Paul Hollywood - A Bakers Life : from childhood bakes to five-star excellence : 100 fantastic recipes

Bloomsbury Publishing

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First published in Great Britain 2017

Text Paul Hollywood, 2017 written in collaboration with Hattie Ellis
Photographs Martin Poole, 2017

Paul Hollywood and Martin Poole have asserted their right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as Author and Photographer respectively of this work.

Family photographs courtesy of Eaton Estate, part of the Grosvenor Estate.

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British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

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ISBN: 978-1-4088-4650-6 (HB)
ISBN: 978-1-4088-4651-3 (eBook)

Project editing: Janet Illsley

Design and art direction: Smith & Gilmour

Photography: Martin Poole

Recipe development and food styling:

Claire Bassano

Props styling: Rachel Jukes

Proof reading: Sally Somers

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TO MY NAN AMY AND MY MUM GILL, YOUVE
BEEN THERE FROM THE START OF THE
JOURNEY, BIG LOVE TO YOU

FIVE DECADES OF BAKING

All my life, I have been surrounded by great baking. Ive been in the industry for more than thirty years, and yet every day I learn something new.

My childhood was in Merseyside and I grew up eating my mums bakes at home her ginger biscuits are legendary and I was always in and out of my dads bakeries. Following in his footsteps, I did an apprenticeship in high-street bakeries, then began working in five-star hotels. I moved to Cyprus in my late twenties, living and baking there for six years, as well as travelling around the Mediterranean and Middle East, learning about many different styles of bread and pastry.

Coming back to Britain, I set up my own bakeries and I also started to teach baking on television shows. Then one day I got a call asking me to audition as a presenter for a new programme: The Great British Bake Off. So started a whole new chapter in my life. Through television, books and other forms of teaching, Im proud to have been part of a revival of baking in Britain, and the celebration of one of our great national traditions.

You dont have to go to college to make a career in baking. I learnt on the job; from reading and by watching other people, but most of all from doing. Ive taught perhaps forty people how to bake professionally over the years, some of them from scratch. What matters most, whether amateur or professional, is hands-on experience and the ability and willingness to pick things up.

What other qualities help? If youre making puff pastry, croissants, crme pt, bread or any number of other things, you need patience. And to be patient, you need passion. Because even if you fail, youll do it again and again until you get it right; once youve got it right, youll never forget.

The other key lesson is the importance of touch. If I go into a bakery, I can put my finger in a dough and tell you how that bread will come out of the oven how itll bake, how itll look, what the crust is going to be like. Thats purely the result of experience, which anyone can build up day by day. Get the knowledge in your fingertips.

My dad always encouraged me to use my hands, and Ive passed that on to everyone whos ever worked with me. Do something by hand, however much it seems like hard work, and youll get to know the texture of what youre making. This goes for fillings and decoration too. A lot of people over-whip cream. If you use an electric whisk, you should always under-whip and then take it to the right consistency by hand, lifting the whisk up to see when its ready.

Cooks go by their own tastebuds, altering recipes to suit their preferences putting a little bit more in, tasting as they go. Baking is a different sort of skill. Bakers are scientific. You can play with the flavours in a bake but theres an underlying strategy and science. You have to do things precisely, weighing up the ingredients and getting the timing right. Its all about the chemistry, such as the rising agents reaction to liquid, and how the salt and fat work with the flour and yeast. Fermentation is key the way that a doughs flavour develops over time and how this is affected by the temperature of the air and water.

Ingredients make a real difference too the type of butter and the eggs used in a mixture and the way they emulsify. And then theres the importance of using your oven properly, taking care over any decoration and knowing the simple tricks that make a bake look great.

There are two aspects to any bake: one is the base recipe; the other is flavour. Follow the base recipe to the letter initially whether its a Victoria sponge, Genoise, bread or croissant, dont change the recipe. When it comes to flavours, though, you can play around. You might think you need some more raspberries, or cut them back, or change onions to mushrooms. But only do that after youve mastered the base recipe first and made it two or three times, so you have confidence in what youre doing.

Ingredients do differ and you have to notice and respond to that as you bake. Different brands of flour may absorb up to five per cent more or less liquid. A good flour will absorb more liquid, which will give your bake more volume. Try the same recipe with different flours and youll see the difference, and discover your own preferences.

Theres a plethora of equipment around these days to make baking easier. But in the end I prefer to use as little kit as possible. All you really need is a bread scraper, a good serrated knife and digital scales.

A set of digital scales is the item of equipment that has really changed home baking, and is essential. I started with balance scales at work and they were fine for 20kg quantities, but when youre dealing in hundreds of grams digital precision makes a real difference.