Instructions

1. Preheat your oven to 250 degrees.
2. Cut the loaf of bread into rough cubes, anywhere from 1/2 inch to 3/4¾inch pieces. Spread the bread cubes over a cookie sheet and toast them in the oven for 10-15 minutes, or until they’re light brown and slightly crisp on the outside.
3. Set the bread aside and turn the oven temperature up to 350 degrees.
4. Heat the oil in a sauté pan over medium heat and cook the onion, fennel, and garlic until they’re slightly translucent, about 5-7 minutes.
5. Add the sage and mushrooms and cook everything down for 10 minutes, or until the veggies are ~50% of their original volume. Season everything with salt and pepper as you go along and taste, taste, taste.
6. Put the bread cubes in a large bowl and mix in the cooked veggie mixture. Make sure you mix everything well, no giant pockets of bread or veggies hanging out on their own.
7. Pour the veggie stock and two eggs (unscrambled) over the bread mixture and stir everything one more time. You want it to be moist but not mushy, the egg should coat everything (it will help the stuffing set in the dish).
8. Spread the stuffing into a 9 x 13 dish and sprinkle the hazelnuts over the entire casserole.
9. Bake the stuffing for 15-20 minutes, or until the bread is nicely toasted on top and moist in the middle. The nuts on top will toast as the stuffing bakes and release their most Thanksgiving-y aroma into your house.
10. Get a spoon, a turkey and a bib. It’s Thanksgiving.