We frequently turn to soda bread when the bread bin is bare. If there is nothing for lunch or to serve with soup for supper, it's a quick and simple answer - and sustaining, too. This classic recipe lends itself to endless tweaking and variation. Slot it into your repertoire and you'll never regret it.
Prep15minsCook45minsServs4
Ingredients
500g plain flour
2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp fine sea salt
Approx 400ml buttermilk or live yoghurt
A little milk, if necessary
Method
Sift the flour and bicarbonate of soda into a large mixing bowl and stir in the salt. Make a well in the centre and pour in the buttermilk, stirring as you go. If necessary, add a tablespoon or two of milk to bring the mixture together; it should form a soft dough, just this side of sticky.
Tip it out on to a lightly floured work surface and knead lightly for about a minute, just long enough to pull it together into a loose ball but no longer – you need to get it into the oven while the bicarb is still doing its stuff. You're not looking for the kind of smooth, elastic dough you'd get with a yeast-based bread.
Put the round of dough on a lightly floured baking sheet and dust generously with flour. Mark a deep cross in it with a sharp, serrated knife, cutting about two-thirds of the way through the loaf. Put it in an oven preheated to 200°C/gas mark 6 and bake for 40-45 minutes, until the loaf sounds hollow when tapped underneath.
Cool on a wire rack if you like a crunchy crust, or wrap in a clean tea towel if you prefer a soft crust. Soda bread is best eaten while still warm, spread with salty butter and/or a dollop of your favourite jam. But if you have some left over the next day, it makes great toast.
Bread with character: Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's recipes for sourdough
Friday 10 May 2013 21.00 BST
Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's sourdough loaf recipe: 'Sourdough-production is one of those kitchen routines that's somehow life-affirming and transformative. Photograph: Colin Campbell for the Guardian
Asourdough loaf is very different from what mostly passes as bread these days. In fact, it is the antithesis of the industrial factory loaf – that soft, structureless, flavour-lite bread that is produced in such huge quantities in this country. Sustain, whose Real Bread Maker Week starts today, reckons that well in excess of 90% of our bread is mass-produced either by the big brands or supermarkets. Sourdough, by contrast, is bread with immense character, with presence – bread with a point. And that's why I think you might want to have a go at making it yourself.
Of course, you can buy great sourdough, but if you've done so, you'll know it isn't cheap. A magnificent 2kg Poilâne loaf, for instance, will set you back about £10, while even smaller, less prestigious examples cost considerably more than standard bread. I'm not knocking that: the price reflects the quality of the ingredients and time that goes into making the loaf, something you'll appreciate if you make it yourself. But making sourdough at home is not expensive at all and, while it demands patience, it requires little actual effort. It might be a good 10 days from beginning your sourdough starter to the point when you can enjoy the first mouthful of a finished loaf, but there's very little work to be done in that time.
This starter, with which the whole process begins, is just a flour-and-water batter. Well, perhaps not "just". Because it will also contain, invisibly but crucially, the spores of wild, airborne yeasts – the ones that happen to be native to your own kitchen. These will begin to feed and multiply and, as they do so, all sorts of interesting things are produced: bubbles of gas, flavoursome alcohol and the acids that give sourdough its characteristic, slightly tangy taste. Within a week or so, the starter is ready to be used in a loaf – you take some of it, mix it with fresh flour and turn it into bread. The remaining starter, provided you "feed" it regularly, can then be kept indefinitely, ready to give you a loaf whenever you feel like it.
And you will feel like it. Because it isn't just sourdough's superb flavour that will reward your patience; its texture will, too. This bread has an elastic, ever-so-slightly-rubbery-but-in-a-really-good-way crumb and a proper, crisp, crunchy, robust crust. Freshly baked and smeared with cold, creamy butter, it's exceptional. Torn up, dabbed in good olive oil, and sprinkled with a few flakes of salt, it's a delight. It also has longevity. Over the days subsequent to baking, you'll find it makes the best toast ever, it's brilliant for bruschetta and, as it gracefully comes to the end of its life, it produces the very finest breadcrumbs and croutons.
If you make it, and like it, it pays to get into the rhythm of baking it regularly enough to make it your mainstay loaf. Sourdough-production – the nurturing of the starter, the mixing of the dough, the long, slow rise and the final, glorious bake – is one of those kitchen routines that's somehow life-affirming and transformative. And why wouldn't it be? You are, after all, growing your own bread.
