Note about the bread cubes! You have options here. Stale or toasty bread works best. The first option is that you can cut 1 ½ pounds of bread into cubes, place it in a large baking dish, loosely tent with foil and let it sit overnight. You can also cut the cubes and put them in oven, toasting them at 350 degrees F until they are like croutons, about 15 minutes or so. Finally, you can buy the toasted bread cubes in bags from the store.
You can use a mixture of stale and fresh bread. Also, different kinds of bread (usually two), like a sourdough and italian, and mix the cubes. It provides great texture.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Brush a 9x13 baking dish with melted butter, olive oil or spray with nonstick spray. Place the bread in a large mixing bowl (this may be easier for you to stir!) or the baking dish that you will bake it in. You can also separate this into two baking dishes if it's easier. Last year we used 9x13 and 7x11 glass baking dishes.
Heat the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Once melted, stir in the onion, celery and garlic with a big pinch of salt and pepper - at least ½ to 1 teaspoon each. Cook until the onions and celery soften, about 8 to 10 minutes. Stir in the sage, parsley and rosemary. Cook for another minute. Stir in 1 cup of stock.
Pour the onion celery mixture over the bread crumbs and toss well to coat.
In a small bowl or measuring cup, whisk together the remaining stock and 2 eggs. Depending on how moist the bread is, use between ½ to 1 ½ cups of stock. The first year we did 1½ and the bread was too wet. The second year we did ¾ and it was a little dry. I would try 1 cup next year (2026).
Pour that mixture into the bread cubes and stir and fold the bread cubes until thoroughly combined. Bake the stuffing for 45 to 50 minutes, until the internal temperature registers 160 degrees F. If the stuffing is getting too browned, you can tent it with foil.
You can make this the day ahead and reheat it. Just remove the pan from fridge for 60 minutes before reheating it.
