Thursday, January 31, 2013

Stale bread

Stale bread is traditionally made by leaving the bread out on the counter over night. It gets hard and dry because the starch crystallizes binding the H2O molecules.

The quick method of placing bread in a 225° F oven for thirty minutes drives the water out of the bread. This helps cooked dishes retain some of the breads structure and minimizes the sog factor.

So if you want to avoid soggy stuffing and pudding, use the oven method.

Sunday, January 27, 2013

Snowbird




Here is one of the commercials that Channel 4 WSMV in Nashville is currently airing. They recorded me playing the Snowbird song while sitting on the porch of the Musical Heritage Center of Middle Tennessee at sunset. Sharon and I were there for the monthly celtic session last October.


When the videographer arrived everybody at the session learned the tune and we played it about a dozen times, each time through it was a little different. Great bunch of musicians, everyone listening and adapting to what the others were doing with the tune.