The post Paul Hollywood’s Sausage Plait appeared first on Stir it up Magazine.

Can you remember the first recipe you baked?

My dad used to bake soft rolls, and I remember he would have a towel over them in front of the gas fire in the sitting room. I remember they had that proper homemade baking taste and smell to them. That always stuck with me, but I didn’t really help out or get involved with that. It was my mum’s ginger biscuits which was probably the first thing I actually helped out with. She is famous for them and still makes me a fresh batch to this day every time I head up to see her. They were simply delicious – quite chewy and the ultimate dunkers. You could dunk them 8 or 9 times and they would still hold.

If you weren’t a baker, where do you think you would be now?

I did actually sign up to the tank regiment in the army but pulled out at the last minute and ended up working for my dad’s bakeries. The army was definitely an option as we had some family members signed up.

What put you off?

The money. This was in the 80s with Maggie squeezing us Northerners so you needed to get a trade and to get a job. The money just didn’t seem that good in the tank regiment. I also flirted with teaching because after art school I actually taught a few classes in pottery but my main aim as a teenager was to earn.

What were your other passions as a youngster?

When I was school, I loved skateboarding. We had a brutal hill outside our house so I would catamaran down the hill with my brother’s mates. We started at the top and would fly down the hill and end up under cars or smashing our hands and wrists to pieces on the pavements. I remember we even took on the hill on Tonka Toys – sitting in a dumper truck and flying down the hill. In addition to that I played badminton, basketball and when I was a bit older, I played a few games of rugby. While working in Cyprus, I played in a 7s tournament which included the armies of the world. Our team was cobbled together but the opposition were huge and it was a brutal experience.

Are you still learning?

I travel a lot filming and I’m always seeing new bakes, techniques and recipes that fascinate me. A few weeks ago I was in the Caribbean and for breakfast they would bring these Danish pastries – a bit like a pain aux raisin but they had lifted the sides and created a nest that was filled with crème patisserie. I said to them- how the hell did you do that? They actually used a mould, and I thought- that’s really clever so yeah – I’m always learning.

Do you still bake?

Yep – I still bake. The advert showcases me using a pre-mix but I honestly don’t mind a pre-mix but I generally still use raw ingredients. I bake twice a week. Sometimes it’s cake or banana bread but it’s mostly bread. You can’t beat the smell and taste of freshly baked bread for breakfast. I’m still an egg and soldiers man for breakfast so it’s about baking the best bread for soldiers. Whenever I go away, I’m always disappointed as the bread isn’t exactly how I like it. I like it crispy, light, loaded with butter and perfectly cut for the ultimate dip.

Sourdough seems to be everywhere this past decade – what’s your view?

It is everywhere and to some extent, you can’t not buy sourdough nowadays as it dominates. Everyone is raving about it and it has its place. For example, grilled tomatoes on top of sourdough with some balsamic vinegar is a delight or with pates but I don’t like it all the time. I like fermented. I like the flavour coming from the ferment rather than the sour. Some sourdough can be too strong. It’s why I like to bake my own bread as you can have a better control on the flavour, texture and crust.

Any styles of loaves/breads that could tip sourdough off the throne?

Pitta bread, wraps, quality corn tortillas. They have definitely become more popular and I love making these styles of breads as well. You can’t beat a great baguette either – crispy, light and loads of flavour. They’re great for breakfast with just a bit of butter and jam. I would walk down and grab them for breakfast when I was in France, eat it and go and get another for lunch. Things go in fads, but I don’t think sourdough is going anywhere soon. It will only get better.

What do you love most about your job? Meercats?

I literally eat pastries and cake for a job. I’m not sure anything is better than that. My job is pretty straight forward nowadays – it’s eating.

What do you miss most about a professional kitchen or bakery?

I was often up early preparing everything for breakfast so my team was often quite solitary but there was always a great camaraderie with the staff and team. It was always a good laugh in the kitchen. I also miss being up at stupid hours when everything else was closed and walking to work and also the fantastic kit we had to use and play with. Being creative.

