Japan Panel Proposes Letting Divorced Parents Hold Joint Custody
A panel at Japan’s Ministry of Justice proposed allowing divorced couples to take joint custody of their child,
2023-08-30 13:48
Knotty and nice: Jurgen Krauss’s homemade soft pretzel recipe
Pretzels, or brezel or brezen in German, are the most iconic German food. Ornaments of pretzels adorn every bakery, and images of them can be found on medieval church windows in Freiburg, where I come from,” says former contestant on The Great British Bake Off, Jurgen Krauss. “Often, a pretzel works better as a soother for an upset baby than a dummy. They are a part of my upbringing and heritage. And still, there is no better snack after a long shopping spree through my hometown of Freiburg than a brezel from the bakery at the tram stop. “Disclaimer about lye: I am giving two options for the finish. One is using lye, which involves a very dangerous chemical, solid sodium hydroxide. The other option uses baking soda, which is bicarbonate of soda, and is not dangerous at all. The results are different in colour and taste, but without a direct comparison, the bicarbonate of soda pretzel can stand its ground. If you intend to use lye, I’d recommend baking a few batches of pretzels with bicarbonate of soda, but treat it as if it was lye, to practise the handling and have everything in the right place before starting.” Soft pretzel Makes: 8-10 Ingredients: For the starter: 100g bread flour 2g salt 1⁄8 tsp instant yeast 65ml water For the dough: 400g bread flour 9g salt 20g honey 5g instant yeast 25g unsalted butter, room temperature 180ml water Coarse salt crystals, for sprinkling For the lye or bicarb dipping solution: 2L water 8g salt 80g bicarbonate of soda or 80g sodium hydroxide pellets Method: 1. Prepare the starter the day before baking. Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and mix with your hand or a spatula until all the flour is incorporated. Cover with clingfilm and leave to stand at room temperature for about two hours. Then put the starter in the fridge overnight until you need it – it will be good to use for up to three days. 2. About one hour before making the main dough, take the starter out of the fridge. 3. To make the main dough, combine all the ingredients except the salt crystals and the starter in a bowl and mix with your hand or a spatula. The resulting dough will be very stiff. Knead the dough on a work surface for about 10 minutes. Don’t use any additional flour, you won’t need it anyway. The resulting dough should be smooth and a bit elastic. Put the dough into a bowl, cover and prove at room temperature for about two hours. Fold the dough once after one hour. 4. Meanwhile, prepare the dipping solution. Use a big stainless-steel pan and stainless-steel spoons for dipping. Cover your normal work surfaces in case the lye spills. When dipping, keep the baking sheets very close to the lye pan and the oven. Always wear protective gloves and goggles when working with sodium hydroxide and lye. Never ever touch sodium hydroxide pellets with your skin. 5. If using bicarbonate of soda, bring the water to boil. Switch off the heat, add the salt and stir. Then add the bicarbonate of soda – there will be a bit of frothing and splashing, so be careful. Leave to cool. 6. If using sodium hydroxide, put the water in the pan and then add the sodium hydroxide pellets. Sodium hydroxide creates a lot of heat when it dissolves. 7. Once the dough has proved, divide it into pieces weighing 85 grams each. Roll each piece of dough into a cylinder. Once all the pieces have been rolled, start again with the first piece, to roll it into a long strand with thin ends and a belly in the middle. Aim for a length of 60 centimetres. Make sure you don’t tear your strands – if there is too much resistance in the dough, move on to the next strand. You will need several cycles to reach the length required. 8. Now shape the pretzels – the bakers use a slinging method, but there is a simpler, slower way to do this. Make sure the ends of the little arms are well attached to the middle bit. 9. Place the pretzels onto lined baking trays, cover and leave to prove at room temperature for about 45 minutes. Uncover the pretzels and put them in the fridge for 30 minutes, so that a skin can form. Preheat the oven to 230C fan/gas mark 9. 10. Take the pretzels out of the fridge. Dip each pretzel in lye or sodium carbonate solution for about five seconds. Transfer the pretzel back onto the lined baking sheet. One sheet will hold four to five pretzels. Once the sheet is full, slash the thickest part of the pretzels with a sharp serrated knife and sprinkle with salt crystals. Transfer to the oven immediately and bake for 12–15 minutes. Leave to cool on a wire rack. Repeat with the remaining pretzels. 11. Because of the salt, these pretzels are best eaten fresh. ‘German Baking: Cakes, Tarts, Traybakes And Breads From The Black Forest And Beyond’ by Jurgen Krauss (published by Kyle Books on 31 August, £26). Read More The dish that defines me: Evelin Eros’s rum cake ‘It started with a radish’: Chef Simon Rogan reflects on restaurant L’Enclume at 20 The true story – and murky history – of Portuguese piri piri oil ‘My depression stopped me doing what I loved most in life – cooking’ What Bake Off’s Jurgen Krauss really thinks of his shock elimination How to pull off a traditional German babka chocolate braid
