Daily Mirror - 17.08.2019

mirror.co.uk SATURDAY 17.08.2019 DAILY MIRROR^13

DM1ST

inside. Feeling slightly shaky, I pray I’ll

be given full instructions.

I and three other nervous bakers are

told that our technical challenge is to

bake ten perfect scones, with jam and

cream, for Paul and Prue to judge.

With an hour on the clock we set to

work and I start to feel a bit competitive.

Having put the flour and butter into a

bowl, I am busy trying to create the

desired breadcrumb-like mixture when

Paul fixes me with those cold, blue eyes.

I stammer I’m not very good at cake-

making and Prue kindly tells me it’s

time for the sugar, eggs, baking powder

and milk to go in. Soon I have

created a soggy dough which

needs to be “chaffed” – folded and

turned until smooth.

“Be careful not to

overwork the dough,” I

read too late. Oops.

I am beginning to

enjoy this. Coated in

floury goo, I have at

least managed to create

something that looks like

it can be rolled and cut.

I put ten glazed

rounds of dough on a baking tray,

with a few on another as spares.

It’s time to make the jam, which

is surprisingly easy. It’s ready

when a few drops crinkle on a

chilled plate as you run a

finger through them. Mine

does just that.

Only then do I check my

scones. Aargh! They’re a bit,

er, brown. But all is not lost,

as I eye up what the others

have produced. Two

batches are rather wonky,

and the third a bit pale. It’s

time to hear how I’ve done. Paul has his

critical face on (does he ever take it

off?) and says my scones are “slightly

over-baked”, but a good size.

He and Prue agree they’ve risen well.

“A really nice, light scone,” Prue adds.

But grumpy Paul isn’t finished: “The

jam needed a little bit more cooking

out.” “But it crinkled!” I tell him. “Well, it

probably will set,” Prue says (ha!). It did.

Finally, Paul cracks. “They taste very

good,” he says, piling on some cream.

There’s no Hollywood handshake, but

I’ll take that! After all, it’s pretty clear

who the Star Baker has been.

AND PRUE AS 10TH BAKE OFF BEGINS

happening with Brexit, the businesses

are panicking. They’ve got no idea

where they’re going to go in the future.

PRUE: And rents are amazing,

because there was this great boom of

chains taking more and more space,

they thought they could charge a

fortune and the rents went up and

now the businesses have gone bust.

Do you still have the same

enthusiasm?

PAUL: You see the standard

everyone has – this place [the tent]

has become almost a shrine to baking

now in this country. I get the same

feeling still and I know Prue does and

we all do, there’s something special

about this tent.

PRUE: When you come in after a gap

there’s a surge of excitement. The first

time I walked into this tent I had no

idea it was so big.

Were you nervous?

PRUE: I was very nervous. The very

first day we were in here – there were

12 bakers I’d never seen before, we had

been given a sheet with their names

but we hadn’t yet really learnt them,

so I was about to walk in and I said to

Paul: “That’s James, isn’t it?” And he

said, “No it’s Peter.” So I go in and say,

“Oh hello Peter”, laughter all around.

He was lying. Mean.

Do you have to pander to 21st

century eating habits?

PAUL: We’re not pandering, but we’ll

have a nod to it. We’ve

done dairy-free and

sugar-free before, we’ve

been doing it for most

of the Bake Off, we just

drop in challenges

because it has to reflect what people’s

eating habits are.

Is clean eating ruining people’s

attitude towards food?

PRUE: It’s about enjoyment. Food

shouldn’t do you any harm, obviously

you don’t want a bad diet, but it

should be one of life’s great pleasures.

The trouble is, it’s been corrupted

by this sort of panic about food being

the enemy and people get neurotic

and start worrying about clean guts

and all the rest of it.

PAUL: Anything in moderation is OK

• that’s why we say a balanced diet.
  It changes every week doesn’t it?
  The public are getting bombarded. Do
  anything – just in moderation.
  So eating cake and bread isn’t
  bad for people?
  PRUE: If you eat good ingredients,
  and moderately, it should not be a
  problem.
  If you look at the bakers over the
  years, how many obese bakers have
  there been? There have been a few –
  nobody’s saying you can’t join Bake
  Off if you’re obese – but by and large
  bakers, just like cooks, are not
  particularly overweight.
  And the bakers all lose weight while
  they’re here, which may be the stress


• in spite of eating a lot of cake.
  PAUL: You can burn calories making
  bread! You make a loaf at home, the
  amount of working out you’re doing
  on your arms, your biceps, triceps, by
  the time you eat that loaf you’d have
  burnt it off anyway so it negates it.
  Do you have a favourite
  winner?
  PAUL: Yeah, I’ve got one in mind. I’m
  not going to tell you. I can’t say, they’re
  like my kids and I can’t pick one – it’s
  not right.
  Were you surprised when the
  show retained its popularity
  after the move from BBC1 to
  Channel 4?
  PAUL: What it’s proved
  is the stars were always
  the bakers, we were
  always on the outside, we
  were the frame.
  PRUE: They change
  every year so you get new
  heroes. It’s got a formula
  that could run and run.

Do you keep in touch

with Mary Berry or

would that feel like

cheating on Prue?

PAUL: I spoke to Mary, she texted

me three weeks ago. She’s lovely Mary,

we had lunch together last year at The

Food Show and then we had dinner

and it was nice to catch up with her.

[email protected]

@mirrormeths

On your

marks,

get set,

dough!

They’re like

my kids

and I can’t

pick one

favourite –

it’s not right

PAUL HOLLYWOOD ON

WHO IS HIS NO1 WINNER

CREAM

TEAM

From left,

Noel, Paul,

Prue and

Sandi

Inside the tent.. an hour on the clock.. I’m feeling shaky..

BY NICOLA METHVEN TV Editor

IN nine years of Bake Off it has been a

cast-iron rule that only current

contestants get to have their creations

judged inside the tent.

At no point has anyone else been

permitted to cook on the set for Paul

Hollywood, Mary Berry or Prue Leith.

So imagine my surprise when I’m told

I’m being let in to show off my skills as a

baker. If only I’d paid a bit more

attention in home economics...

Arriving at Welford Park, near

Newbury, I am kitted out with the

authentic brown apron and shown STIR BAKER Nicola