Sourdough starter
Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's sourdough starter recipe: 'Make it with wholegrain flour and keep it warm in your kitchen, and you should see signs of life within 24 hours.' Photograph: Colin Campbell for the Guardian
The time it takes a starter to begin fermenting can be a few hours or a few days. But make it with wholegrain flour and keep it warm in your kitchen, and you should see signs of life within 24 hours.
About 100g strong bread flour (at least 50% wholegrain, such as wholemeal, spelt or wholegrain rye) Up to 1kg bread flour (or a mixture of flours), to 'feed' the starter
In a large bowl, mix the flour with enough lukewarm water to make a batter the consistency of thick paint. Beat it well, then cover with a lid or clingfilm and leave somewhere fairly warm. A warm kitchen is fine, as is a coolish airing cupboard. Check it every few hours, until you can see fermentation has begun. This is signalled by the appearance of bubbles and a smell of, well, fermentation (it can smell quite unpleasant and acrid at this stage, but don't worry, it will mellow).
Your starter now needs regular feeding. Begin by whisking in 100g or so of fresh flour and enough water to retain that thick batter consistency – you can now switch to using cool water and to keeping the starter at normal room temperature. Leave it again, then, 24 hours or so later, scoop out and discard half the starter and stir in another 100g of flour and some more water. Repeat this discard-and-feed routine every day, maintaining the sloppy consistency and keeping your starter at room temperature, and after seven to 10 days you should have something that smells good: sweet, fruity, yeasty, almost boozy. Don't be tempted to bake a loaf until it's been on the go for at least a week.
If you're going to bake bread every day or two, maintain your starter in this way, keeping it at room temperature, feeding it daily, and taking some of it out whenever you need to. However, if you want to keep it for longer between bakings, add enough flour to turn it into a stiff dough, then it won't need another feed for four or so days. You'll just need to add more water when you come to make the "sponge" (see below). Alternatively, lull your starter into dormancy by cooling it down – it will keep for a week in the fridge without needing to be fed. You'll then need to bring it back to room temperature and probably give it a fresh feed to get it bubbling and active again. Combine these two approaches – keep your starter as a stiff dough in the fridge – and you can leave it for two weeks before it will need your attention again. If you know you won't be baking for a while, you can even freeze the starter; it will reactivate on thawing.
Sourdough loaf
For the sponge About 150ml active starter (see recipe above) 250g strong flour (white, wholemeal or a mixture of the two)
For the loaf 300g strong bread flour (white, wholemeal or a mixture), plus more for dusting 1 tbsp rapeseed or olive oil 10g fine sea salt
The night before you want to bake your loaf, create a sponge: in a large bowl, combine 150ml of active starter with 250g flour and 275ml warm water. Mix, cover with clingfilm and leave overnight. In the morning it should be clearly fermenting: thick, sticky and bubbly.
To make the dough, add the 300g of flour to the sponge, along with the oil and salt, and incorporate. You should now have a fairly sticky dough. If it seems tight and firm, add a dash more warm water; if it's unmanageably loose, add more flour, but do leave it fairly wet – you'll get better bread that way.
Turn out the dough on to a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and silky – about 10 minutes – then put in a lightly oiled bowl and turn it to coat with the oil. Cover with clingfilm and leave to rise. Sourdough rises slowly and sedately, so it'll take a few hours in a warm kitchen, and a few more in a cool larder. One good option is to knead it in the morning, then simply leave it all day – perhaps while you're at work – in a cool, draught-free place until it has more or less doubled in size and feels springy if you push your finger gently into it; alternatively, knead it in the evening and leave to rise overnight.
Deflate the risen dough by punching it down with your knuckles on a lightly floured surface. You now need to prove the dough (give it a second rising). First form it into a neat round, tucking the edges of the dough underneath itself so you have a smooth, round top and a rougher base.
If you have a proper proving basket, dust it liberally with flour. Alternatively, rig up a proving basket by lining a wide, shallow bowl with a clean, floured cloth. Place your round of dough smooth side down in the basket or bowl, cover with oiled clingfilm or a clean plastic bag, and leave to rise, in a warm place this time, for an hour and a half to three hours, until roughly doubled in size again. It's now ready to bake.