Tell us about the new book Celebrate

I was working on it for about a year, but I always have recipes and ideas bouncing around. I will be influenced by the bakers from the tent or bakeries I visited. I will ponder – would that work with that, or could I try that combination in a different bake? I always jot ideas down so by the time I think it’s time for a new book, I generally have about 20 ideas already bubbling, which I can refine and test. This book is unique in that it can be quite seasonal with your vegetables and fruits as you move through the year or bakes for key celebrations like Easter.

Who are you most proud to have baked for?

I love baking for friends and family but back in the 80s I baked for King Charles. I created his feathers in bread for his table and I had a note back saying he enjoyed it. That was nice and a real buzz.

Who would you love to bake with or for?

Nick Mason from Pink Floyd. He’s been threatening to come down and I know him quite well. Nick and I need to get our bake on. Robert Plant would be good as well

Are you still up early?

I still get up fairly early – probably around 6.30 – but this is mainly due to the cats making dough and kneading on my chest. I like to go to bed early around 11pm and I like being up early, especially in summer.

What do you put down to your success?

Luck. It couldn’t have happened to anybody. My face was literally in the right place at the right time. Don’t get me wrong, my career as a baker happened because I loved what I did, I was focused, worked hard and I was good at it. The TV side of things was just luck.

How did the Hollywood’s celebrate big occasions growing up?

We had the classic northern birthdays – egg sandwiches, ham sandwiches, a trifle and then traybakes and a chocolate cake. You can’t beat a good buffet. As I got older, vol-aux-vents became the big thing, especially as part of a buffet. This is why I had to put my chicken and leek vol-aux-vents in the book. They’re great on a buffet. I have a sausage plait and beef pies in the book too but both can be turned into smaller buffet dishes as well.

Big goals for 2025?

I want to try and get a bit fitter. I have a bicycle I can use and didn’t get out on it much last year. I seem to have been hit by a bout of colds this past year.

Are you a MAMIL (middle age man in Lycra)?

Yep, I’m afraid I am. I go down quiet roads and the bikes fast enough for me to dash off if I get spotted.

Anything new from GBBO you’re looking forward to this year?

We start GBBO soon and some good weather would be nice. It was a bit cold last year and I have a hammock outside my area, which I would like to use a bit more in between takes.

Any contestants stand out in your mind?

Even if I did, I would never say. It’s like choosing a favourite child. You can’t do it. Sixteen years of GBBO – 160 bakers – it wouldn’t be fair to name any favourites.

Are there any trends that are exciting you in food at present?

I never go out so I wouldn’t know.

That was my next question – what was the last restaurant you ate at?

I was in London and I popped into the Pavillion at the Four Seasons. Absolutely incredible – the food was amazing.

How often do you eat out?

Probably about once a week. We have some decent places locally.

Do you think the government does enough to help the baking and hospitality industry?

I don’t really like any government. They all start saying one thing and then do the opposite.

With pubs closing at a fast rate and your wife recently having to sell hers – do you think the pub industry is under threat?

Running a pub is always tough and everyone has been suffering since Covid. People’s drinking habits have changed and the state of the economy has been hitting pubs and consumers.

Guilty pleasure?

A Sunday Roast. I adore them. Even in the heat of summer in the time of barbecues, I love a good roast dinner. I eat less lamb and beef nowadays but I make a mean chicken roast. I’ll spend an hour on the gravy just making sure that’s right. You have to get the gravy right and you need lots of it. Your roast should be swimming in it.

Do you miss not getting gravy in the chippy?

Yep. What’s wrong with these people down here?!! I went to my local and asked for a sausage dinner and he didn’t know what I was talking about. Chips, sausages, gravy and mushy peas.

Favourite meal of the day – breakfast, lunch or dinner?

I love breakfast. It sets you up for the day and I often skip dinner.

Three kitchen secrets for baking success

1. Buy my book
2. Make sure your oven is clean and is attaining the temperature you need.
3. Get a decent table mixer.

Can you share a recipe with us from the new book that is perfect for a summer celebration?