2023-08-30 13:47
What Bake Off’s Jurgen Krauss really thinks of his shock elimination
Jurgen Krauss’s elimination from the 2021 Great British Bake Off caused such a scandal, Ofcom received 115 viewer complaints. The lovable German baker was seen as a top competitor, winning three star baker prizes before being booted off in the semi-finals. Nearly two years on, Brighton-based Krauss, 58, has no hard feelings – but he did see the uproar coming. “I had a feeling there would be complaints – a feeling that people would take it very seriously,” he says. But he still has only good things to say about the show, noting the “overwhelmingly positive reaction was quite amazing”, and crediting the experience with boosting his baking skills massively. He speaks particularly fondly about the period before the competition started, when the contestants were in a bubble and testing their recipes. “We had nine weeks to prepare one signature and one showstopper each week and submit the recipe – that was really a huge time for growth,” he says. He calls this a period of “non-stop new ideas, non-stop new processes”, adding with a wry laugh: “Most of the things I’d done in the tent I’d never done before, and some of them I’ve never done since, [and] I’m not sure I’ll ever do them again. It was tough – it was amazing.” Many of the bakes Krauss made on the show were inspired by his childhood in the Black Forest, Germany. This formed the start of his new cookbook, aptly called German Baking: Cakes, Tarts, Traybakes And Breads From The Black Forest And Beyond. “During Bake Off, the briefs of all these signature bakes often included references to childhood that really reconnected me to my culinary home, to the Black Forest and the cooking of my parents, the things I liked to eat as a child or teenager, or while I was studying.” Some of Krauss’ favourite food memories growing up are from the period before Christmas. “My brother and I, we were always in the kitchen with my mother, we were always part of cooking and baking Christmas – the time before Christmas was always amazing,” he remembers. “It was fun, getting hands sticky in dough and tasting it all, and using ingredients like kirsch [brandy made from cherries]. I didn’t think much of it, being able to make cakes like cheesecakes or Linzer torter [a spiced tart that would kick off the Christmas period in Krauss’ household]. “But then much later, after the move to England [in 2003], I really took a deep dive into making bread. After 10 years or so, I really was craving German bread.” From apple marzipan tarts to the classic Black Forest gateau, Krauss’ book is an ode to his childhood and where he grew up. “Black Forest is an interesting region, because it has influences from France and Austria,” Krauss explains. “It had a varied history. It was Austrian for almost 200 years – you get dark breads, but rye isn’t such a dominant grain as it is in other German areas. That’s the Austrian influence – you get a lot more wheat and you get things like pancakes and dumplings, more than in other German areas, which is clearly inspired by the Austrian kitchen. “You have also a huge influence from France and Alsace in terms of day-to-day cooking, so it’s a bit of a conglomerate.” Despite its name, Krauss suggests the Black Forest gateau was actually invented in Dortmund – a city around five hours’ drive away from his home. “But it has become iconic because on the borders of the Black Forest in the Rhine Valley there are huge orchards and cherries grow very well there. Making kirsch has a long tradition, making fruit brandies has a long tradition in the Black Forest because of that.” Other recipes in the book include the Flammkuchen, or what Krauss describes as “kind of a Black Forest pizza”. “It’s an unleavened bread, so you could say it’s a matzah with sour cream on it, and you can put lardons on it, onions, or you can make it sweet with cinnamon sugar and apple slices. It’s really so easy – you can have it ready in 20 minutes, from start to finish. You just need to have an oven that goes really hot.” While the book is all about traditional German baking, Krauss has added the occasional modern twist. He says animal products are prominent in German cooking, “And they don’t run very strongly through my bakes in the book, because I wanted to make it appealing to a very wide audience. So I didn’t use lard, where a traditional Black Forest baker would probably use lard or lardons – things like that. I definitely scaled back on that. You would make dumplings or doughnuts in lard, you would fry them in lard – this sort of thing has lost its appeal over the last few years I think.” While he’s still known to many as “Jurgen from Bake Off”, Krauss says he’s come a long way since the show. “I feel much more in command of things,” he muses. “It feels a lot easier for me to change things. I got to a stage in bread baking where I can go fancy and know the outcome will be OK. I never had that with sweet things before Bake Off. “But now I can see how to change ingredients and how recipes work in general – so that’s a huge change.” ‘German Baking: Cakes, Tarts, Traybakes And Breads From The Black Forest And Beyond’ by Jurgen Krauss (published by Kyle Books on 31 August, £26). Read More How to save money in the kitchen according to top chefs The chef who hated food as a child Discovering Sierra Leonean flavours in South London The dish that defines me: Evelin Eros’s rum cake ‘It started with a radish’: Chef Simon Rogan reflects on restaurant L’Enclume at 20 The true story – and murky history – of Portuguese piri piri oil