Heat the oven to its highest setting (250C/500F/gas mark 10 is ideal). If possible, have ready a clean spray bottle full of water – you'll be using this to create a steamy atmosphere in the oven, which helps the bread rise and develop a good crust. (You can achieve the same effect with a roasting tin of boiling water placed on the bottom of the oven just before you put the loaf in.)
Five minutes before you want to put the loaf in, place a baking sheet in the oven to heat up. Take the hot baking sheet from the oven, dust it with flour and carefully tip the risen dough out of the basket/bowl on to it; it will now be the right way up. If you like, slash the top of the loaf a few times with a sharp serrated knife (or snip it with a pair of scissors) to give a pattern. Put the loaf in the oven, give it a few squirts from the spray bottle and leave to bake for 15 minutes. Lower the heat to 200C/390F/gas mark 6, give the oven another spray, and bake for a further 25-30 minutes, until the now well-browned loaf vibrates and sounds hollow when you tap its base.
Leave to cool for at least 20 minutes – it's OK to slice it warm, but not piping hot.
ISTANBUL/ANKARA (Reuters) - An attempted Turkish military coup appeared to crumble on Saturday after crowds answered President Tayyip Erdogan's call to take to the streets to support him and dozens of rebel soldiers abandoned their tanks in the main city of Istanbul.
At least 60 people were killed in violence that erupted on Friday after a faction of the armed forces attempted to seize power, officials said.
A successful overthrow of Erdogan, who has ruled Turkey since 2003, would have marked one of the biggest shifts in the Middle East in years, transforming one of the most important U.S. allies while war rages on its border. A failed coup attempt could still destabilise a pivotal country.
Erdogan, who had been holidaying on the southwest coast when the coup was launched, flew into Istanbul before dawn on Saturday and was shown on TV among a crowd of supporters outside Ataturk Airport.
The uprising was an "act of treason", and those responsible would pay a heavy price, he told reporters at a hastily arranged news conference. Arrests of officers were under way and it would go higher up the ranks, culminating in the cleansing of the military, he said.
Addressing a crowd of thousands of flag-waving supporters at the airport later, Erdogan said the government remained at the helm, although disturbances continued in Ankara.
However, in an emailed statement from the Turkish military General Staff's media office address, the pro-coup faction said it was determinedly still fighting.
Calling itself the Peace at Home Movement, the faction also called on people to stay indoors for their own safety.
Rebel soldiers who had taken control of military aircraft were still firing from the air and fighter jets had been scrambled to intercept them, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said, underscoring the ongoing uncertainty.
Gunfire and explosions had rocked both Istanbul and Ankara in a chaotic night after soldiers took up positions in both cities and ordered state television to read out a statement declaring they had taken power.
Around 50 soldiers involved in the coup surrendered on one of the bridges across the Bosphorus Strait in Istanbul after dawn on Saturday, abandoning their tanks with their hands raised in the air. Reuters witnesses saw government supporters attack the pro-coup soldiers who had surrendered.
Earlier, around 30 pro-coup soldiers had surrendered their weapons after being surrounded by armed police in Istanbul's central Taksim square.
They were taken away in police vans as a fighter jet repeatedly screeched overhead at low altitude, causing a boom that shook surrounding buildings and shattered windows.
LAWMAKERS IN HIDING
The coup began with warplanes and helicopters roaring over Ankara and troops moving in to seal off the bridges over the Bosphorus Strait that links Europe and Asia in Istanbul.
Authorities had shut the strait to tanker traffic, shipping agent GAC said.
By the early hours of Saturday, lawmakers were still hiding in shelters inside the parliament building in Ankara, which was being fired on by tanks. Smoke rose up from nearby, Reuters witnesses said. An opposition MP told Reuters parliament was hit three times and that people had been wounded.
A senior Turkish official said later on Saturday attacks on the parliament had "largely stopped".
A Turkish military commander also said fighter jets had shot down a helicopter used by the coup plotters over Ankara. State-run Anadolu news agency said 17 police were killed at special forces headquarters there.
Momentum turned against the coup plotters as the night wore on. Crowds defied orders to stay indoors, gathering at major squares in Istanbul and Ankara, waving flags and chanting.
"We have a prime minister, we have a chief of command, we're not going to leave this country to degenerates," shouted one man, as groups of government supporters climbed onto a tank near Ataturk airport.
