get enough.

I’m not a fruit-in-my-stuffing kind of girl, nor do I like the addition of nuts.  My favorite is a bready, butter-soaked, herb stuffing.

When trying to think of how to create a gluten free version, I knew one thing.  Frozen gluten free bread was not going to be the base.  It’s expensive and really, not all that good.  My idea was to make an herb quick bread, cube the bread, add the traditional mix ins, bake, and feast.

The first trial, as you can see above + below, was not the right texture.  The bread was crumbly and not dense enough.  It turned into a pile of mushy crumbs after the second bake.

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Adjustments were made, and trials 2 + 3 went in the oven.  One being a vegan version, photographed below.

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While those were in the oven a 4th attempt was also in the works, just in case.

The second bread turned out much less crumbly with a thicker texture, thanks to the addition of 1 more egg.  The loaf was cooled, then gently cut into cubes, and baked until brown.

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The kitchen was in rare form today.  One of the messiest days in quite some time.  Maybe since my marathon of zucchini bread trials.  But I knew the trouble would be worth it, once that spoonful of stuffing was lodged into my mouth!

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No pile of crumbs to be found and extremely similar in taste to the real thing.  The only real difference is the texture of bread, since it’s not loaf-style bread.  If you like cornbread stuffing, you will definitely enjoy this.

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With about 74 taste tests this afternoon, I couldn’t eat this again for dinner.  Instead, I made 3 eggs, a smoothie, and broccoli covered in herbs + ghee.

Officially obsessed with ghee on day 2.

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Herb Baked Stuffing [serves ~6 as a side dish]

Herb Bread

  • 1 1/2c oat flour [certified GF if needed]
  • 1/2c raw buckwheat flour
  • 1c + 2T unsweetened almond milk
  • 2 eggs
  • 1T ground flax meal
  • 3T sunflower oil
  • 2T honey
  • 1t baking powder
  • 1/2t baking soda
  • 1/2t salt
  • 3/4t garlic powder
  • 2t sage
  • 1.5t parsley
  • 1.5t thyme
  • 1t marjoram

Stuffing Mixture

  • 1c onion, diced
  • 1c celery, diced
  • 1/2c carrot, diced
  • 1/4t salt
  • 1t fresh thyme, chopped
  • 1/2T fresh sage, chopped
  • 1/4t black pepper
  • 1.5T ghee

Topping

  • 1.5T ghee, melted
  • 3/4c veggie broth
  • 2 eggs
  1. Preheat your oven to 350*
  2. Grease or line a 9x9 pan with parchment paper.
  3. In a bowl, combine all of the dry ingredients for the herb bread, and stir together.
  4. In another bowl, combine all of the wet ingredients, for the herb bread and whisk together.
  5. Pour the wet into the dry and stir until just combined.  Be careful not to over stir.
  6. Pour into the pan and smooth out.
  7. Bake for about 30min, until a toothpick comes out clean.  The top will be golden brown + cracked.
  8. Let cool completely and then carefully slice into 1” bread cubes.
  9. Turn your oven to 400* and place the cubes in a single layer on a baking sheet.
  10. Bake for about 15-20min, turning once, until golden brown with lightly crisped edges.
  11. While browning, chop the stuffing mixture vegetables and heat the ghee in a large pan over medium heat.
  12. Cook veggies, salt + pepper for about 8-10min, stirring frequently.  In the last 2min, stir in the fresh sage + thyme.
  13. Grease a 9x9 [or similar size] baking dish, deep dish pie pan, casserole dish, etc. and add the browned bread cubes.
  14. Set your oven back to 350*
  15. Evenly disperse the sautéed veggies over top of the bread cubes.
  16. Whisk together the “topping” ingredients [making sure the butter is not hot or it will cook the egg] and pour over top of the bread cubes.  If you have a measuring cup with a spout, that works well, or drizzle with a spoon.
  17. Bake, covered for 25min.
  18. Bake, uncovered at 400* for another 5+ minutes, until the top is crisp, remove from the oven + serve.

Substitutions/Comments: Sub 2T butter instead of ghee, where 1.5T ghee is called for.  Buckwheat flour can be ground in a blender or spice grinder from raw buckwheat groats [not Kasha].  Oat flour can be ground from oat groats, steel cut oats, or rolled oats into a fine flour.

For the vegan version:  Instead of 2 eggs + 1T flax, use 3T ground flax instead.  Also increase the milk to 1 1/4c.  Instead of honey use brown rice syrup or maple syrup.  Bake time may increase by 3-5min.  Done when a toothpick comes out clean.  Sub 2T Earth Balance instead of 1.5T ghee, when called for.  For the topping mixture, use 1c veggie broth + 2T Earth Balance and leave the eggs out.  The stuffing will taste the same without the eggs, but just won’t gel together.

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With having to bake the bread first, this recipe is a bit time intensive.

But the extra effort is worth it for Thanksgiving.  Or for tomorrow.  Just not tomorrow in my kitchen.

But maybe Saturday?

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And a little behind the scenes action for you.  I was catching the light from the window to my left and using a large piece of matte board to bounce the light back onto the food.  Keeping the shutter speed around .5 seconds, and using my tripod, allowed me to shoot without much light coming in.

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The plate of bread you see on the right, was trial #4.  Recipe coming soon!

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Cannot wait to change things up and make a fruity cranberry sauce tomorrow!

See you again soon.

Ashley