Craftily Me: My Top Secret Beer Bread Stuffing

About 6 Thanksgiving's ago I decided to experiment with stuffing. I had only made Stove Top before this, so I did some research and realized that it really would not be that difficult to make. I came up with this recipe after comparing several different recipes, one of which came from Gourmet magazine, and adapted it to my own liking. Here is my take on stuffing. Yes there are several steps involved, but it is so worth it.

Beer Bread Stuffing

Beer Bread

Ingredients:
3 cups self rising flour
1/2 cup sugar
12oz beer (really anything you have will work, but I prefer a red or brown ale for its flavor)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a large bowl, mix the flour and sugar until combined. Stir in the beer, and mix until all the flour has been absorbed. Your batter will be very sticky. Transfer this to a well greased loaf pan and bake for 55-60 minutes or until bread is golden brown, and there is a nice hard crust on top.

Sticky, sticky batter

Before baking

Perfectly baked bread!

For the Stuffing

Ingredients:
1 loaf beer bread
2 cups onion, chopped
1 1/2 cups celery, chopped
2 golden delicious apples, peeled and chopped
1 stick of butter
1 tsp rubbed sage
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp salt + more to taste
1/2 tsp pepper + more to taste
dash of nutmeg
2 cups chicken broth

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cut the bread into small cubes, toast for 8-10 minutes on a baking sheet in oven until golden brown. Transfer bread cubes to a large mixing bowl add sage, thyme, 1 tsp salt, and 1/2 tsp pepper. Adjust oven temperature to 325 degree. In the meantime, saute the onion and celery in a large pan in 6 tbsp of butter over med-high heat for about 6 minutes, or until soft. Season with salt and pepper. In a separate pan, saute the apples in 2 tbsp butter. Season with a dash of nutmeg and cook over med-high heath until soft, about 5 minutes.

Transfer the apples, celery and onion to the bowl with the breadcrumbs, add chicken broth and stir until well combined. Transfer to a 9x13 baking pan and bake for 25-30 or until golden brown on top.