Erdogan and other officials blamed the attempted coup on followers of Fethullah Gulen, an influential cleric in self-imposed exile in the United States who once supported Erdogan but became a nemesis.
The pro-Gulen Alliance for Shared Values said it condemned any military intervention in domestic politics.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said he phoned the Turkish foreign minister and emphasised "absolute support for Turkey's democratically elected, civilian government and democratic institutions".
Turkey, a NATO member with the second biggest military in the Western alliance, is one of the most important allies of the United States in the fight against the Islamic State militant group, which seized swaths of neighbouring Iraq and Syria.
European Council President Donald Tusk called for a swift return to Turkey's constitutional order, saying tensions there could not be resolved by guns.
"Turkey is a key partner for the European Union. The EU fully supports the democratically elected government, the institutions of the country and the rule of law," Tusk said at regional summit in Mongolia.
SOCIAL MEDIA CUT OFF
Airports were shut and access to internet social media sites was cut off in the first hours of the coup attempt. Flag carrier Turkish Airways resumed flights on Saturday, Erdogan said.
Malaysia Airports, the operator of Sabiha Gokcen International Airport, Istanbul's second airport, said it would continue to process flights in and out of Turkey.
Soldiers took control of TRT state television, which announced a countrywide curfew and martial law. An announcer read a statement on the orders of the pro-coup faction that accused the government of eroding the democratic and secular rule of law. Turkey would be run by a "peace council" that would ensure the safety of the population, the statement said.
TRT went off the air shortly afterwards. It resumed broadcasting in the early hours of Saturday.
Reuters reporters saw a helicopter open fire in Ankara. Anadolu news agency said military helicopters had fired on the headquarters of the intelligence agency.
The coup had appeared strong early on Friday evening. A senior EU source monitoring the situation said: "It looks like a relatively well-orchestrated coup by a significant body of the military, not just a few colonels ... They control several strategic points in Istanbul."
One European diplomat was dining with the Turkish ambassador to a European capital when guests were interrupted by the pinging of urgent news on their mobile phones.
"This is clearly not some tinpot little coup. The Turkish ambassador was clearly shocked and is taking it very seriously," the diplomat told Reuters as the dinner party broke up. "However it looks in the morning, this will have massive implications for Turkey. This has not come out of nowhere."
Turkey is one of the main backers of opponents of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in that country's civil war, host to 2.7 million Syrian refugees and launchpad last year for the biggest influx of migrants to Europe since World War Two.
Celebratory gunfire erupted in Syria's capital Damascus after the army claimed to have toppled Erdogan. People took to the streets to celebrate there and in other government-held cities.
Turkey has been at war with Kurdish separatists and has suffered numerous bombing and shooting attacks this year, including an attack two weeks ago by Islamists at Ataturk airport that killed more than 40 people.
After serving as prime minister from 2003, Erdogan was elected president in 2014 with plans to alter the constitution to give the previously ceremonial presidency far greater executive powers.
Turkey has enjoyed an economic boom during his time in office and has dramatically expanded its influence across the region. However, opponents say his rule has become increasingly authoritarian.
His AK Party, with roots in Islamism, has long had a strained relationship with the military and nationalists in a state that was founded on secularist principles after World War One. The military has a history of mounting coups to defend secularism, but has not seized power directly since 1980.
(Reporting by Humeyra Pamuk, Ayla Jean Yackley, Nick Tattersall, David Dolan, Akin Aytekin, Tulay Karadeniz, Can Sezer, Gulsen Solaker, Ece Toksabay, Murad Sezer, Ercan Gurses, Nevzat Devranoglu, Dasha Afanasieva, Birsen Altayli and Orhan Coskun; Additional reporting by Sue-Lin Wong, Ben Blanchard and Rozanna Latiff; Writing by Peter Graff and Lincoln Feast; Editing by Catherine Evans, Mary Milliken and Paul Tait)
David Kelly death evidence 'to be kept secret for 70 years'
Evidence relating to the death of David Kelly, the government weapons inspector, is to be kept secret for 70 years, it has been reported.
2:48AM GMT 24 Jan 2010
A highly unusual ruling by Lord Hutton, who chaired the inquiry into Dr Kelly's death, means medical records including the post-mortem report will remain classified until after all those with a direct interest in the case are dead, the Mail on Sunday said.