2023-08-30 13:45
PepsiCo returns to Indonesia, breaks ground for snack factory
By Stefanno Sulaiman CIKARANG, Indonesia U.S. food and beverage maker PepsiCo began building a snack factory in Indonesia's
2023-08-30 12:27
UK air controllers say flight data sparked glitch that snarled hundreds of flights
Authorities say a technical failure that saw hundreds of flights delayed and canceled across the U.K. was caused by problems in some flight data received by Britain’s national air traffic controllers and was not a cyberattack
2023-08-30 05:48
For travelers who want to avoid babies and kids, one airline will test an adults-only section
One airline is betting that passengers will pay extra to sit away from babies and young children
2023-08-30 05:20
EasyJet to send ‘rescue flights’ for passengers stranded by air traffic control chaos
Britain’s largest budget airline will send “rescue flights” for passengers stranded abroad by air traffic control chaos. As hundreds of flights were cancelled on Tuesday, easyJet confirmed it would operate five repatriation flights to London Gatwick over the coming days. The rescue flights will operate from Palma and Faro on 30 August, Tenerife and Enfidha on 31 August and Rhodes on 1 September. More than 1,200 flights to, from and within the UK were grounded by the failure at the national air traffic provider Nats, with around 200,000 people sleeping at airports overnight. Earlier on Tuesday, easyJet grounded more than 80 flights, including three dozen at Gatwick, including those serving popular tourist destinations such as Athens and Venice. Confirming the rescue flights, an easyJet spokesperson said: “We have been providing customers with assistance and hotel accommodation and advising anyone who has needed to make their own hotel or alternative travel arrangements that they will be reimbursed. “During this traditionally very busy week for travel, options for returning to the UK are more limited on some routes and so easyJet will be operating five repatriation flights to London Gatwick over the coming days from Palma and Faro on August 30, and Tenerife and Enfidha on Thursday August 31 and from Rhodes on Friday September 1. “We are also operating larger aircraft on key routes including Faro, Ibiza, Dalaman and Tenerife to provide some additional 700 seats this week. “Although this situation was outside of our control, we are sorry for the difficulty this has caused for our customers and remain focused on doing all possible to assist and repatriate them. Customers will be moved onto repatriation flights and notified directly.” Meanwhile, National Air Traffic Services (Nats) confirmed that the air traffic control failure was caused by flight data received by the organisation, prompting both its primary and backup systems to suspend automatic processing. His statement appeared to confirm earlier reports from sources who told The Independent that a dodgy flight plan filed by a French airline may have sparked the major systems meltdown. “Very occasionally technical issues occur that are complex and take longer to resolve. In the event of such an issue our systems are designed to isolate the problem and prioritise continued safe air traffic control”, the statement from Nats CEO Martin Rolfe read. “This is what happened yesterday. At no point was UK airspace closed but the number of flights was significantly reduced. Initial investigations into the problem show it relates to some of the flight data we received. “Our systems, both primary and the back-ups, responded by suspending automatic processing to ensure that no incorrect safety-related information could be presented to an air traffic controller or impact the rest of the air traffic system. There are no indications that this was a cyber-attack.” Read More EasyJet lays on rescue flights as ‘dodgy French flight plan’ blamed for air traffic chaos – latest More travel chaos after 300,000 hit by cancellations – and French error blamed for air traffic mayhem Ask Me Anything: Put your questions to Simon Calder as flight cancellations cause mayhem across Europe Caught in the air traffic control nightmare? Your rights when flights go wrong Everything you need to know about air traffic control failure on Tuesday Travel chaos over bank holiday weekend as BA and easyJet cancel dozens of flights Train strikes and cancelled flights spell Bank Holiday travel chaos
