I am drying a loaf of sourdough on my counter. There is a lot of it, so I will need to store some of the dried cubes. My question is, how do I store it and how will I know if it is no longer good to cook with? Also, is it better to just put it in the oven to dry it rather than on the counter?
4 Answers
There are two types of bread for stuffing. If you're aiming for the dry type, a very low oven would be better.
If you have room in your freezer, that would be a good place to store the bread you're planning to use later to make stuffing.
I dry cut cubes, spread in a single layer, in a low (170°F 77°C) oven for 10 mins, then let the oven cool down before removing the bread. The bread will tell when it's gone off by developing a rancid oil smell. That'll take months to a year or more.
answered Oct 4, 2016 at 16:05
Cube it, bake at 200°F for 2 hrs, cool then store in ziplock . Make sure it's really dry first. Depends on initial moisture content of bread.
I just left a loaf of sourdough from T. joe's, chopped into big-ish cubes, overnight on the counter in one layer on a pan. They were dried the next morning and everyone loved the stuffing I made with it, so that's the way to go. Not really complicated. As long as your bread is dry/stale, your stuffing won't be too mushy, especially if you toast off the top
-
Stale is not the same as dry. Drying in an oven as the other answers suggest is much preferable. Stale bread often isn't dry at all.– CatijaDec 28, 2017 at 3:09
-
You're wrong. The word "stale" is just setting off alarm bells in your head and you are being fussy. The purpose of drying the bread before making stuffing is to take out the moisture so that when it is combined with stock & egg yolks before being baked, the final consistency won't be too mushy. "Stale bread often isn't dry at all" - this is just incorrect. Stale bread hardens exactly for that reason. You can look for recipes on stuffing, many people will stand by letting the bread dry overnight, calling it "stale" or not is semantics.– MikhailDec 28, 2017 at 5:03
-
Furthermore, stale bread can easily be revitalized as has been done with many ancient and rustic peasant recipes - tomato and bread soup/garlic and bread soup (Italy), Romesco sauce (Spain) - my point being, during the holidays, your oven should have better things to be doing than drying bread slowly on low heat. Now if you're talking about actually toasting the bread, the flavor would absolutely be different, probably in a good way, but I haven't tried making stuffing with toasted bread– MikhailDec 28, 2017 at 5:06
-