If you have people coming over for a summer party, try the mojito cupcakes. I love a mojito but these are next level. For the kids, the Fraisier Cake is a good one, which is essentially strawberries and cream. There is an Eton Mess as well that is trifle—ish so that would be another dish that is great for summer. Finally, a rainbow cake or a sausage plait are another couple that would be brilliant for alfresco celebrations.

The post Leading Lights: Paul Hollywood appeared first on Stir it up Magazine.

How did your awareness of baking begin?

It probably began with visits to my dad’s bakery when I was a ten-year-old kid. He was the boss so he would often be in his office upstairs banging away with the numbers, meeting the accountants and financial guys and all that stuff so my brothers and I would often be downstairs in the bakery, causing a nuisance and playing around. I was in and around the bakery, brushing up behind the scenes and my dad would pay me a few quid. Being in the bakery was the norm and it wasn’t unusual to be watching the bakers pull the dough out, making cakes, icing buns. I remember watching the bakers work, even at that young age, and trying to understand the processes. 

What made you ditch your college art course for a job at your dad’s bakery? 

I was alright at art so ended up going to art school, which is more of my mum’s side of things. I wasn’t long into it before my dad made me an offer I couldn’t refuse. At the time I had long hair past my shoulders so my dad offered me £500 to get my haircut and join the business. As a teenager it was tough to say no to that sort of money back in the 70s so I jumped professions very early to the bakery business.

Where did you start?

After a haircut, I ended up working in a bakery in Liverpool at the top end of County Road in Walton.  I worked with a couple of old timers there who were great bakers. I learnt how to work on the table, how to make doughs, on the ovens and then eventually I went over to work with my dad in Lincoln and I took over the Lincoln shop. I picked it up really quickly and worked with my dad for about two years, learning the ropes from some seriously good bakers. Two years later, I moved back to Liverpool and started working in local bakeries as an assistant baker and began climbing the tree. I realised that the time working for my dad and the upbringing in and around bakeries had given me a great grounding for the business. My dad used to put me with the best guy on the ovens, or the best guy on the table, the best guy who does this or that. I was very lucky as I learnt from the best of the old school. I found I picked things up quickly and I was as fast, if not faster, than many of the other bakers who had been doing it a lot longer. I just had a natural aptitude for baking.

In terms of the art side of things – did it help with your baking and if not, what do you put your success down to?

I don’t think so. It probably just meant I wasn’t very smart and I was far better at the manual and practical jobs. I have always been one of those people where if you show me something once, I will pick it up quickly. If I don’t know how to do something, show me and I will practise it until I can nail it. It’s the same in other parts of my life. I have been in the car with some great racing drivers who have won Le Mans. And they have sat in next to me when I have been driving, giving me advice and telling me what to do. Follow this line, do this, do that. Then I have been let loose to race and like with my early baking, I found once shown, I could adapt.   

What was key to your development?

It’s about learning. You learn through repetition and practise and it’s no different whether it’s baking bread or driving at 200-plus mph around a track. This way of development always suited me. I like to push myself, I always liked climbing ladders and I always like to have my future in my own hands.

How did the TV work come about?

It’s cruel to say but I had lost a little motivation while working over in Cyprus and I did get a little bored and probably felt I needed a new challenge. I had done a little bit of filming in Cyprus and someone said – you’re alright at this, contact me when you get to the UK. About a year and half later, I arrived back and met this agent and within three months I was actually filming a series so it all happened pretty fast.

Is there still a need for bakers in hotels?  What’s the difference between a pastry chef?

Yes, I think so. The industry is crying out for decent bakers, not just pastry chefs. Bakers make a proper scone – big and beautiful. Pastry chefs will create a tiny one with a lovely pattern or decoration on it. Bakers are more hands on, they get on with it and will concentrate a lot on bread, croissants, pain au chocolats, Danish pastries etc – especially in the hotels. But they would be doing big, big numbers – 600, 700, 1,000 of each. Pastry chefs will dabble in all sorts of avenues in baking.

Tell me about the new book?

