Stuffing is my favorite Thanksgiving food. I love stuffing so much that I would eat a whole plate of it at Thanksgiving dinner if I could. So why not try to make a stuffing flavored sourdough? That’s basically what stuffing is anyway.
During my last trip to Trader Joe’s, I was very excited to find their new seasoning called Everything but the Leftovers. Trader Joe’s Everything but the Bagel seasoning was a huge hit and wildly popular, so I am sure Everything but the Leftovers will be another fantastic addition to our pantry. Everything but the Leftovers tastes just like stuffing! It contains a variety of spices and herbs (salt, pepper, onion, turmeric, garlic, celery, sage, rosemary, thyme, garlic, parsley and more).
For this stuffing flavored sourdough loaf, I followed my Basic Sourdough Recipe but adjusted the amount of salt. The Everything but the Leftovers seasoning contains about one third salt (by weight) according to the nutrition label. In order to account for this, I decreased the amount of regular sea salt that I usually add to my loaves. The result is a savory loaf, with a subtle stuffing flavor. It is not too overpowering.
Equipment and Ingredient notes:
If you don’t have access to a Trader Joe’s, you could probably make your own Everything but the Leftovers seasoning with dehydrated onion, celery, garlic plus the herbs. Amazon also sells it here. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases from some links in this post.
For this recipe, I baked the loaf in my Emile Henry 4.2 qt Dutch oven. I bake all of my sourdough loaves in a Dutch oven. It is an easy way to capture the steam. For a full list of my baking equipment, check out My Favorite Sourdough Baking Tools.
I hope you enjoy this stuffing flavored sourdough!
Stuffing Flavored Sourdough with Everything but the Leftovers Seasoning
Equipment
- Dutch oven
- dough scraper (optional)
- Large mixing bowl or container
- kitchen scale
- banneton (optional)
- rice flour (optional)
Ingredients
Leaven (Levain) Ingredients
- 85 g sourdough starter (active) Feed it and let it double or triple in volume before using it
- 260 g water
- 70 g whole wheat flour
- 170 g bread flour I used King Arthur's bread flour
Dough Ingredients
- leaven (from above)
- 300 g bread flour
- 140 g water
- 5 g sea salt
- 10 g Everything but the Leftovers Seasoning
Instructions
Mix the leaven (levain)
- In a large mixing bowl or container, mix all of the ingredients for the leaven (starter, water, whole wheat flour, bread flour). Mix gently until thoroughly combined and cover.
- Rest the leaven at room temperature for about 5-12 hours until doubled or tripled in volume and very bubbly. My leaven took about 11 hours to become very bubbly at 50°F. I left it outside overnight (covered of course). Be sure to play around with different locations in your home to get the best temperature for your sourdough that fits your schedule. You could also put it in the refrigerator for a couple days if that fits your schedule better.
Mix the dough
- After the leaven is very bubbly, add the remaining water (140 g) and bread flour (300 g). Mix by hand until combined. Cover and let the dough rest for 30 minutes.
- After 30 minutes, add the 5 g salt and 10 g Everything but the Leftovers to the dough. Mix gently until combined. Cover and let rest for 30 minutes.
- Then, stretch and fold the dough by gently lifting up the dough from the sides of the container and folding it inward toward the middle. I usually lift up one side of the dough, fold it inward and then rotate the container, repeating the folding until all of the edges of the dough have been folded toward the middle. The dough will look like a loose ball after this stretching and folding. Cover, and let the dough rest for 30 minutes.
- Then, you have two options. Option 1: repeat the stretching and folding every 30-45 minutes for the next 3-5 hours. Option 2: Cover and put the dough in the refrigerator for about 24-48 hours.
Shape the dough
- If you refrigerated the dough, remove it from the refrigerator and allow it to come close to room temperature. Then, remove the dough from the container or bowl onto a clean counter.
- Fold over the edges of the dough toward the middle, to form a packet. Gently flip over this dough packet, and shape carefully into a taut ball. It is okay if the shape is not perfect. Let the shaped dough rest on the counter for 30 minutes with the seam side down.
- After 30 minutes, gently transfer the shaped dough to a floured banneton or mixing bowl. The "seam" of your loaf will be facing up, so the loaf will be upside down. I usually line the banneton or bowl with a kitchen towel, dust the towel with rice flour to prevent sticking, then place the dough into the banneton with the dough seam up. Then, dust with more rice flour and cover with the kitchen towel.
- Then, transfer the shaped loaf to the refrigerator in the banneton or bowl and refrigerate for about 18-48 hours (depending on your schedule). My refrigerator is at 36-40 °F (varies for each shelf).
Bake the loaf
- Preheat your oven and Dutch oven to 500 °F for at least 20 – 30 minutes. I preheat mine past when the oven says it is ready, because it is usually only actually at 450°F when the oven beeps.
- Once the oven is preheated, remove your loaf from the banneton or bowl and score the top with a slash using either a sharp knife or lame.
- Then, cover the bottom of the Dutch oven with parchment paper, transfer the loaf gently to the Dutch oven and cover. Bake for 25 minutes at 500 °F.
- After 25 minutes, recover the cover from the Dutch oven and decrease the oven temperature to 450 °F. Bake the loaf for 20-45 more minutes until golden brown (check on it every 10-15 minutes).
- Remove the loaf from the Dutch oven and let it cool on a wire rack for a least a few hours before slicing.