THERE’S only one master baker - and doesn’t he have the perfect moniker for stardom?!

Paul Hollywood must thank the day he was selected to join the BBC’s Great British Bake Off (GBBO), as it has catapulted the already successful blue-eyed silver fox – as many of his female fans prefer to dream of him - into another stratosphere. Not only has the married Merseyside man (and father of one) been able to release baking books of his own which are guaranteed to sell well because of GBBO’s phenomenal success, but he’s being courted by the US and elsewhere, the former surely lapping up the honesty and purity of his manner of evaluating soggy bottoms and crumb densities.

What’s always been clear is that Mr H knows his stuff. You only need to watch him in action kneading a focaccia like his life depended on it to see that this is a man who has spent years immersing himself in the technology of baking bread and simultaneously adoring every second of it. He’s properly qualified, therefore, to judge the standard of what’s presented to him by contestants.
In Bread’s introduction, he states that he has two aims: to teach the reader how to bake a wide variety of breads, and then to show you how versatile these breads can be.

I bake all the time, but I am petrified of making bread, especially as an avid GBBO viewer. Wet doughs especially can frighten the life out of a person just even contemplating tipping it onto a surface and trying to get the gluten and whatever else working away inside the soggy mess. 

But Mr Hollywood wants to reassure us that it’s the easiest thing to learn, and it you’re safe in anyone’s hands re this subject, surely it’s him. Let him guide you through classic, soda, flat and continental breads, plus sourdough loaves and enriched breads, plus the foods which will be the perfect accompaniment for the bread you’ve just baked. 

Looking at the recipe for the white chocolate and raspberry sourdough is encouragement enough to convince me to now take the first steps alongside the master. 

And at least he won’t be there in person to look disgustedly at it – and me - when it all goes wrong. Phew!   

We have a copy of Paul’s new book to give away to a Gazette reader. See today's Monday Gazette - Feb 25 - for details!