Basically, the book was written and put together during lockdown and Bake Off. I have always loved the baking classics so this book showcases them with my updated recipes. Today, there are so many new ingredients around and a need to reduce salt, sugar etc so the classics needed some adjusting. I wanted to create a book that covers all the baking bases – pizzas, bread, cakes, pies, pasties, pastries – the lot. My dream is that it’s a book that will be covered in flour from overuse and that it acts like a baking almanac or bible in kitchens everywhere – both in the home and professional arena. If a chef had a copy in his kitchen and says – let’s make one of those Hollywood breads – and then they pull down the book and the pages are stuck together with batter, I will be a happy baker.

I enjoyed writing this book. It’s really got my heart and soul in it and it means a lot to me. It’s my favourites and while I’m sure they are other people’s favourites as well, the process was very indulging and enjoyable. 

You’re a country chap now – do you grow you own and garden?

I’m a bit like Forest Gump. If gardening involves my ride-on mower then count me in. Otherwise, I can give it a swerve. I was actually bought a great t-shirt recently. It says – I’m sexy and I mow it. You can’t beat straight lines on your lawn.

Any baking trends we should be watching out for?

Nothing has been leaping out really when it comes to brand new trends but I think Covid has probably been to blame and has probably scuppered a lot of that. I think interest in the approachable classics such as teacakes, cherry cakes, banana breads etc has always been there but home-baking has probably given them a popularity boost. As we’re becoming unlocked, I think we will start to see a bit more of the faddy trends but I haven’t seen too much of it just yet.

What Signature dish or bake have you chosen?

It’s so hard to choose a favourite or signature dish or bake but something that everyone loves but not everyone gets right is a Margherita pizza. It’s an easy thing to do but it’s about good ingredients and the right technique. Put good in and you get good out. I have a pizza oven in the garden, like a lot of other people who bought them during lockdown do. I wanted to show how to do them properly so spent a lot of time perfecting the recipe. It’s very simple and about a great San Marzano tomato sauce, good buffalo mozzarella and fresh basil but the preparation of your dough is crucial. If you want that thin and crispy base then it’s in the oven for a minute twenty tops.

Recipe is extracted from BAKE by Paul Hollywood, published by Bloomsbury on 9 June 2022

Photography © Haarala Hamilton

Please click here to see the recipe.

Anything that you learnt in those days that stuck with you in your career? 

It’s sounds terrible now but the old boys in the bakery would often try and burn us. They would say – ‘grab that tray for me Paul’ – which would then be scolding hot and would burn your fingertips. But from a young age, we learnt quickly to always tap a tray before picking it up Why did you leave you dad’s bakery chain?  

I was homesick and missed Liverpool. I was always homesick when I worked away – even at the Dorchester. It was only really in Cyprus that I felt I broke that cycle. When I moved to Cyprus, what originally was going to be a year became six so this is where I moved past the homesickness.

Did you foresee or dream of the career you have had?

I didn’t realise that baking could take me where it took me. Obviously, TV is one thing but baking can literally take you anywhere in the world. It offered and still offers so many possibilities. I could have worked on the liners, big ships, hotels – anywhere I wanted. It was just incredible the jobs I was getting interviews for. Cyprus came up – it was a bit closer to home – just the 4 hours and I thought, I will have a go at that one. I ended up scuba diving, I ended up a dive master and when I wasn’t baking, I was enjoying the sea and sand.

Still up early?

I don’t get up at 3am in the morning and start baking anymore but from living the life of a baker for so many years, I’m definitely a morning man. I still get up early. There is something about being up early before anyone else and I have always been one of those that when I wake, my brain starts going and it’s pointless staying in bed. Once awake, I’m on it and I get to work because that is I how I have trained myself to be for 30-odd years. It’s not just about being there at 3am in the morning.  Bakers have to be on it, they have to organise and plan and there are deadlines to be met. I think that has stayed with me but I don’t massively miss the 3am starts. 

Is baking professionally a big commitment?

