Wet-Bread Stuffing

1. Heat the oven to 250°F. Slice the bread into manageable pieces about 1-inch thick, crust and all; spread into a large sheet pan. Bake, turning once or twice until the slices are firm without toasting. This can take up to 2 hours. Remove the bread from the oven and let it cool in the pan before soaking. (You can prepare the bread to this stage up to a day before making the stuffing; store in an airtight container at room temperature.)
2. While the bread is drying, prepare the vegetables. Put the stick of butter (or 1/2 cup olive oil) in a large pot over medium heat. Trim the leeks, keeping some of the light green parts. Halve them lengthwise, thinly slice, then rinse the pieces well in a colander under running water and shake them dry. (If using onions, trim, peel, and chop them.) Add them to the pot, sprinkle with salt, and stir. Keep an eye on things in the pot as you move on.
3. Peel and slice the garlic; add it to the pot. Cook the leeks and garlic, stirring occasionally, until they’re soft and lightly caramelized, 10 to 15 minutes.
4. Trim, peel, and chop the parsnips (or carrots). Trim and core the fennel (or celery). Reserve some fronds (or leaves) for garnish. When the leeks (or onions) and garlic are ready, add the remaining vegetables to the pot and cook, stirring occasionally, until they’re completely tender, another 20 to 25 minutes. Strip the leaves from the sage, chop them, and add them to the vegetables along with pepper to taste; cook and stir until fragrant, just a minute or 2. Turn of the heat. (You can also prepare the vegetables up to a day in advance at this point; refrigerate, and use them cold to proceed assembling and baking the stuffing.)
5. Heat the oven to 400° F. Grease a 3-quart baking dish or pan (or multiple vessels) with butter or olive oil. Fill a large bowl with warm tap water. Working in batches, put several slices of bread in the water. Let it soak for a couple of minutes; it’s ready when the interior fall apart with a light touch and the hardest crusts soften enough to tear. Using your hands, wring the water out of each slice back into the bowl, squeezing like you would a sponge. Crumble the bread between your fingers into irregular pieces as large or small as you like. Repeat with the remaining slices.
6. Carefully pour off all but about 1 cup soaking water from the bowl, leaving behind the starchiest liquid and waterlogged crumbs. Add the wet bread pieces and crumbs to the pot and combine with a fork, adding the reserved water a little a time until the stuffing makes a slight squishing noise as you stir. Taste and adjust the seasoning.
7. Make well in stuffing; crack in the eggs and beat with the fork. Work the eggs into stuffing until they’re evenly distributed. Transfer the stuffing into whatever you decided to bake them in. Dab the top with bits of butter (or drizzle with olive oil) and bake until crisp on top and the sides pull away from sides, 30 to 45 minutes depending on the size of the dish or pan. The internal temperature should be about 165°F (no more or the bread with start to dry out). Remove from the oven. Garnish with the reserved fennel fronds (or celery leaves) and flaky salt and serve.

— Recipe from Bittman Bread: No-Knead, Whole-Grain Baking for Everyday