Place bread cubes on sheet tray and toast in heated 400 F/205 C oven for approximately 8 minutes until dry. Remove from oven and set aside to cool.
Heat up a pan and add sausage. Cook until golden, stirring often to break up sausage. Drain and set aside. Leave one tablespoon fat in pan and discard the rest. Add apples to the pan and cook until just tender. Remove from pan and set aside with sausage.
Heat oven to 350F/180C
To another pan, melt 3 tbsp butter. Add onion, celery, salt and pepper. Stir and sauté until soft. Set aside.
To a large bowl, add bread cubes, onion mixture, sausage, apples and mix well. Add salt, pepper, sage, rosemary, thyme, parsley and mix well. Mix beaten eggs into 1 cup of stock. Pour half of the liquid over bread and mix. Pour in remaining half and mix. Add more stock as needed. Bread should be soaking wet but not soupy. Italian/French bread will need more stock, White bread will need less.
Butter the bottom and sides of a 9x13 dish. Pour in stuffing and even out top, do not press or compact. Cover dish with foil and bake in heated oven for 30 minutes. Remove foil and cook for 10 minutes. Optional - to brown, brush melted butter on top of stuffing, place dish under broiler for 1 or 2 minutes.
***Italian bread used in this recipe needed 16oz stock. It's better to use more stock than less, you can always bake longer to get rid of excess moisture.
***Apples - if possible, use a mix of tart and sweet for balanced flavor.
***Use 1lb of sausage if you like a lot of sausage. I find that 3/4 lb is enough for this stuffing.
***Vegetarian Option - use vegetarian sausage and vegetable stock.