I lost so much of my social life as young lad. My mates would be preparing to go out and I would be preparing myself for bed so it does take a lot of commitment, especially if you want to push yourself to be as good as you can be.

What would be the equivalent of a Hollywood Handshake for you?

I would say a handshake from someone in the racing field who I greatly admire. Lewis Hamilton would be up there but it’s difficult to name just one as there are some amazing drivers who I greatly respect in different disciplines whether it’s single seaters or GT cars. I remember when I first started racing, I didn’t want to be there because I was the guy off the telly. I wanted to be there because I could drive and race. Initially the TV got me the opportunities and the break but once there I wanted to be seen as a good driver, not just a baker who likes cars. A couple of times I did a few races with professional drivers who would say – nice one Paul, well done. That was probably as close to a Hollywood handshake that I can get. It was that wow moment for me where I felt such a buzz and was immensely proud.

How was the jump to TV and moving from a job you knew inside out into the somewhat unknown?  

I was confident as a baker with what I was doing and talking about so that wasn’t the issue. My role throughout my working life was to check, smell, taste and ensure every product that went out to the guests were the best possible. Now I just do the same thing without the guests. It takes you a bit of time to get used to the cameras being on and being as natural as you can. I have met people since in a bar and they often say – you’re exactly the same as you are on TV. I take that as a compliment. 

The editing on Bake Off is all about me being the bad cop but really that’s not the case. I’m just the one who has to give the bad news at times and I admit I can be a little brutal but that is telly. There are lots of bakers that if they were in my shoes, they would agree with what I am saying about the bakes. Most people judge it on what they can see on the screen but I’m looking at texture, the smell, the taste. Those three things are critical when judging. It’s not about a pretty colour or a shape. People will say – why has he said it’s so bad. Simple – it either tasted terrible or the texture was all wrong.

Have you had a mentor in your working life who you credit with being key to your development as a baker?

No, not really. Maybe the old boys at my dad’s bakery but I don’t think it was like today where personal development is planned out. I joined the hotels and I was pretty much the only baker. There was the Head Chef and chefs but I was the only baker. So, I was reading books, doing my own research and really was let loose to do my own thing. There was no one else who could do what I was doing so I was looking around and thinking, I will do this today. I was the youngest Head Baker the Dorchester had ever had so it was an incredible job and opportunity. The experience I gained was invaluable. I liked challenges and was very driven. I read a lot and practised a lot and loved trying different techniques and recipes. Once you know the basics of baking, you can have a lot of fun tweaking and playing around and that’s what I did.

Favourite part of your job?

I would be lying if I said I didn’t love going into the GBBO tent. It’s like a second home. Thirteen years in and I feel very comfortable there. I love working with Noel, Matt and Prue. They are such a laugh and we’re so relaxed with each other. Like with any job, if you like the people you’re working with, it makes a huge difference and on top of that I also get to meet loads of other interesting people and eat cakes, pies and bread all day. What’s not to love?

Any other targets/goals with racing? Or how else do you unwind?

There are a couple of races I would like to do at some stage. The 24 hour Le Mans would be epic if I could do that. The problem is that when I am filming, I can’t race as it becomes tricky insurance-wise. I’m very chilled out nowadays to be honest. When I am not filming, I would definitely like to do a few more races but I love going out on the motorbike as well. Two or three friends, a nice ride and then stop off somewhere for a coffee and a bacon roll.

Three key tips for bakers to succeed:

• Never be late. It’s just the worst thing.
• Listen and be prepared to take on criticism
• Be ambitious and aim high. 

How did lockdown effect you?

I’m such a hermit really, I live in the middle of nowhere and rarely go out, which is probably a by-product of what I do and all the crazy stories the press come up with. I find I just keep my head down so Covid wasn’t really all that different for me. In fact, rather than having to travel for interviews and meetings, Zoom took over so my life probably got a bit easier. When the bubbles opened, we would visit our neighbours for pizza, bread and we even started a pub quiz in the community, which was lovely. I got more of chance to bake as well.

The post Paul Hollywood – Signature Dish appeared first on Stir it up Magazine.