2023-08-30 03:57
The Bachelor’s Jade Roper offers support to women going through miscarriage as she loses baby at five months
Jade Roper Tolbert has shared an emotional message on social media after suffering from a “missed” miscarriage earlier this month. The 36-year-old, who was a contestant on season 19 of The Bachelor, recently revealed on Instagram that she was just five months pregnant when she lost her baby boy due to a miscarriage. Jade and her husband Tanner Tolbert - who she met on the reality dating show’s spinoff Bachelor in Paradise - had decided to name the baby Beau. In an Instagram post shared on 29 August, Jade was pictured laying in a hospital bed in a gown, as she looked teary-eyed at the camera. “Well, here we are,” she began the caption. “I didn’t want or expect it to go this way, but it is. I so badly wanted to bury him under a beautiful tree in our yard, to see any glimpse of his tiny body, which is why I held out so long trying to trust my body. But, it is time to heal and get to the other side of this loss.” Jade continued by sharing a message of support for women who have also experienced a miscarriage, as she told her 1.3m Instagram followers: “I’ve been trying to protect my peace and respect my baby, so I’ve only been sharing bits and pieces here and there to hopefully maybe help someone else feel less alone going through this.” “I see you, I feel your pain, and I love you,” she added. “And to Beau, I carried your body for almost five months, your soul for a little less, but I carry you with me in my heart everywhere and for always.” On 13 August, Jade announced her miscarriage in another emotional Instagram post. The reality TV star explained that she was experiencing a “missed” miscarriage - in which the foetus has died, but the body has not expelled the pregnancy tissue. According to the Miscarriage Association, a missed or silent miscarriage can occur without the mother experiencing any symptoms, such as bleeding or pain. “I’ve been struggling what to write here as I’ve been navigating a miscarriage,” Jade captioned her post, which included a mirror selfie of her baby bump, hands resting on her pregnant belly, and a photo of an ultrasound. “It felt like all my dreams were coming true to welcome another baby into our lives, to love and to complete our family. While our hearts are completely broken and we have been dealing with the deep and complex grief of the loss, we have been blessed to be touched by his soul for his short amount of time. I am forever changed.” The mother of three shared that she hoped to experience her missed miscarriage “naturally” with the help of her doctor. “I’ve been carrying him with so much pride and cherish every moment still left with part of him, but it has also been equally as challenging and devastating,” she wrote. “So while I hold my belly here, our sweet baby’s body is resting in my womb as his soul soars. We love you with every piece of our hearts, baby Beau.” Days later, Jade revealed in an Instagram Q&A that she had not yet told her three children about her miscarriage. When asked by a fan if her six-year-old daughter, Emerson, and her sons - Brooks, four, and Reed, two - knew about the pregnancy loss, Jade replied: “They don’t.” "Still figuring out if we tell them soon or wait until they are a bit older," she added, before asking the Instagram follower for advice. In the Q&A posted to her Instagram Stories, the Bachelor in Paradise alum was also asked whether she will continue to try for baby number four. “Very up in the air,” she replied. “A big part of me wants to, but I’m just not sure right now.” Her husband, Tanner Tolbert was a contestant on season 11 of The Bachelorette, but was eliminated in week six. The couple met on season two of Bachelor in Paradise and were married in 2016, when their wedding was documented in season 20 of The Bachelor. Read More Former Bachelorette contestant Josh Seiter says he’s alive after death announcement And Just Like That fans denounce the show for not being ‘progressive’ enough in latest episode A Tennessee woman needed an abortion and couldn’t get help nearby. Then she went viral on TikTok ‘Boy moms’ called out for logic behind teaching their sons to cook Maya Jama and Stormzy: Can you make it work with an ex? 12 smart ways to save money on everyday back-to-school costs
2023-08-30 03:46
Sarah Jessica Parker adopted her 'And Just Like That' kitten in real life
Just call him nepo kitty.
2023-08-30 03:45
GM's OnStar to Rely Heavily on Google AI for Basic Customer Chats
OnStar has been a staple of GM vehicles since 1995. What started as a simple
2023-08-30 01:52
The UK economy still can't cope with the consequences of Brexit
The UK government has delayed health and safety checks on food imports from the European Union for the fifth time in three years amid fears that the additional red tape will push up food prices and disrupt vital supplies.
2023-08-30 00:45
O’Charley’s Announces “Tackle Some Tenders” Dine-In and Take-Out Promotions for College Football Season
NASHVILLE, Tenn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug 29, 2023--
2023-08-29 23:54