And a 30-year secrecy order has been placed on written records provided to Lord Hutton's inquiry which were not produced in evidence.
The Ministry of Justice said decisions on the evidence were a matter for Lord Hutton. But Liberal Democrat MP Norman Baker, who has conducted his own investigations into Dr Kelly's death, described the order as ''astonishing''.
Dr Kelly's body was found in woods close to his Oxfordshire home in 2003, shortly after it was revealed that he was the source of a BBC report casting doubt on the Government's claim that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction capable of being fired within 45 minutes.
An inquest was suspended by then Lord Chancellor Lord Falconer, who ruled that Lord Hutton's inquiry could take its place. But in the event, the inquiry focused more on the question of how the BBC report came to be broadcast than on the medical explanation for Dr Kelly's death.
Lord Hutton's report in 2004 concluded that Dr Kelly killed himself by cutting an artery in his wrist. But the finding has been challenged by doctors who claim that the weapons inspector's stated injuries were not serious enough.
One of the doctors seeking a full inquest, former assistant coroner Michael Powers, told the Mail on Sunday he had seen a letter from the legal team of Oxfordshire County Council explaining the unusual restrictions placed by Lord Hutton on material relating to his inquiry.
The letter states: ''Lord Hutton made a request for the records provided to the inquiry, not produced in evidence, to be closed for 30 years, and that medical (including post-mortem) reports and photographs be closed for 70 years.''
Dr Powers asked: ''Supposedly all evidence relevant to the cause of death has been heard in public at the time of Lord Hutton's inquiry. If these secret reports support the suicide finding, what could they contain that could be so sensitive?''
And Mr Baker said: ''It is astonishing that this is the first we've known about this decision by Lord Hutton and even more astonishing he should have seen fit to hide this material away.''
A Ministry of Justice spokesman said: ''Any decision made by Lord Hutton at the time of his inquiry was entirely a matter for him.''
Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi was greeted by angry crowds when he visited the mainly Shia Muslim area in the hours after the bombing.
His office said Mr Abadi understood the reaction of residents and would increase security by banning "magic wand" fake bomb detectors and improving vehicle inspections at roads into the city.
Image copyrightAFPImage captionThis is believed to be the deadliest single bomb attack in Iraq since 2007Image copyrightAFPImage captionBodies continued to be retrieved from the site on MondayImage copyrightAFPImage captionFuneral banners were posted at the site of the bombingImage copyrightAPImage captionPeople lit candles at the scene overnight to remember victims
The fake bomb detectors, some based on cheap devices for finding golf balls, were sold in large numbers to Iraq by fraudsters.
One British businessman, who was jailed for 10 years, sold more than 6,000 devices to Iraq for up to $40,000 (£30,000) each.
The UK banned their export to Iraq in 2010 and several other fraudsters received prison sentences. Despite warnings that the devices were useless, the Iraqi security forces continued to use them.
Engulfed in flames
Men continued to dig through rubble at the Karrada site on Monday, searching for the remains of those still missing.
Black banners were hung from nearby buildings bearing the names of victims and detailing their funerals.
In a statement on the attack, the Iraqi justice ministry said (in Arabic) that a group of prisoners convicted of terrorist crimes would be put to death in the immediate future.
Reports said a refrigerator van had been packed with explosives and left near the popular Hadi Center.
Footage from the minutes just after the blast showed the whole area engulfed in flames.
Image copyrightAPImage captionSome buildings were damaged beyond repair by the flamesImage copyrightREUTERSImage captionThe Hadi Center, which used to be full of busy clothes shops and cafes, was gutted
"We need a number of days to be able to recover the bodies of victims. It is a difficult task," a member of the civil defence forces quoted by AFP news agency said.
"The lists of victims I saw included whole families - the father and his sons, the mother and her daughters - whole families were wiped out by this explosion."
A second bomb exploded shortly afterwards in another predominantly Shia area north of the capital, killing another five people.
The self-styled IS, which follows its own extreme version of Sunni Islam, said in an online statement that the attack in Karrada was carried out by an Iraqi as part of "ongoing security operations".
The US said on Sunday that the attack strengthened its resolve to support Iraqi forces in their fight against IS.
UN Iraq envoy Jan Kubis said IS militants who had "suffered defeats at the battlefront are seeking to avenge their losses by targeting vulnerable civilians".
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